The Concentratie (1884) — the Concentration of 1884 — was the Dutch military policy in the Atjeh-oorlog by which the Netherlands forces in 1884 restricted themselves to a ring round Kota Radja and a ceintuurbaan (girdle-road) connecting the sixteen posts with the recently shortened railway, while three straalbanen (ray-roads) connected the chief station at Kota Radja with the ceintuurbaan.
The First Tram-Line
The first railway traffic in Atjeh ran between Kota Radja and the harbour-place Oelèë Lheuë — ‘begrijpelijkerwijs tusschen Kota Radja en de havenplaats Oelèë Lheue’. That remained the only railway until the time of the concentratie, when the Dutch power restricted itself to a ring round Kota Radja, and the ceintuurbaan connected the sixteen posts with the recently shortened railway, while the three straalbanen connected the chief station at Kota Radja with the ceintuurbaan. For a telephone in that post-ring provision was likewise made. Broersma notes that he saw at Sigli a little locomotive that had already been in service in 1884.
The End of the Concentratie
When in 1896 other insights prevailed concerning the conduct in Atjeh — ‘toen in 1896 andere inzichten omtrent het optreden in Atjeh veld wonnen’ — and consequently the line of concentration round Kota Radja was given up, there came a need for a line through Groot-Atjeh. In 1897 and 1898 the tram-line was laid via Indrapoeri to Seulimeum. The concentratie was thus the military policy of the years 1884–1896, and the ceintuurbaan and straalbanen its physical legacy.
Significance
The concentratie is the principal military policy of the middle period of the Atjeh-oorlog, and the ceintuurbaan and straalbanen are the physical frame of the Dutch military presence in Groot-Atjeh during that period. The end of the concentratie in 1896 is the political event that opened the way for the expansion of the tram-line through Groot-Atjeh and eventually to the eastern coast.
See Also
- Aceh War
- Kota Radja
- Oelèë Lheue
- Atjeh-tram
- Groot-Atjeh
- Indrapoeri
- Seulimeum
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- 1884
- 1896
- 1897
- 1898
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter XIV, ‘De Atjeh-tram’, pp. 96–97.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim.