The Dutch-Atjehnese conflict on Sumatra’s Westkust of 1662 was the military operation by which the V.O.C., taking the part of the Sultan of Menangkabau against the Sultan of Atjeh, dispatched Pieter de Bitter with a fleet to Sumatra’s Westkust, conquered Indrapoera and the kingdom of Padang from the Atjehnese, and established Padang as the centre of Dutch authority on Sumatra’s Westkust. The episode is recorded in Terwogt’s Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen as the operation by which the Dutch, “van handelslichaam zonder het te willen, maar door de omstandigheden gedwongen steeds breeder tot staatsmacht zich ontwikkelende” — as a trading body, without willing it, but forced by circumstances to develop ever more broadly into a state power — extended their authority on Sumatra’s Westkust at the expense of the Atjehnese.
Background
On Sumatra’s South-East coast, the Dutch already had a firm foothold at Palembang, and on the Westkust a factory at Padang. Their power there — and thereby their ability to make the trade they drove into a alleenhandel (monopoly) and to extend it ever further — was hampered by the Sultan of Atjeh. Gradually, Sumatra’s Westkust had come, as far as Indrapoera, under the influence of Atjeh, “zeer ten nadeele van onzen handel” (very much to the detriment of our trade). Hence a hostile disposition toward Atjeh, which sought the first opportunity to break the influence and power of that kingdom.
The alliance with Menangkabau
The Dutch sought, therefore, to persuade the heads of various places, by the prospect of profits to be gained, to enter into an alliance with them — which succeeded in 1662. They placed themselves under the protection of the Dutch Compagnie. The Sultan of Menangkabau, his power curtailed by the Sultan of Atjeh, called in the help of the Compagnie. The Compagnie — “van handelslichaam zonder het te willen, maar door de omstandigheden gedwongen steeds breeder tot staatsmacht zich ontwikkelende” — seized the opportunity with both hands. It chose the side of the Sultan of Menangkabau: he was the opperheer (overlord), and the Sultan of Atjeh was in zijn onrecht (in the wrong). It sent Pieter de Bitter with some ships to Sumatra’s Westkust, but at the same time demanded, as its reward, that all the zeeplaatsen (coastal places) that would be conquered from the Atjehnese should belong to the Compagnie.
The conquest
Indrapoera and the kingdom of Padang came thereby into Dutch power, and Padang itself soon became the middelpunt (centre) for the Dutch authority on Sumatra’s Westkust. This did not, however, go voetstoots (without a struggle). “De Atjehers verweerden zich, evenals hunne naneven te dezer tijd, met groote dapperheid en brachten hunnen vijanden zoo groote verliezen toe, dat de onzen meermalen genoodzaakt waren versterking aan te vragen te Batavia” — the Atjehnese defended themselves, like their kinsmen of this time, with great bravery, and inflicted such great losses on their enemies that the Dutch were repeatedly compelled to request reinforcement from Batavia.
Significance
For AcehWiki, the Dutch-Atjehnese conflict on Sumatra’s Westkust of 1662 is significant as the 17th-century episode by which the V.O.C., taking the part of the Sultan of Menangkabau against the Sultan of Atjeh, conquered Indrapoera and Padang from the Atjehnese and established Padang as the centre of Dutch authority on Sumatra’s Westkust. The episode is a key moment in the long Dutch-Atjehnese rivalry on Sumatra’s Westkust — a rivalry that would continue, in various forms, through the 18th and 19th centuries and that would culminate, after the Padri-oorlog and the Michiels campaign of 1839–1840, in the Atjeh-oorlog of 1873–1891. The episode likewise illustrates the V.O.C.’s transformation from a handelslichaam (trading body) into a staatsmacht (state power) — a transformation driven, as Terwogt notes, by circumstances rather than by design.
See Also
- Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen (Terwogt)
- Dr. W. A. Terwogt
- Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie
- Aceh War
- Padri War on Sumatra’s East Coast
- Michiels’s campaign against the Atjehnese on Sumatra’s Westkust (1839-1840)
- Indrapoera
- Padang
- Menangkabau
- 1662
Source
Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen, door Dr. W. A. Terwogt (Hoorn: P. Geerts, [1891]). Hoofdstuk IX: “De Sultan van Menangkabau, in zijn macht geknotwiekt door den Sultan van Atjeh, roept de hulp in der Compagnie… Zij zond Pieter de Bitter met eenige schepen naar Sumatra’s Westkust… Indrapoera en het rijk van Padang kwamen hierdoor in onze macht.”