The Netherlands Indies Volcanological Survey (Vulkanologische Dienst) was the sister institution of the Netherlands Indies Geological Survey, attached (like the Geological Survey) to the Bureau of Mines in Indonesia and the Departement van Verkeer, Energie en Mijnbouw (Department of Transport, Energy and Mining) at Batavia. The Volcanological Survey was headed, in the immediate pre-war period, by Van Bemmelen, whose compilation The Geology of Indonesia (1949) was issued as a Special Edition of the Bureau of Mines and accordingly represents the institutional output of both the Geological Survey and the Volcanological Survey. The Volcanological Survey is included in this wiki because its institutional connection to the Geological Survey — and through the Geological Survey to the colonial mineralogical record of Atjeh — places it within the documentary network on which this wiki draws.
Functions
The Volcanological Survey’s functions included the systematic observation and monitoring of the active volcanoes of the Netherlands East Indies, the study of volcanic hazards and volcanic geology, and the publication of the Mededeelingen (“Communications”) series in which its observations were recorded. The Volcanological Survey’s work was, by the nature of its subject-matter, more focused on Java (where the great majority of the archipelago’s active volcanoes are located) than on Atjeh, where the nearest active volcanic centres — most notably the Losir (Löser), which Zwierzycki’s 1922 map of the Basin of Meulaboh erroneously identified as a volcano — are not in fact volcanic. See the entry on Basin of Meulaboh for Van Bemmelen’s correction of this cartographic error.
The Van Bemmelen directorship
Van Bemmelen’s position as head of the Volcanological Survey — combined with his earlier service as a member of the Netherlands Indies Geological Survey — gave him access to the institutional archives of both Surveys, and his Geology of Indonesia (1949) accordingly draws on the full documentary resources of the colonial mining and geological services. The Volcanological Survey’s directorship was, in this sense, the institutional platform from which Van Bemmelen compiled his synthesis, and the Survey’s archives accordingly form part of the source-base for Van Bemmelen’s treatment of the mineral geography of Atjeh.
Significance
The Netherlands Indies Volcanological Survey is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history because its directorship by Van Bemmelen in the immediate pre-war period provided the institutional platform from which Van Bemmelen compiled The Geology of Indonesia (1949) — the principal printed source for the colonial mineralogical record of Atjeh. The Volcanological Survey’s connection to the Geological Survey, and through the Geological Survey to the colonial mineralogical record of Atjeh, places it within the documentary network on which this wiki draws.
See Also
- Acheh
- Basin of Meulaboh
- Bureau of Mines in Indonesia
- J. Zwierzycki
- Netherlands Indies Geological Survey
- R. W. van Bemmelen
- Van Bemmelen’s The Geology of Indonesia (1949)
- 1922
- 1949
Source
The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), title page (Van Bemmelen identified as “Former Member of the Netherlands Indies Geological Survey, and Head of the Netherlands Indies Volcanological Survey”), pp. 121–122 (Losir/Löser correction).