Deli Maatschappij was the first naamlooze vennootschap (joint-stock company) established in the Dutch East Indies, founded in 1869 on the East Coast of Sumatra by the Handel Maatschappij and the partners Janssen, Clemen, and Jacobus Nienhuys, the pioneer of the Deli tobacco culture. From an initial capital of ƒ300,000, the company grew over sixty years to a capital of ƒ30,000,000, becoming the cornerstone of what would emerge as the most productive plantation district in the colonial Indies.
Foundation and early years
The company was founded in 1869, six years after Nienhuys had made his first tobacco plantings at the mouth of the Deli River in 1863. The establishment of a naamlooze vennootschap — a novelty in the Indies — reflected the growing conviction that the Deli tobacco trade had outgrown the resources of individual planters and required corporate capital. The company’s oldest plantation, “Arrensburg,” had been flourishing for some time and would become a formal company only in 1877.
Capital growth
The Deli Maatschappij’s capital trajectory reflects both the expansion of the East Coast economy and the reinvestment of profits from the tobacco trade:
| Year | Capital |
|---|---|
| 1869 | ƒ300,000 |
| 1873 | ƒ500,000 |
| 1876 | ƒ800,000 |
| 1878 | ƒ2,000,000 |
| 1881 | ƒ4,000,000 |
| 1919 | ƒ13,500,000 |
| 1927 | ƒ30,000,000 |
Volker notes that the rubber plantations of various tobacco companies — including the Deli Maatschappij — were “wholly opened and developed and are operated with money reserved from tobacco profits.” The reinvestment of tobacco profits in rubber and other diversified ventures was typical of the leading plantation companies.
The 1891 crisis
The East Coast tobacco market collapse of 1890–1891 hit the Deli Maatschappij severely: the company alone lost ƒ350,000 in the crisis year. The total loss across the East Coast tobacco sector was estimated at seven million guilders. The crisis pruned the number of tobacco enterprises from 170 in 1891 to 70 by 1927, establishing the principle that only the narrow belt between the Wampoe River and the Soengei Oelar possessed the precise soil and climate conditions for superior Deli wrapper leaf.
Medical and social provisions
Under J. T. Cremer’s leadership, the Deli Maatschappij was the first company in the region to employ a doctor, doing so in 1871 — a full decade before any legal obligation to provide medical care for plantation workers. In 1905 the Deli Maatschappij established the Waterleiding Maatschappij “Ajer Beresih,” the spring-water supply company of Medan, which remained the company’s property.
Role in Medan
The Deli Maatschappij was the principal driver of Medan’s urban development. When the city became the administrative capital of the Oostkust gewest in 1887, the Deli Maatschappij’s offices, infrastructure investments, and social institutions were integral to its character.
Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)
Deli Maatschappij was major plantation company of Oostkust van Sumatra extending into Temiang with large land grant attempting tobacco.
Activity in Temiang
Deli-Mij got large land grant and opened tobacco enterprises Sekrah I, II and III. After couple years closed because tobacco not to wish succeeded and returned grounds.
Illustrates general failure tobacco in Temiang even orderly condition not able become Deli tobacco per Broersma.
Later replaced by rubber and oilpalm enterprises. Deli-Mij example followed by Tabak-Maatschappij Arendsburg and Rotterdam Deli-Maatschappij similar failures.
See Also
- Jacobus Nienhuys
- J. T. Cremer
- Deli Planters Vereeniging
- Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra
- Medan
- Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied
- Senembah Maatschappij
- 1869
- 1877
- 1891
- 1927
- Temiang
- Tabak-Maatschappij Arendsburg
- Soengei Lipoet
Source
Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied: Een Schets van de Beteekenis van de Tabak, de Andere Cultures en de Industrie ter Oostkust van Sumatra, by Dr. T. Volker (Medan: Deli Planters Vereeniging, 1928), pp. 14–35. Delpher Digital Library, reference DLP-76. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark 09383. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, p. 7.