Langsa

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tagsplace, hoofdplaats, oostkust, colonial, dutch, buitenbezittingen, tramway, rubber, town, langsa, oostkust-van-atjeh, atjeh, border-region, harbour, achehnese, steiger, paketvaart, underafdeeling, waterleiding, artesian-boring, gouvernements-rubberonderneming, aceh, administration, landscape, east-coast, port, administrative, pepper
aliasesLangsar, Koewala Langsa, Koeala Langsa, Langsa Estate, haven van Langsa, the harbour of Langsa, Langsa town, East Coast Atjeh, Kuala Langsa, Kwala Langsa, havenplaatsje of Langsa, Langsa harbour, Langsa hoofdplaats, Langsa onderafdeeling, Langsa-baai, stad Langsa, Langsa (landscape), Landscape Langsa, Langsa Atjeh, Afdeeling Langsa, Onderafdeeling Langsa

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Langsa was the hoofdplaats of the Afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh and, by 1917, the second city of the gewest — the trade-centre of the great European rubber, tobacco, and petroleum cultures of the eastern lowlands and the natural rival of Koeta Radja for commercial primacy in the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. De Buitenbezittingen describes Langsa as the place where, after the pacificatie under Swart, “eene jonge, frissche handels-energie” unfolded, transforming a town “als het ware uit den moerassigen bodem gestampte stad” — a city, as it were, hammered out of the swampy ground — into the principal European centre of the eastern coast.

Geography and the Perlak inheritance

The kuststrook of the eastern Oostkust “behoudt dit karakter alleen … tot Langsa,” beyond which it widens into the great Sumatran heuvelland. The hinterland of Langsa, together with that of Tamiang, was “tot voor weinige jaren nog vrijwel geheel onontgonnen wildernis” — until a few years previously almost wholly unopened wilderness. The onderafdeeling Langsa comprised the landschap Peureulaʼ (the remnant of the former sultanaat of Perlak), the landschap Langsa itself (formerly a underhoorigheid of Peureulaʼ), and the enclave of Soengèë Raja; all three had been settled by peperplanters from Samalanga, Lhoʼ Seumawè, and the Pasé-streek.

European cultures and the Gouvernements-rubber-onderneming

The Oostkust was the centre of European cultures in Atjeh: De Buitenbezittingen notes the “uitgestrektheid, opkomst en ontwikkeling” of the hevea, koffie, and other cultures, with the geïnteresseerd kapitaal ter Oostkust exceeding that of any other afdeeling. The Gouvernements-rubber-onderneming te Langsa, founded to encourage the industry, was the largest single plantation in the gewest. The Credietbank “Langsa” (founded early 1915) served the European concerns of the entire afdeeling Oostkust.

The Government Rubber Plantation

Around 1907, the colonial government began clearing land near Langsa for a rubber plantation — a unique state enterprise in the Indies, testing first Ficus elastica and then Hevea brasiliensis. The plantation grew rapidly:

  • 1908: 329 bouws with 76,000 trees.
  • 1909: 476 bouws with 116,000 trees.
  • By 1914: total investment approximately 800,000 guilders.

Staffed with contract laborers (primarily Javanese, with some local Acehnese), the plantation demonstrated that the Langsa region was highly suitable for rubber cultivation, providing the proof of concept needed to attract private investors.

The Private Boom

Following the government’s initiative, a massive influx of private capital transformed the area. The number of land concessions in Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden grew from just 6 concessions covering ±1,000 bouws in 1904 to 148 concessions covering nearly 300,000 bouws by 1913. In the under-subdivision of Langsa alone, 28 private concessions covered 54,000 bouws by 1913. Most were established for rubber cultivation, with robusta coffee often planted as an initial “catch crop.” This transformation turned a region described as “vast, nearly impassable swampy areas” into a “rich and well-developed agricultural area.”

Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — Langsa and the Tramway

Langsa also served as the eastern terminus of the second Atjeh tramway line — built between 1899 and 1906 from Sigli to Langsa — and as the originating point of the 1910–1912 extension onward to Koeala Simpang. The 1906 completion of the Sigli–Langsa line opened a direct railway connection from Kota Radja to the eastern coast, which the Bureau identifies as one of the principal instruments of the pacification. The 1913 extensions (approved by Gouvernementsbesluiten of June, October, and November 1913) further extended the line through Tamiang to Besitang and toward Arube Bay.

Haven and trade

The haven of Koeala Langsa — second only to Sabang in importance among the Atjehsche havens — was fostered by Generaal Van Heutsz, who “trachtte in te blazen door de sluiting van andere havens als het meer Noordelijk gelegen Idi” — sought to invigorate it by closing other havens such as the more northerly Idi. Despite this kunstmatige bescherming, the haven’s ligging was favourable; vrij diepgaande schepen could lie alongside a schroefpaal-steiger and discharge directly to the spoorweg. The haven received 577 steamers (285,000 M³) in 1913, 465 (235,000) in 1914, and 437 (207,000) in 1915 — figures exceeded only by Sabang. The in- and uitvoerrechten of Langsa grew from ƒ27,000/ƒ5,000 in 1910 to ƒ90,000/ƒ24,000 in 1914, the steepest rise in the gewest. Plans for a great ocean-haven at Telok Taboean, ten km east of Pangkalan Soesoe in the Aroebaai, were abandoned in favour of simpler installations at Pangkalan Soesoe itself, where the Deli Spoorweg Maatschappij, the Atjeh-tram, and the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij all maintained installations.

Account from the Notulen der bestuursvergaderingen (1914) — Langsa

Langsa was a town in the eastern part of Atjeh, on the Oostkust (East Coast). In the proposed administrative reorganization discussed at the Medan meeting (January 1914), Langsa was identified as one of the Atjeh areas that would be added to the afdeeling Langkat in the new Noord-Sumatra (proposed gewest). Resident Van der Plas stated that the addition of Atjeh areas including Langsa and Tamiang to the afdeelingen Deli and Langkat should be left to the judgment of the Gouverneur van Atjeh, recognizing that local knowledge was essential for final border determinations. Langsa’s proposed transfer out of the Atjeh administrative structure underscored the town’s position as a border community whose economic and social connections pointed toward the east coast plantation belt rather than toward the Acehnese highlands.

Geographic and Economic Context

Langsa occupied a position on the eastern coast of Atjeh that placed it at the interface between the Acehnese world and the economically dynamic region of Sumatra’s Oostkust. Situated along the Strait of Malacca littoral, Langsa was part of a chain of coastal settlements that had historically served as ports of trade and points of contact between the interior highlands and the maritime commercial networks of the strait. By the early twentieth century, the development of the plantation economy in the neighboring Deli and Langkat regions had transformed the economic landscape of the eastern coast, creating demand for labor, agricultural products, and trade goods that increasingly drew coastal communities like Langsa into the economic orbit of the east coast rather than the more remote administrative center of Koeta-Radja.

The economic orientation of Langsa toward the east coast was reinforced by the transportation infrastructure of the region. Roads and railway lines connecting the plantation districts of Deli and Langkat with their ports and processing facilities extended along the coastal plain, and the communities of the Atjeh Oostkust—including Langsa—found themselves increasingly connected to this infrastructure. The practical reality of commerce and communication meant that Langsa’s residents were more likely to travel to Medan or the ports of Langkat for trade and administrative business than to make the longer and more difficult journey to Koeta-Radja. This economic and infrastructural alignment provided the substantive basis for the proposal to transfer Langsa out of the Atjeh administrative structure and into the Langkat-based afdeeling.

Langsa in the Reorganization Discussions

The proposal to transfer Langsa to the Langkat afdeeling was part of the broader Atjeh-Sumatra’s Oostkust merger proposal discussed during the Bestuursreorganisatie Sumatra (1913-1914). At the Medan meeting, Resident Van der Plas had proposed that the entire Oostkust van Atjeh be merged with Langkat, which would have brought Langsa—and indeed all of eastern Atjeh—under the Langkat-based administration. However, this proposal was modified at the Koeta-Radja meeting, where the revised plan created the combined afdeeling “Noord- en Oostkust van Atjeh behalve Tamiang,” keeping most of the Oostkust within the Atjeh-based administrative structure while explicitly excluding Tamiang for transfer to Langkat. The specific fate of Langsa within this revised scheme was not definitively resolved in the minutes; Van der Plas’s statement that the addition of Atjeh areas including Langsa and Tamiang to the afdeelingen Deli and Langkat should be left to the judgment of the Gouverneur van Atjeh indicated that the final determination of Langsa’s administrative归属 was considered a matter requiring local consultation and discretion.

The decision to leave Langsa’s fate to the Gouverneur’s judgment reflected a pragmatic recognition that boundary adjustments of this nature could not be fully resolved in the abstract discussions of a bestuursvergadering. The Gouverneur’s familiarity with local conditions—including the specific economic and social connections of Langsa, the views of local officials and community leaders, and the practical implications of transferring the town from one administrative jurisdiction to another—was essential for making a determination that would be both administratively sound and politically acceptable. This deference to local expertise was a recurring theme in the reorganization discussions, where the participants recognized that the broad principles of administrative rationalization needed to be tempered by attention to the specific realities of individual localities.

Relationship to Tamiang and the Broader Border Question

Langsa’s proposed transfer was closely linked to the parallel proposal regarding Tamiang, as both were communities in the eastern Atjeh border region whose economic connections pointed toward the east coast. The two areas were often discussed together—as in Van der Plas’s reference to “Atjeh areas including Langsa and Tamiang”—reflecting their shared position as border territories whose administrative reassignment was under consideration. However, the explicit exclusion of Tamiang from the combined “Noord- en Oostkust van Atjeh” afdeeling—memorialized in the very name of the new administrative unit—suggested that Tamiang’s transfer had been more firmly decided than Langsa’s, which remained subject to the Gouverneur’s determination. The different treatment of the two areas may have reflected differences in their degree of economic integration with the east coast, the strength of their connections to the Acehnese highlands, or simply the practical considerations of administrative geography that made Tamiang’s transfer more straightforward than Langsa’s.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923) — Koeala Langsa

Koeala Langsa — modern Kuala Langsa — is the harbour-place (havenplaatsje) of Langsa, situated at the zeegat (sea-mouth) into which the Langsa river flows, nine kilometres from the chief place by a side-line of the Atjeh-tram. The side-line runs through the bahoe-bahoe — a whole region of rank vegetation in swamp, which the seawater maintains.

The Harbour

At Koeala Langsa a long, roomy pier has been built, to be extended at pleasure into the harbour-water, which is 15 to 20 metres deep. On the bank at the entrance of the sea-mouth one finds at low water still 14 feet of depth. The situation offered by Nature is one that many a small trading-harbour in the Indies might envy in Langsa. On average 36 vessels a month are cleared in. The majority are ships of the Kon. Paketvaart; besides, there is a weekly Chinese boat from Penang, and Chinese tongkangs come to fetch goods away, while they bring little.

Significance

Koeala Langsa is the natural outlet of the Langsa onderafdeeling, and its depth of water is such that Langsa-baai was once thought likely to rival the Aroe-baai in importance. The realisation of that hope was prevented by the depression of the early 1920s and by the closing of the Factorij, the Deli-Atjeh-Mij. and the firm Kehding in Langsa itself.

Account from Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923) — Langsa town

Langsa is the chief place (hoofdplaats) of the onderafdeeling Langsa in the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh, situated on the great road and on the Atjeh-tram line that runs along the eastern coast. From Koeala Simpang to Langsa by tram takes about an hour and a half; by fast train, five quarters of an hour. The place is built on a block-system, like Kota Radja, with the future growth kept in view by the original planners.

Foundation and Plan

When the government, twenty years before Broersma’s visit — that is, about 1903 — was of the opinion that the pacification of the gewest was practically accomplished and that one could begin with the foundation of order and rule such as befit a gewest of Sumatra, it gave to its chief places a form that allowed future growth. The bay of Langsa and the zeegat (sea-mouth) into which the river flows proved deep and favourable: perhaps Langsa-baai would be of as great importance in the future as the Aroe-baai. The future that was hoped for has not been obtained; and now the town is roomy but quiet, and the trade brought by the hinterland between 1912 and 1920 has since strongly diminished. The Factorij closed its office; the Deli-Atjeh-Mij. and the firm Kehding likewise; the Atjeh Handelsmaatschappij and the Handel-Mij. Güntzel & Schumacher are still there, beside a retail trade of Chinese and Japanese.

The Water Problem

Like so many places on Atjeh’s eastern coast, Langsa struggles with the water-supply. On some yards there are wells, of indifferent reputation; if they are at all favourably known, others besides the householders gladly go there. In the barracks they drink filtered river-water. There have been eight artesian wells — ‘ge- weest’ — only one remains, which cannot yield enough for the population. Moreover, the water is iron-bearing, so that it attacks the pipes. One must expect that before long the pipes will be eaten through, and then the only portable water-supply will be done for. They are now trying to de-ironise the water by exposing it in a basin to air. The artesian borings took place between 1906 and 1919 and cost Langsa f 122.931; the laying of pipe-lines cost f 12.788. At only twelve kilometres from the place, mountain-water can be had from a small river not yet polluted there. A favourable provision would probably be derived from that spot in the forest. In the kampongs of the chief place, river-water is now sold at five cents the picol, from which it may be gathered that the whole place is exposed to infections.

The Harbour of Koeala Langsa

Langsa is not connected with its harbour-place Koeala Langsa by road, but by a side-line of the Atjeh-tram, nine kilometres long, running through the bahoe-bahoe — a whole region of rank vegetation in swamp, which the seawater maintains. It is the well-known coastal phenomenon of Sumatra, from which in many regions the inhabitants, at the cost of a piece of health and length of life, nevertheless extract their profit by winning wood, bark and nipah-leaf. At Koeala Langsa a long, roomy pier has been built, to be extended at pleasure into the harbour-water, which is 15 to 20 metres deep. On the bank at the entrance of the sea-mouth one finds at low water still 14 feet of depth. The situation offered by Nature is one that many a small trading-harbour in the Indies might envy in Langsa. On average 36 vessels a month are cleared in. The majority are ships of the Kon. Paketvaart; besides, there is a weekly Chinese boat from Penang, and Chinese tongkangs come to fetch goods away, while they bring little. The firm Güntzel & Schumacher has its own coasting-trade, consisting of a tug with tongkangs, plying between Idi and Belawan in connection with its licence for the exploitation of flood-forests.

Trade Statistics

The receipts of the toll-office were, in 1918 and 1921: import f 160.924 and f 62.222; export f 218.949 and f 11.806; excise petroleum f 401 and f 619; excise matches f 3.470 and f 1.031; warehouse-rent f 31.893 and f 19.184 — totals f 205.643 in 1918 and f 304.856 in 1921. The year 1918 is chosen as a fairly good one, 1921 as a bad one. In comparing the figures one must bear in mind that in 1921 nearly all duties were doubled. To compare import figures one must remember that no statistics are kept of imports from within Netherlands-India, because no duty is paid on them. The principal exports were, in 1918 and 1921: bark 5.581.007 and 7.720.832 kg; black pepper 1.992.379 and 2.218.848 kg; pinang-nuts 982.440 and 1.290.790 kg — all going to Penang, Singapore and Hongkong.

The Underafdeeling

The onderafdeeling Langsa comprises three landschappen: Langsa, Peureula (Perlak) and Soengei Radja with a still mixed population, in which the Atjehnese already form the majority. Langsa has about 4.000 souls, Peureula 12.000, Soengei Radja 1.300.

The Gouvernements-Rubberonderneming

The oldest estate in Langsa is the gouvernements rubberonderneming — the government rubber-estate — opened in 1907 by the Indies government to show how Hevea would do on this low land. It was to have a planting of 1.000 bouw; by 1915 it had reached barely half that extent. It then worked with 430 coolies, mostly contract labourers, and had a yield of 123.000 pounds of rubber at a cost-price of 66 cents. One may sing a panegyric to it, as in government publications has been done, but it is a pity for the public purse that no follow-up was given to the plan, ventilated years ago, of selling it. Had that been done, the opening would have answered to its purpose of showing a possibility. As it is, other entrepreneurs came afterwards, not knowing what disappointments awaited them. The government rubber-estate was opened in 1907 on peat-ground, and now one can see how the soil sinks under the trees, the roots come up, and a wholly crooked growth is the result. The planting looks shabby. Yet the yield of the whole estate now gives reason for satisfaction. It now comprises 900 bouw and works with 250 labourers (the tappers included). The factory has only four rollers. Thanks to good management, it is not the least among its sisters in this region.

Significance

Langsa is the type-figure of the planned colonial hoofdplaats of the eastern coast — roomy, regular, and quiet, with a deep harbour, an artesian-water problem, a government rubber-estate on peat, and a trade that has been diminished by the depression of the early 1920s. It is also the centre of the patchouli-oil industry of the eastern coast: one of the four patchouli-distilleries of Atjeh in 1931 stood near Langsa.

Account from Een strijd in Atjeh (1934)

Langsa appears in Een strijd in Atjeh (1934) as the place where the ophthalmologist Dr. J. Tijssen spent sixteen years as a plantersdokter (plantation doctor) before the village campaigns that made his name.

The account states: “Zestien jaar plantersdokter in het Zuiden van Atjeh. Langsa, ofschoon Atjeh, cultuurgebied Deli.” — Sixteen years a plantation doctor in the south of Atjeh. Langsa, although Atjeh, is the cultivation district of Deli. The phrase records the administrative and economic anomaly of the place: politically part of Atjeh, Langsa belonged for the purposes of estate agriculture to the cultuurgebied of Deli, the tobacco and rubber zone of the East Coast of Sumatra.

It was at Langsa, the pamphlet continues, that Tijssen encountered the blindness that determined his later work: “Gelijk die vóór hem, die na hem, heeft hij er blinden gezien.” — Like those before him and those after him, he saw blind people there. From Langsa he went to Leiden to work as assistant to Prof. van der Hoeve, and returned to Atjeh in 1929 — “Niet naar het hospitaal” — to begin the kampong work described in the three letters.

The Langsa years are thus the origin of the whole enterprise recorded in the pamphlet, and the source of Tijssen’s contention that the Acehnese “komt maar hoogst zelden in het hospitaal,” — comes only very rarely into the hospital, fearing the isolation of the hospital rather more than intimacy with death, and dying well provided he might die in a kampong among his own people.

Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)

Then I went at once by tram with Colijn eastward as far as Langsa, to get an impression for myself. The financial prosperity of the sub-division treasuries of Tamiang and Langsa was founded on the estate area created on the east coast after 1910. In 1917 an Acehnese in a fit of religious mania attacked Messrs Jahnke and Roberecht at Langsa; Jahnke died of his injury.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

Langsa was a landscape of the East Coast of Atjeh — later a sub-department — whose chief’s nipah forests were contracted to the firm Nolte & Haas under Governor Van Heutsz, whose pepper planters were driven near to flight by robber bands in 1881–1882, and within which by 1918 a great number of rubber-, oil-palm- and coconut-estates had arisen, centred on the harbour tract of Langsar.

Submission and robberies

Langsa was among the lands submitted in the pacification of the Dependencies of 1877 — with Simpang Oelèm, Tandjong Seumantoh, Modjopahit and Rigaih — which opened the principal Atjehnese pepper harbours to Dutch relations. Less favourable was the economic state in Langsa and Modjopahit after 1881: the numerous robberies by Atjehnese bands increased so much that the pepper planters of Groot-Atjeh established there were minded to leave the country, abandoning their costly gardens and dwelling-houses; the acting assistant-resident came in time to prevent it, and on his instigation and under his leadership the robbers, after a severe chastisement by the population, were driven from the landscape. The threatened cultures, principally those in Modjopahit, received government support: in March 1882 the Netherlands Government placed a sum of 500 dollars, from the yield of the hacil, at the disposal of the pepper gardens that had suffered most from the robbers’ practices.

The nipah contract and the estates

Under Governor Van Heutsz the Deli firm Nolte & Haas — which provided the tobacco planters of Deli with wood for drying-sheds and other buildings and sheds — concluded with the chief of Langsa an agreement, approved by the government, whereby the firm was enabled, only against very ample payment, to exploit the extensive nipah forests present in his landscape, stipulating inter alia that the native population would keep the right to take what it needed for its own use; Van Heutsz proceeded “on strictly equitable lines” in the making of these contracts. The government’s own caoutchouc estate at Langsar/Langsa, founded at Van Daalen’s instance as an example of Pará rubber culture, steadily expanded through the years. Private estates multiplied under Governor Swart: in the sub-departments Langsa and Temyang a great number of rubber-, oil-palm- and coconut-enterprises appeared; by 1922 the Langsar estate district counted twenty enterprises (see N. van Zalinge’s report and Langsar). The town of Langsa received a government post- and telegraph-office under Swart, a tram-conveyance onward from Koeala Simpang (opened 1912), and a branch office of the Atjehsche Handelmaatschappij.

Account from Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf (1925)

Langsa was afdeelingshoofdplaats and governmental area surrounded by self-governing landscapes Langsa, Perlak and Soengei Radja on east coast of Atjeh, with port hamlet Koeala Langsa 9 km away.

Town planning and appearance

Noted for roomy block system layout like Koeta Radja, counting on future growth imagined around 1910 when administration thought pacification of gewest almost fact and could start foundation order as in gewest Sumatra. Bay of Langsa and sea mouth where river mouths proved deep favorable: perhaps Langsa-baai future equally big importance as Aroe-baai. Future not yet obtained now town roomy but silent and traffic from hinterland between 1912 and 1920 strongly diminished.

Chinese gardeners near Oepah likely from Langkat. Young rubber estate Toealang Tjoet named fitting because many toealangs raise bare trunks high.

Water supply

Suffers water provision as many places east coast Atjeh. On some yards wells; if somewhat favorably known, others crowd. In barracks drinking filtered kali water. 8 artesische wells… been; only one remained insufficient for population, water iron-containing attacking pipes. Expect pipes soon eaten and only tolerable provision finished. Trial de-ironing by exposing in collection basin to air. Artesian drillings between 1906 and 1919 cost f 122,931, house lines f 12,788. Only 12 km away mountain water obtainable from still unpolluted small river in forest, favorable provision possible.

In kampongs of hoofdplaats kali water sold 5 cent picol, exposing whole place to contamination.

Harbour Koeala Langsa

Not connected by road but with side line Atjeh-tram 9 km running middle through bakoe-bakoe, area messy plant growth in marsh maintained sea water, well-known coastal occurrence Sumatra where man with sacrifice health and life span yet extracts use by winning wood, bark and nipah leaf. At Koeala Langsa long roomy jetty built, extendable at will at harbor water 15-20m deep. On bank at entrance sea mouth at low water still 14 foot depth. Nature opportunity envied by many small trade harbors Indies. Average 36 vessels monthly cleared. Majority Kon. Paketvaart; also weekly Chinese boat from Penang and Chinese tongkangs fetching goods bringing little. Company Guntzel & Schumacher own coastal shipping consisting small tug with tongkangs plying between Idi and Belawan in connection permission exploitation tidal forests.

Trade statistics

Receipts tol office: 1918 f 205,643 total, 1921 f 304,856, with import f 160,924 vs f 218,949, export 401 vs 3,470, accijns petroleum 31,893 vs 62,222, lucifers 11,806 vs 19,184, warehouse rent 619 vs 1,031. Note all rights nearly doubled in 1921. Concerning import within Netherlands Indies no statistics because not paid for. Sabang outside toll area, likewise Riouw and Bengkalis. Comparison import 1918 not effective because 1918 not all ordered goods could arrive. Some export figures: 1918 vs 1921: wood bark? boomschors 7,720,832 KG vs 5,581,007 KG, black pepper? 2,218,848 vs etc? pinangnoten 882,440 vs 1,992,379 vs 1,290,790 export entirely to Penang, Singapore and Hongkong. Remarkable export Robusta coffee 1920 still 26,786 KG and after closing enterprises 10,086 KG 1921. On roads much fishing; on islet before koeala dryer and shipment along coast.

Population and agriculture

Underafdeeling Langsa comprises three landscapes Langsa 4000 souls, Peureula etc, Soengei Radja 1300. Atjehers majority. North of Langsa padifields more frequent, called sawah’s, but rain-dependent fields on Java called eega. Yet landscape Langsa still rice deficit completable from Idi if harvest not fail as partly this year due root disease. North Langsa very many pepper gardens, established by Atjehers from Pidie, Samalanga and Pasei and returned when pepper cultivation failed due disease in crop not fully determined maybe now receding and market price drop. Interest lost. Heads furnished principal capital pangkai according administrative regulation interest paid, also landscape treasury income. After failure tax collection decreased even backlog not recoverable.

European estates

Oldest enterprise Langsa in 1907 by Indian government opened to show how in this low land Hevea rubber could go. Would get plantation 1000 baoe, in 1915 had over half extent, worked then with 430 coolies largely contractors, yield 123 thousand pound rubber cost price 66 cent. Could compose eulogies as happened but for country treasury pity no consequence given to plan years ago to sell. Had happened, opening would answer goal show possibility. Other entrepreneurs later ignorant disappointments awaiting. Government rubber enterprise opened peat ground now visible soil by trees sinks roots above whole skewed growth consequence plantation looks poor. Also other divisions soil unfavorable, in younger plantings better. Wonder enough yield whole enterprise nowadays reason satisfaction. Comprises now 900 baoe and works with 250 workers (tappers inclusive). Factory only 4 rollers. Thanks management, not least among sisters region.

Enterprise Peureula (Perlak) dates 1911, modest rubber and oilpalm, little fortunate existence.

Gadja Meuntah opened by 1919 formed company Soengei Radja and after 3 years 600 baoe rubber and intercropped coffee. 1921 went wrong and sold for 19 thousand gulden to English body.

Vico (Vereenigde Indische Cultuur-ondernemingen) has enterprise Langsa (to distinguish government enterprise) which by mostly Belgian capital founded, and Kemoening. Both rubber lands under one management have together factory. Moreover from Vico enterprise Damar Sipoet thousand baoe rubber. Only oliepalm enterprise in underafdeeling is Karang Inouë, 1922 with 800 baoe plant yet belonging Vereenigde Ned. Oliepalm-Cultuur, then for 24 thousand gulden handed to Sipef (Societe Internationale de Plantations et de Finances). There was no money, plant in dirt, would almost start anew. Therefore recently for little money handed already mentioned Japanese company Dutch Borneo Plantations Cy. Blang Simpo as worthless rubber land returned, Aloer Soenasang wants unopened returned, Panton Meuriah of Japanese not maintained sees timber felling decay. Birim Rajeu dug 1911 but trees remained so small. Administrator earns now salary by delivering wood to Chinese. General phenomenon in Langsa: on enterprises much money used quickly become large; when difficulty came no money for preservation. Worse than in Temiang. There was time 12 thousand contractors; now no 2 thousand more. On some enterprises assistants gone, management in hands mandoer alone. Situation can change as soon rubber market more favorable for planter.

Account from J. Roest (1916) — Langsa and the Aru Bay question

J. Roest’s chronicle De spoorwegverbinding tusschen Deli, Atjeh en de Aroebaai (1916) gives Langsa — already linked by tram with Kwala Simpang, and, with the Langkat line, closer to the centre of the Atjeh plantation enterprises than any point on the Aru Bay — as the place where, by Schadee’s argument, any future shifting of trade would sooner go than to the projected new harbour at Telok Taboehan. In the same judgement, at any further extension of the Atjeh cultures in northern direction, Langsa had every chance itself to become their centre. The advantage counted in the controversy as the immediate answer of the plantation region to the government’s worst-case design of the Aru Bay — and, after 1915, as the settled depot of the coast trade of the Tamiang country.

See Also

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Town in the cultuurgebied (cultivation area) of eastern Aceh; deliberately laid out with spacious design. Has rubber-tuinen including ‘s Lands Caoutchouc Bedrijf, koffie- en oliepalmondernemingen. Good water supply (NIGM central), european lagere school, bioscoop, zwembad. Closer to Medan (160 km) than Koeta Radja (600 km). Not directly on sea; port at Koeala Langsa. More attractive than Sigli/Lho’Seumawé.Onderafdeeling on the east coast of Aceh; opened for landbouw-concessies; tertiair gronden made important rubber/palm oilculture center. Financieel bloei of its onderafdelingskas.Onderafdeeling on Oostkust; site of two remilling rubber factories (capacities 500 & 200 ton/year); BPM oil concessions (Soengei Raja, Kroeëng Meureubo, Paja Bilik); NKPM 5A contract; bijkantoor of Atjehsche Handel Mij; N.I. Gasmaatschappij showroom; Güntzel & Schumacherbijkantoor; tidal forest exploitation.afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh; the only kustplaats with a natural harbor. Standplaats of the Assistent-Resident of the afdeeling Oostkust van Atjeh. Site of inheemsch internaat (1931). Connected to the Atjeh-Staatsspoor.Tamiang area. The Samarkilangbende leader was arrested in 1937 and died here, where a residence had been assigned. Large-scale agriculture (with Tamiang).

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 89, 90, 184, 189, 190, 194, 195, 284, 287, 314, 329, 331, 345, 364, 411.

Source

De Buitenbezittingen 1904 tot 1914, Deel I, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen, Aflevering X (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), p. 69 (section “De Atjeh-tram”). De Buitenbezittingen 1904. In: Mededeelingen van het Encyclopaedisch Bureau. Batavia: G.C.T. van Dorp & Co., [ca. 1915], p. 258–261. De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Aflevering 2: Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1917), pp. 14–15, 25–27, 29–30, 38, 72–76, 214–217. Notulen der bestuursvergaderingen ter bespreking van de verdere voorbereiding eener hervorming van het bestuurswezen in Nederlandsch-Indië (Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, 1914), p. 358. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter III, ‘Langsa’, pp. 15–16. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter III, ‘Langsa’, pp. 12–19. Also Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (Bericht No. 71, 1932), for the Langsa patchouli-distillery. Een strijd in Atjeh (Een oogarts op het oorlogspad), door Mr. C. Graadt van Roggen, met een voorrede van den heer H. Wanting, redacteur Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (Rotterdam: N.V. Drukkerij Korteweg, uitgave van de Vereeniging „SIMAVI”, 1934), pp. 3–4. Acknowledgement of sources. This article combines material from the publications cited above; the material newly added derives from Atjeh in de Tweede Kamer (Amsterdam: J. A. Fortuijn, 1897) and Een strijd in Atjeh (Rotterdam: N.V. Drukkerij Korteweg for the Vereeniging „SIMAVI”, 1934). Dutch passages are quoted in the original with an English rendering. Generaal Swart, Pacificator van Atjeh (“General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh”), by M. H. du Croo, Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with the collaboration of H. J. Schmidt, Titular Colonel K.N.I.L. (retired), with a foreword by His Excellency Lieutenant-General K.N.I.L. (retired) G. K. Dijkstra (Maastricht: N.V. Leiter-Nypels, 1943), Chapter IX, XII, XIII. Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 36, 48–49, 84, 90–91, 107, 121, 185. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 12-20.

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 89, 90, 184, 189, 190, 194, 195, 284, 287, 314, 329, 331, 345, 364, 411.

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