Glen Bervi was a tobacco plantation on Sumatra’s East Coast that was attacked by Acehnese raiding parties in 1876, one of three plantations — alongside Tamaram and Ludwigsburg — struck during the escalating Acehnese incursions into the northern reaches of the Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra in the mid-1870s.
The Acehnese raids of 1876
Glen Bervi was situated in the northern plantation belt, in proximity to the frontier with the Acehnese territory, which from 1873 was the scene of the ongoing Dutch war against Aceh. As the war intensified Acehnese raiding into the East Coast increased. Dr. T. Volker records that Glen Bervi, Tamaram, and Ludwigsburg were all attacked in 1876. At Tamaram, the manager was wounded and an assistant killed; the Kedjoeroean (district head) of Bohorok openly collaborated with the invaders and fled with his followers to the Alas lands.
The raids on Glen Bervi and the surrounding plantations were among the events that prompted the Sultan of Langkat — whose territory lay directly in the path of the Acehnese advance — to resist the raiders actively. He was rewarded in 1887 with elevation from Radja to Sultan in recognition of his services.
Longer-term consequences
The threat Acehnese raids posed to the plantation economy of Deli and Langkat became one of the driving justifications for the military Expedition against Tamiang (1893), which successfully dispersed the Acehnese fighters threatening the northern plantation and petroleum belt. Final pacification of the frontier zone was achieved in 1899.
See Also
- Acehnese raids on East Sumatra
- Tamaram
- Ludwigsburg
- Expedition against Tamiang (1893)
- Sultan of Langkat
- Bohorok
- Langkat
- Gouvernement Oostkust van Sumatra
- Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden
- 1876
- 1893
- 1899
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. 44–47. Delpher Digital Library, reference DLP-76. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark 09383.