The Krueng Meureubo (older Dutch colonial spelling Kroeëng Meureubo; also Kr. Meureubo; modern Indonesian Sungai Meureubo) is a river of the Westkust of Aceh whose brongebied (source-area) lies in the groote Westelijke lengtedal (great western longitudinal valley) of central Sumatra and which breaks through the Westelijke Barisan (Western Barisan range) to reach the Indian Ocean north of the Krueng Woyla delta. The Krueng Meureubo is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s 1917 Sumatra survey, one of the two principal rivers — together with the Krueng Seunagan — that drain the groote Westelijke lengtedal to the Westkust between the Krueng Woyla to the south and the Krueng Teunom to the north; and it is, in Van Bemmelen’s Geology of Indonesia (1949), one of the two principal fluvial reference-points — together with the Krueng Woyla — for the West-Aceh Neogene-coal zone.
Course and Hydrography
The Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s Hoofdstuk I (Oro-hydrographisch) of its 1917 Sumatra survey describes the Kroeëng Meureubo as one of the two rivers (with the Kroeëng Seunagan) whose brongebieden (source-areas) “gelegen zijn in het groote Westelijke lengtedal. Zij doorbreken beide dus de Westelijke Barisanketen” — “lie in the great western longitudinal valley. They both therefore break through the Western Barisan chain.” The Krueng Meureubo thus belongs to the same hydrographical category as the Krueng Woyla, the Krueng Teunom, and the Lao Alas: a river whose source-area lies in the groote Westelijke lengtedal and whose lower course breaks through the Westelijke Barisan to the Indian Ocean.
In the Dutch staff history’s Atjeh chapter, the Krueng Meureubo’s kustvlakte (coastal plain) — at Meulaboh — is the site of the principal Dutch Westkust bivak (military post), and the southern destination of the 1ste Garnizoensbataljon’s Meulaboh detachment. The river’s lower course thus defined the strategic kustvlakte of the central Westkust, and its brongebied sustained the Dutch bivak at Meulaboh.
The West-Aceh Neogene Coal Deposits
The Krueng Meureubo is, in Van Bemmelen’s 1949 Geology of Indonesia, one of the two principal rivers — together with the Krueng Woyla — along which the Neogene-coal deposits of the West-Aceh coast are located. Van Bemmelen’s reference to the Krueng Meureubo occurs in the same passage of the coal chapter as his reference to the Krueng Woyla:
“The deposits of the second group are located along the Krueng Wojla and the Krueng Meureubo in the district of West Atjeh.”
For the wider context of the West-Aceh Neogene coals see the entry on Krueng Woyla. The Krueng Meureubo deposits, like the Krueng Woyla deposits, “to the present, seem to be of no or little economical importance.”
Significance
The Krueng Meureubo is significant for the encyclopedia of Aceh history on two complementary grounds. In the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s 1917 survey, the river is the hydrographical artery of the central Westkust — the river whose brongebied sustained the Dutch bivak at Meulaboh and whose lower course defined the strategic kustvlakte between the Krueng Woyla and the Krueng Teunom. The Bureau’s emphasis on the Kroeëng Meureubo’s doorbreking (breakthrough) of the Westelijke Barisan frames the river as the hydrographical artery of the central Westkust. In Van Bemmelen’s 1949 Geology of Indonesia, the river is one of the two principal fluvial reference-points for the West-Aceh Neogene-coal zone — the river whose name is canonically associated with the West-Aceh coal occurrences in the colonial geological literature. The river’s inclusion in Van Bemmelen’s summary of the West-Aceh coal occurrences is itself the historical fact that matters: the river was sufficiently well-known in the colonial geological literature to be named as one of the two principal coal-bearing rivers of the West-Aceh coast.
See Also
- Acheh
- Atjeh’s Westkust
- Meulaboh
- Kroeëng Wojla
- Kroeëng Teunom
- Kroeëng Seunagan
- Lao Alas
- Kroeëng
- Atjehrivier
- Coal in Atjeh
- Van Bemmelen’s The Geology of Indonesia (1949)
- De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1
- 1917
- 1949
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 1: Sumatra, Algemeene Hoofdstukken, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), Hoofdstuk I (Oro-hydrographisch), pp. 11, 28.
The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 56 (coal in North Sumatra, West-Atjeh Neogene deposits along the Krueng Woyla and Krueng Meureubo).