Noord-Sumatra — North Sumatra — is the region of Sumatra in which, according to Nederlanders over de Zeeën, the great Venetian traveller Marco Polo had already observed Muslim state-formation by the late thirteenth century, and in which, in the sixteenth century, “begint […] het grote rijk van Atjeh zijn vleugels uit te slaan” (the great kingdom of Atjeh begins to spread its wings). The region is the geographical cradle of the Atjeh sultanate.
The Marco Polo observation
The source records that “in Noord-Sumatra, waar de grote Venetiaanse reiziger reeds Moslimse statenvorming waarnam” (in North Sumatra, where the great Venetian traveller already observed Muslim state-formation). The Venetian traveller is Marco Polo, who visited Sumatra in the late thirteenth century and recorded the existence of Muslim states on the northern coast. The observation is, in the source’s narrative, the earliest European notice of Muslim state-formation in the Indonesian Archipelago.
The sixteenth-century Atjeh rise
The source records that, in the sixteenth century, “begint […] het grote rijk van Atjeh zijn vleugels uit te slaan” (the great kingdom of Atjeh begins to spread its wings). The Atjeh sultanate was to “over beide oevers van straat Malakka heersen” (rule over both shores of the Strait of Malacca) and “de vesting der Portugezen aldaar meer dan eens erg in het nauw brengen” (bring the Portuguese fortress there into dire straits more than once). The North-Sumatran rise of Atjeh was, in the source’s narrative, the principal sixteenth-century Muslim-state response to the Portuguese presence in the Strait.
Significance
North Sumatra is the geographical cradle of the Atjeh sultanate. The Marco Polo observation of thirteenth-century Muslim state-formation and the sixteenth-century rise of Atjeh are, in the source’s narrative, the two foundational acts of Atjehnese history.
Sources
Nederlandsch Indië Platen Atlas met korte beschrijvingen, uitgegeven door Volkslectuur, Weltevreden, Java. Weltevreden: G. Kolff & Co., January 1926. Chapter II (Land en Volk), p. 24.
See Also
- Acheh
- Sumatra
- Marco Polo
- Sultan of Acheh
- Straat Malakka
- 13th century
- 16th century
- Atjehers
- Islam in Atjeh
- Perlak
- Pasé
- Kota Radja
Source
Nederlanders over de Zeeën: 350 Jaar geschiedenis van Nederland buitengaats, onder redactie van Dr. H. J. de Graaf, met medewerking van Prof. G. Gonggrijp, W. R. Menkman en Prof. Jhr Dr P. J. van Winter, 2e geheel herziene druk (Utrecht: W. de Haan N.V., MCMLV), p. 99.