Langsar (also written Langsa) was a coast-state on the east coast of Atjeh, one of the two states — together with Simpang Olim — that had remained hostile to the Dutch by the end of 1874. The state was the object of an expedition in May 1877 after its population had been troubling the friendly Tamiang, in which the Dutch flag was hoisted at Langsar on 18 May 18 May 1877. Together with Modjopahit and the whole Temijang-gebied, Langsar came under Dutch sovereignty in 1877-1878.
Refusal of Submission
By the end of 1874 the Dutch flag had not yet been accepted by Telok Kroet, Rigas and Tenom on the west coast, by Pedir, Merdoe and Samalanga on the north coast, and by Simpang Olim, Arakoendoer and Langsar on the east coast. Langsar was thus one of the hold-outs among the coast-states of Atjeh.
The Expedition of May 1877
In May 1877 the whole East Coast was brought under Dutch authority by an expedition to Langsar, whose population had been troubling the friendly Tamiang. The Dutch troops had thereby a very tiring march to accomplish before they had reached the chief place from the Birimrivier, where they had disembarked. After a failed march on 10 May 10 May, the troops set out again on 11 May 11 May and arrived at Langsar only on 14 May 14 May:
“The great heat to which the troops had been exposed that day had caused many to fall unconscious: an adjutant-underofficier, acting officer, and 3 soldiers had thereby succumbed, and the troop was, according to an eye-witness, about midday so lethargic that 50 enterprising Atjehers would certainly have been able to make a terrible slaughter. Fatigue, hunger and thirst stood on every face, and only when the bivouac was pitched did the officers and rank-and-file gradually come to themselves.”
On 18 May 18 May 1877 the Dutch flag was hoisted at Langsar.
The Submission of Modjopahit and the Temijang-gebied
Repeated disturbances of the peace and incursions into the Dutch enterprises in Langkat led to an expedition in 1877, “of which the consequence was that also the Atjehsche statejes Langsar and Modjopahit, and the whole Temijang-gebied came under our sovereignty.”
Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)
Langsar — the bay and estate-centre on the East Coast of Atjeh in the landscape Langsa — grew after 1900 from an alternative anchorage of the Simpang Aneu river into “the centre of culture-estates”, where twenty rubber-, oil-palm- and coconut-enterprises lay in 1922, the goal of the tramway’s eastward extension and the seat of a NHM sub-agency, a credit bank and a government caoutchouc enterprise.
The bay and the piers
Already under Governor Van Heutsz merchants in Atjeh asked for an investigation of the Langsar bay to judge whether moving the ships’ landing-place on the East Coast from the Simpang Aneu river to Langsar was possible and desirable, Langsar then already rising as a trading place of significance. Van Heutsz caused soundings to be made in the Langsar harbour, which gave a favourable result, and subsequently submitted proposals to the Government for the grant of funds for the building of piers at Langsar and for carrying the Atjeh tram through to the place. The first European industrial establishment of the region had been an undertaking for timber cutting at Langsar (before 1893) which delivered wood to the tobacco enterprises in the Deli country.
The estate district
At Van Daalen’s instance the wherewithal was furnished for the foundation of a caoutchouc enterprise at Langsar, as an example and encouragement in view of results obtained elsewhere with Pará rubber; the government’s caoutchouc enterprise at Langsa steadily expanded through the years. Private agriculture followed: rubber plantations of European companies grew greatly both in Langsar and in Temyang; a Hollandsch-Indlandsche school opened at Langsar in 1916, and a public European lower school; a credit bank for the East Coast arose at Langsar (1913); artesian wells were bored. In July 1910 funds were granted for the tramway Langsa–Koeala Simpang, opened in 1912, by which Langsar came on the through rail route (see Atjeh Tram); the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij opened a sub-agency at Langsar; the Atjehsche Handelmaatschappij and Handelsmaatschappij Deli-Atjeh kept establishments, and agencies of Medan houses were opened at Langsar as at Sabang, Sigli and Koeala Simpang.
Van Zalinge’s report, 1922
“De handel gaat zich steeds meer verplaatsen naar Langsar, het centrum van cultuurondernemingen, die zich zoowel naar het Noorden als naar het Westen en het Zuiden uitstrekken” (“Trade moves ever more to Langsar, the centre of culture-estates, which extend northward, westward and southward”), wrote Director N. van Zalinge of the K.P.M. after his tour of late 1922: twenty estates then operated — twelve producing rubber only, seven planting oil-palms and rubber, and one cultivating cocos-palms; when the partly-reclaimed estates should all come to full production, Langsar would shortly become a shipping place of significance. He noted under-staffed gardens with grass shooting between the hevea, and the mimosa experiment which elsewhere choked the weeds without harming the trees. Governor Van Sluys’s 1923 itinerary likewise named Langsar as a stage of the through connection Koeta Radja–Medan.
See Also
- Simpang Olim
- Modjopahit
- Temijang
- Tamiang
- Langkat
- Birimrivier
- Arakoendoer
- Aceh War
- Langsa
- N. van Zalinge
- Atjeh Tram
- Foreign capital in Atjeh
- Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij
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, pp. 64, 68, 88-89.
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 67, 83, 90–91, 102, 106–107, 109–111, 124–125, 127–128, 138, 180–182.