Jacobus Nienhuys (died 1927, aged 91) was the Dutch pioneer who in 1863 established the first tobacco plantation at the mouth of the Deli River on Sumatra’s East Coast, inaugurating a commercial agricultural transformation that within sixty years would make the Oostkust van Sumatra the second most economically valuable territory in the Dutch colonial empire after Java. Described by Dr. T. Volker as the quintessential voorrekker (trailblazer), Nienhuys repatriated in 1871 but the industry he founded persisted and expanded far beyond anything he could have imagined at the time.
Arrival and First Plantation
The political context of Sumatra’s East Coast in 1863 was one of general disorder: Atjeh was fully independent and hostile to Dutch authority, having threatened Deli with a naval force as recently as February 1863; the landschappen (petty states) of Deli, Langkat, and Serdang had only just recognized Dutch suzerainty in 1862 under the Resident Netscher of Riouw; and the Batak interior remained terra incognita to Europeans. In 1864 a punitive expedition had to be mounted against the Tamiangsche landschapjes to restore order. Against this background, Nienhuys settled at the mouth of the Deli River and planted tobacco. The first harvest, in 1864, yielded 50 bales (pakken) with a gross return of ƒ 2,542.08.
In 1863 a supplementary agreement with the Sultan of Deli was concluded, binding the Sultan not to cede land to Europeans or other foreigners without the consent of the Resident. In the same year the Sultan halved the export duty on tobacco from 0.50, greatly assisting the first planters. In 1864 the colonial government placed a Controleur in Deli who, for lack of European accommodation, lodged with Nienhuys himself.
Co-Founding the Deli Maatschappij
In 1869 Nienhuys, together with the Handel Maatschappij and the partners Janssen, Clemen, and Nienhuys, established the Deli Maatschappij — the first naamloze vennootschap (limited-liability company) in the Dutch East Indies. The Deli Maatschappij would become the anchor institution of the entire East Sumatran plantation economy, with its capital growing from ƒ 300,000 in 1869 to ƒ 30,000,000 by 1927.
Legacy and Repatriation
Nienhuys repatriated in 1871, handing the practical leadership of the emerging plantation colony to organizers such as J. T. Cremer. He died in 1927 at the age of 91. Volker’s tribute in Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied (published the year of Nienhuys’s death) reads: “In den ouderdom van 91 jaar is deze voortrekker, een voorbeeld van moed en doorzettingsvermogen, in 1927 gestorven. Sumatra’s Oostkust heeft reden zijn nagedachtenis hoog te houden!” (“At the age of 91 this trailblazer, an example of courage and perseverance, died in 1927. Sumatra’s East Coast has reason to hold his memory in high esteem!”).
Context: Acehnese Threat in Deli’s Early Years
The founding years of Nienhuys’s enterprise were shadowed by the threat of Acehnese aggression. In 1861 two ships sailing under the Dutch flag were seized by Acehnese forces; in February 1863, the very year Nienhuys arrived, an Acehnese fleet threatened Deli itself. The presence of Acehnese raiding parties in the northern reaches of the tobacco belt — attacking plantations such as Glen Bervi, Tamaram, and Ludwigsburg in 1876 — was a persistent menace to the industry Nienhuys had begun, and ultimately triggered the Tamiang Expedition of 1893.
See Also
- Deli Maatschappij
- Deli Planters Vereeniging
- Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra
- Deli River
- Acehnese raids on East Sumatra
- Expedition against Tamiang (1893)
- J. T. Cremer
- 1863
- 1864
- 1869
- 1871
- 1927
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). Delpher Digital Library, reference DLP-76. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark 09383.