E. R. Krayenhoff was a controller of the Indies government who in September 1871 went aboard the Djambi to Atjeh to deliver a letter from the Governor of Sumatra’s Westkust to the sultan. His mission was the immediate prelude to the long series of negotiations and confrontations that culminated in the Atjeh-oorlog of 1873-1903, and was undertaken at a time when the previous sultan had died in 1870 and had been succeeded by the fourteen-year-old Aladin Mahmood Shah under the regency of the Arab sayyid Habib Abdoe’r Rachman.
The Mission of September 1871
In 1870 the Indies government had decided on a more vigorous course of action, in order to fulfil its obligations and to maintain safety in the Acehnese waters. Warships were sent thither to exercise sharper supervision, and the controller E. R. Krayenhoff went in September 1871 aboard the Djambi to Atjeh to deliver a letter from the Governor of Sumatra’s Westkust to the sultan. “Just in 1870 the previous sultan had died and had been succeeded by the fourteen-year-old Aladin Mahmood Shah, under the voogdij of the first rijksbestuurder, the Arabier Habib Abdoe’r Rachman. The latter assumed a high tone, demanded the return of former Acehnese territory on the east and west coasts of Sumatra, and threatened the intervention of England, France and Turkey. Although he later became more polite, it appeared that at the same time he had asked the Governor of the Straits Settlements for advice and help against us.”
Significance
Krayenhoff’s mission of September 1871 was the first direct Dutch approach to the new sultan and his regent, and its failure — the Habib’s high tone, his demands, and his secret approaches to the British — set the course for the events that led to the Acehnese envoys’ visit to Singapore of January 1873 and to the first Aceh expedition of April 1873.
See Also
- Habib Abdoerrahman
- Aladin Mahmood Shah
- Sultan of Aceh
- Sumatra’s Westkust
- Aceh War
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, p. 9.
E. R. Krayenhoff was a controller of the Indies government who in September 1871 went aboard the Djambi to Atjeh to deliver a letter from the Governor of Sumatra’s Westkust to the sultan. His mission was the immediate prelude to the long series of negotiations and confrontations that culminated in the Atjeh-oorlog of 1873-1903, and was undertaken at a time when the previous sultan had died in 1870 and had been succeeded by the fourteen-year-old Aladin Mahmood Shah under the regency of the Arab sayyid Habib Abdoe’r Rachman.
The Mission of September 1871
In 1870 the Indies government had decided on a more vigorous course of action, in order to fulfil its obligations and to maintain safety in the Acehnese waters. Warships were sent thither to exercise sharper supervision, and the controller E. R. Krayenhoff went in September 1871 aboard the Djambi to Atjeh to deliver a letter from the Governor of Sumatra’s Westkust to the sultan. “Just in 1870 the previous sultan had died and had been succeeded by the fourteen-year-old Aladin Mahmood Shah, under the voogdij of the first rijksbestuurder, the Arabier Habib Abdoe’r Rachman. The latter assumed a high tone, demanded the return of former Acehnese territory on the east and west coasts of Sumatra, and threatened the intervention of England, France and Turkey. Although he later became more polite, it appeared that at the same time he had asked the Governor of the Straits Settlements for advice and help against us.”
Significance
Krayenhoff’s mission of September 1871 was the first direct Dutch approach to the new sultan and his regent, and its failure — the Habib’s high tone, his demands, and his secret approaches to the British — set the course for the events that led to the Acehnese envoys’ visit to Singapore of January 1873 and to the first Aceh expedition of April 1873.
See Also
- Habib Abdoerrahman
- Aladin Mahmood Shah
- Sultan of Aceh
- Sumatra’s Westkust
- Aceh War
- First Aceh Expedition (1873)
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, p. 9.