Pidie

The major North Coast territory and kingdom. ‘The Achehnese give the name of Pidie to the whole of the territory which formerly belonged to the kingdom of that name, i.e. almost the whole of the North Coast with its hinterland.’ Pidie is historically known as a seat of religious learning: ‘Thus most of the learned in Great Acheh have spent the greater part of their student life in Pidie, while vice versa the studiously inclined in Pidie and on the East Coast amass their capital of knowledge in Great Acheh.’ The centres of learning in Pidie before the Dutch included Langga and Langgo, Langga and Langgo, Sriweue, Simpang, and Ie Leubeue (= Ayer Labu). Tiro in Pidie was ‘sanctified by the presence of so many living ulamas and the holy tombs of their predecessors.’ Heretical mysticism (eleumee sale) also flourished in Pidie. In the Hikayat Malem Dagang, ‘The first place touched at is Pidie (vulg. Pedir), the panglima of which is handed down to fame as the bravest and most distinguished of generals.’ The Hikayat Pochut Muhamat describes Pochut Muhamat’s tour through Pidie gathering allies: he visited Padang Teuji, Reubee, and eventually won over Pangulee Beunaroe, the powerful uleebalang of the IX Mukims. The sadati kisah describes Pidie as forming a square with four uleebalangs holding power: ‘The X Mukims are subject to Bentara Keumangan; Teungku Sama Indra rules the VIII Mukims; The La’seumana is a fatherless child; he rules the XXII Mukims; The V Mukims are under the control of Teungku Ujong

Pidie (also Pedir, or Pidié in Acehnese orthography) was a significant coastal territory immediately to the east of Great Acheh, lying beyond the boundary formed by the footpaths through Reueng-reueng, Pancha, and Janthoe and continuing to Teumieng on the East Coast.

Pidie was one of the outer dependencies of the Aceh Sultanate, bound to the sultanate in a more distant relationship than the three sagis of Great Acheh itself. The territory fell within the broader limits of the kingdom — the Acehnese placing those limits at Teumieng (Tamiang) on the East Coast — but was distinct from “Acheh proper.”

C. Snouck Hurgronje notes that the Pidië dialect was employed in certain senses within the Acehnese language, for example using the word penghulu (Malay equivalent of imeum) as chief or lord — a title otherwise confined in Acheh to the prophet and his disciples.

Some members of Sayyid families from Mecca were settled in Pidie and made occasional journeys to Keumala, where the young sultan (Muhammad Dawot Shah) treated them with the highest honour.

Expanded account from The Achehnese, Vol. I — Pidie

Pidie, vulgarly known to Europeans as Pedir, is the region of Acheh lying on the East Coast immediately to the south of Great-Acheh. It is one of the oldest and most politically important of the Achehnese dependencies, and throughout The Achehnese Vol. I Snouck Hurgronje treats it as a region second only to the heartland in significance. Its people, speech and customs differ in many particulars from those of Great Acheh, and the kawom (tribal) organisation survived here with greater force than in the lowlands near the Dalam.

The kawoms have maintained most force in those parts of the country where the political development is most backward: in the Tunong (the XXII Mukims), in Pidie, and in the VII Mukims Bueng (the part of the XXVI Mukims that has most in common with the highlands in language and manners). In the lowlands, on the other hand, and especially in the neighbourhood of the Dalam, blood-feuds (bila) and political dissension have tended to weaken tribal ties. The title teungku is applied in Pidie and on the East Coast not only to religious officials and learned men — as it is in Great-Acheh — but also to the holders of worldly offices and worldly distinctions; in Great-Acheh such persons are distinguished by the title teuku. Pidie also has its federations of mukims on the model of the Three Sagis: just as Acheh has its XXII Mukims of Panglima Polem, so Pidie has its XXII Mukims of Bentara Keumangan, and so forth.

The district is closely associated with Meukuta Alam (1607–1636). In Pidie, just as in Great-Acheh, there were a number of mosques which enjoyed the reputation of having been erected by that Sultan and which were thus also called meuseugit raya (“great mosques”). The famous story of the humble man of Lampanaih who gave milk to a thirsty Sultan on the Pidie campaign, and was honoured by his descendants becoming the Teuku Kali (court judges), shows how closely Pidie was bound up with the royal mythology. Snouck Hurgronje also notes that, while the Teungku (religious teacher) holds his rank by personal qualities in Great-Acheh, in Pidie it is possible to be born into the title.

In modern times Pidie acquired fresh political importance as the seat of the fugitive Sultan’s court. After the loss of the Dalam and the death of Sultan Mahmut Shah, the pretender Tuanku Muhamat Dawot established himself at Keumala in Pidie territory; thither uleebalangs who had tendered their submission to the Dutch Government made pilgrimage in order to obtain sealed deeds of recognition, and thither too the influential Imeum of Chade’ went to support the defeated candidate in the last pre-war royal conflict. Pidie was also the theatre of the murder of Teuku Lamreueng, who had re-established himself in his territory and tendered his submission to the Dutch Government and was killed there by the adherents of Teuku Lampaseh as he went to fetch his family. In agriculture, the planting-out (pula) of rice in Pidie is left to the women, who work for a small daily wage — a custom shared with Daya and some parts of the highlands. Pidie (vulgarly known to Europeans as Pedir) was, in the political system of Acheh described by Snouck Hurgronje, one of the most important dependencies of the sultanate, lying between Great Acheh and the East Coast of Sumatra. Though outside the territory of the three sagis that formed the kernel of the kingdom, Pidie was closely linked to it by religion, by race, and by a long history of political dependence on the sultans of Acheh. Its reputation in the country was enhanced by the number of distinguished ulamas it produced — most famously the celebrated Teungku Tiro, whose gampong of Tiro in Pidie enjoyed a privileged position as a place of sanctuary and religious teaching.

Under Van Daalen, 1905–1907

During the governorship of Van Daalen (1905–1907), Pidië suffered particularly harsh treatment that Van Heutsz’s 1907 investigation found was “exclusively punished and treated arbitrarily, against justice and equity.” Several oelèëbalangs had been arbitrarily dismissed and not replaced, leaving the civil administrator to take over their functions — what Van Heutsz called “an absolute impossibility”; other chiefs were subjected to heavy fines for political reasons without any legal basis, and some were threatened with career repercussions if they resisted. Following Van Daalen’s removal in 1908, his successor Swart reversed these policies, restored the chiefs, and re-established a cooperative relationship that made Pidië a model of successful pacification under the more conciliatory approach.

Account from Atjèh and the War with Japan (1949) — Pidië

Pidië is the historical region of the Noordkust of Atjèh, “the rich Pidië,” the rice barn of the pre-colonial Acehnese sultanate whose sawah plains — “for a long time before the establishment of Dutch authority excellently irrigated” — formed the demographic and economic heart of the former district, and whose “medieval system of feudal ownership” of the land survived into the twentieth century as a defining feature of Atjèhnese agrarian society. Piekaar’s Atjèh and the War with Japan treats Pidië as the geographical and political reality behind the three subdistricts of Sigli, Lam Meuló and Meureudoe into which it was administratively divided, and as the source of the great oelèëbalang families whose authority was, in 1942, the bulwark against which the Poesa movement measured itself.

The geographical region

Pidië was the great alluvial plain of north-central Atjèh, enclosed by hill and mountain country on its inland side. Piekaar records that “the inhabited area remains thereby mainly limited to the area belonging to the Groot-Atjèh valley in the West and the area belonging to the Pidirese lowland in the East.” The easternmost portion of the Seulimeum subdistrict, “known as the VII Moekims Pidië, comprises the 8 easternmost independent moekims. Together with some adjoining areas in the Sigli sub-division, these 8 mukims were for some time united in the subdistrict Padang Tiji, thus named after the flourishing marketplace and former garrison post Padang Tiji, which forms the center of the VII Moekims Pidië.” This enclosure by and immediate proximity to the hill and mountain country have “made the population here familiar with it from a young age. Possibly this is also one of the causes by which here a stronger, perhaps more primitive race has continued to exist than in the great plains along the North Coast.”

The feudal ownership system

Piekaar records of Pidië that “in fact a medieval system of feudal ownership still” survived there into the 1940s, and that this was characteristic of “the large landholdings, especially in Pidië (subdivisions Sigli, Meureudoe and Lam Meuló).” The feudal ownership system was intertwined with the great trade interests of the oelèëbalangs through which “they controlled the economic life.” The political fragmentation of Pidië was extreme. “Politically however this area was extremely splintered and fragmented. The subdistrict of Sigli alone counted no less than 14 lands, of which only four with a population of more than 10,000.” The old historical political alliances were “grouped around the oelèëbalangs of the XII Moekims Pidië and Ndjóng (federation XII) on the one hand and those of Keumangan (federation VI) on the other.” Even the Lam Meuló subdistrict — also part of former Pidië — contained “9 landschap” of which the largest, Tjoembó’, held only 8,500 inhabitants.

Pidië as the bulwark of the oelèëbalang authority

“On the other hand however Sigli, the heart of the former district of Pidie, was the bulwark of the oelèëbalang authority. Nowhere were the oelèëbalangs more powerful, both politically and economically, than in the rich Pidië.” The bulwark quality of Pidië was, in Piekaar’s analysis, precisely the reason why the Poesa leaders — although Sigli belonged to their foremost action centres — did not unleash a large-scale revolt in Pidië in February 1942, as they had done in Seulimeum and Tjalang. “May it be concluded from this that the Pusa leaders, although Sigli belonged to their foremost action centers, did not feel themselves capable of unleashing a large-scale fifth column action in this stronghold of the oelèëbalangs?” The region between Sigli and Bireuën was, after the Japanese capitulation of August 1945, the “stronghold of PUSA” from which the post-war unrest of the republican period radiated.

Account from the Notulen der bestuursvergaderingen (1914) — Pidië

Pidië (also Pedir, modern Pidie) was an onderafdeeling (sub-district) of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, administered by Majoor Th. J. Veltman as Civiel Gezaghebber. Pidië occupied a strategically important position on the north coast of Atjeh and was one of the most significant regions in Atjeh’s history, having been the site of the powerful sultanate of Pedir in the pre-colonial period. The placement of a military officer (a Majoor der Infanterie) as its Civiel Gezaghebber indicated the continued importance of Pidië from a security perspective and the ongoing militarization of Atjeh’s civil administration, a hallmark of the Gouvernement system that distinguished it from civilian-governed territories elsewhere in the Netherlands East Indies.

Historical Significance: The Sultanate of Pedir

The region of Pidië carried historical resonances that extended far beyond its administrative status as an onderafdeeling. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Sultanate of Pedir had been one of the most powerful polities on the island of Sumatra, a major center of trade and Islamic learning whose influence extended across the Indian Ocean world. Portuguese and other European sources of the early modern period regularly identified Pedir as a key port of call and a significant political power in the Strait of Malacca region. The decline of the Pedir sultanate in the later sixteenth century—coinciding with the rise of the Aceh sultanate based at Koeta-Radja—did not erase the region’s political and cultural significance, and the communities of Pidië retained a strong sense of distinct identity within the broader Acehnese world.

The Dutch colonial administration’s recognition of Pidië as a separate onderafdeeling reflected this historical and political legacy. Unlike some onderafdeelingen that were defined primarily by their moekim composition or geographic boundaries, Pidië was a region with a deeply rooted indigenous political identity that predated the colonial state. The decision to administer it under a Civiel Gezaghebber rather than a Controleur—and specifically a military officer of the rank of Majoor—indicated that the colonial authorities viewed Pidië as a region requiring both administrative attention and a military presence. This assessment likely reflected both the strategic location of Pidië on the northern coast and the possibility that its historically rooted regional identity could pose challenges to colonial control if not carefully managed.

Administrative Role Within the Noordkust

As an onderafdeeling within the Noordkust van Atjeh afdeeling, Pidië operated under the overall authority of Assistent-Resident M. C. Roos van Raadshoven, while maintaining its own administrative apparatus under Th. J. Veltman. This two-tiered structure—onderafdeeling within afdeeling—was characteristic of the colonial administrative system, which relied on a hierarchy of officials with progressively broader territorial responsibilities. The Civiel Gezaghebber at Pidië exercised direct administrative control over the onderafdeeling, overseeing the indigenous moekim and gampong (village) level officials who formed the lowest tier of the governance structure. The military rank of the Civiel Gezaghebber meant that civil and military functions were combined in a single official, a feature of Atjeh’s administration that reflected the territory’s unique status as a Gouvernement under a Civiel en Militair Gouverneur.

The continued presence of a Majoor as Civiel Gezaghebber in Pidië as late as 1914—more than three decades after the initial Dutch military penetration of the region—testified to the persistent security concerns that shaped Atjeh’s governance. While other parts of the Netherlands East Indies had transitioned to fully civilian administration by this period, Atjeh remained under a governance system that explicitly combined civil and military authority. The specific circumstances of Pidië, with its historically powerful regional identity and its location on the densely populated northern coast, warranted the retention of a military officer in this civil administrative post, ensuring that the colonial state could respond rapidly to any security challenge without the delays inherent in requesting military support from a separate command structure.

Pidië in the Proposed Reorganization

In the proposed administrative reorganization of the Bestuursreorganisatie Sumatra (1913-1914), the onderafdeeling Pidië continued as a subdivision within the merged “Noord- en Oostkust van Atjeh behalve Tamiang” afdeeling, which combined the former Noordkust van Atjeh and Oostkust van Atjeh into a single administrative unit with a population of approximately 480,000. The preservation of Pidië as a distinct onderafdeeling within this larger entity recognized the region’s unique historical identity and its continuing administrative and strategic importance. The reorganization did not propose to alter the fundamental internal structure of Pidië’s governance, suggesting that the colonial authorities regarded the existing arrangement—including the appointment of military officers as Civiel Gezaghebbers—as appropriate to local conditions and likely to persist under the new administrative framework.

Account from Schets eener parlementaire geschiedenis (1955)

The following account is drawn from the parliamentary history of the Dutch Second Chamber as narrated by Vermeulen in the colonial section of the 1955 fourth revised edition of Rengers’s *Schets*.

Pidië — also Pidié, Pidie — is, in the source’s narrative, the Atjehnese landschap (territory) named alongside the Gaju- and Alaslanden as one of the onderhorigheden (dependencies) of Groot-Atjeh. The onderhorigheden are distinguished in the source from Groot-Atjeh proper, which contained the three sagi’s of the sultanate’s core.

The onderhorigheden

The source records: “Er waren in Groot Atjeh (aldus genoemd in onderscheid tot de onderhorigheden, zoals Pidië, de Gaju- en Alaslanden) drie sagi’s” (In Groot Atjeh — so named in distinction to the dependencies, such as Pidië, the Gaju- and Alaslands — there were three sagi’s). Pidië is the first-named of the onderhorigheden, followed by the Gaju- and Alaslanden.

The Pedir connexion

The name Pidië is cognate with Pedir — the haven on the east coast of Atjeh that gave its name to the Pedir region and, in the source’s earlier narrative, to the Padri reformers of the early nineteenth century. The Padri’s “werden genoemd, naar de haven Pedir aan de Oostkust, waarover de weg der Padangse bedevaartgangers gewoonlijk ging” (were named after the harbour Pedir on the East Coast, through which the way of the Padang pilgrims usually went).

Significance

Pidië is, in the source’s narrative, one of the three named onderhorigheden of Groot-Atjeh — alongside the Gaju- and Alaslanden. The distinction between the core sagi’s of Groot-Atjeh and the onderhorigheden is the source’s principal characterisation of Atjehnese territorial structure.

Account from Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (1930) — the regulatory record

In the 1930 compilation of Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, the afdeeling Pidië — Pidië in the spelling of the compilation, Pedir in the older Dutch and Van Heutsz’s 1893 tract — was an afdeeling of the Gouvernement Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden on the north coast of Aceh, comprising some twenty-four zelfbesturende landschappen whose oeleebalang collectively issued the revised Pantjang Alas regulation of 27 July 1925 (Reg. No. 4a) — the most detailed Pantjang Alas regulation in the entire 1930 compilation, the model on which the highland and island Pantjang Alas regelingen were patterned, and the only regulation in the book whose signatory clause names twenty-four separate landschappen by name — and the alang-alang regulation of 21 January 1928 (Reg. No. 23), the cogon-grass burning regulation whose twenty-six signatory landschappen constitute the longest signatory-clause in the compilation.

The twenty-four zelfbesturende landschappen

The afdeeling Pidië sits on the north-central coast of Aceh, between the afdeeling Noordkust van Atjeh to the east and the afdeeling Westkust van Atjeh to the west. Its onderafdeelingen include Sigli, Meureudoe, Lammeulo, and Padangtidji — the four coastal subdivisions whose Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar’s Gezien-countersignature validates the Pantjang Alas kwitanties under Reg. No. 4b. The signatory clause of Reg. No. 4a names the twenty-four zelfbesturende landschappen of the afdeeling collectively: Pidië, Keumangan, Ndjong, Gloempang Pajoeng, Pineueng, Ië Leubeue, Gigieng, Bambi en Oenoë, Aron, Kraeung Seumideuen, Sama Indra, Aree, Iboih, Meureudoe, Trieng Gading, Pante Radja, Reubee, Keumala, Titene, Tjoembo, Troeseb, Andeue en Lala, Me Tareuem, Ilot, Tangse en Geumpang. The slight variation in list-membership and spelling between Reg. 4a (1925) and Reg. 23 (1928) reflects the natural administrative churn of landschap-level federation.

The Pantjang Alas regulation of 27 July 1925 (Reg. No. 4a)

The Pantjang Alas regulation of 27 July 1925 is the principal Pantjang Alas regulation of the 1930 compilation and the most detailed of any regulation in the book. Its full Dutch title is Zelfbestuursverordening van 27 Juli 1925 tot vaststelling van een regeling op de heffing en inning van de z.g. Pantjang Alas in de landschappen der afdeeling Pidië (Self-government regulation of 27 July 1925 establishing a regulation on the levying and collection of the so-called Pantjang Alas in the landschappen of the afdeeling Pidië). The regulation was approved by the Gouverneur on 3 July 1926 and entered into force on 1 December 1925. The regulation repeals the earlier regeling of 28 April 1912 and establishes the new regeling. Its operational core is the Pantjang Alas of 10% of the value of the boschproducten set quarterly by the Hoofd van Gewest in overleg with the Zelfbestuur — De “Pantjang alas” bedraagt 10% van de waarde, welke drie maandelijks door het Hoofd van Gewest bij besluit wordt vastgesteld (The “Pantjang alas” amounts to 10% of the value, which is established quarterly by the Head of the Gewest by decree). It provides for the kwitantie / register / stortingsstaat documentary infrastructure, exempts the dienst der B.O.W. (Public Works) and Landschapswerken from the tax, and prohibits the offering for transport of boschproducten not covered by a kwitantie at the dienst der Atjeh Tram.

The alang-alang regulation of 21 January 1928 (Reg. No. 23)

The alang-alang regulation of 21 January 1928 — Zelfbestuursverordening van 21 Januari 1928 houdende vaststelling van een regeling op het branden van alang-alang en andere begroeiingen op woeste gronden in de landschappen der afdeeling Pidië (Self-government regulation of 21 January 1928 establishing a regulation on the burning of alang-alang and other vegetation on uncultivated lands in the landschappen of the afdeeling Pidië) — is the only regulation in the 1930 compilation dealing with cogon-grass burning. Its signatory clause is the longest in the book — twenty-six landschappen named collectively. The regulation was approved by the Gouverneur on 30 April 1928. Its Dutch recital invokes reforestation as a motive: Overwegende dat het gewenscht is, bepalingen in het leven te roepen ter bescherming van begroeijingen op woeste gronden en ter bevordering van en om hydrologische redenen gunstig geachte reboisatie (Whereas it is desirable to establish provisions for the protection of vegetation on uncultivated lands and for the promotion of reforestation favourable for hydrological reasons) — the only reforestation reference in the 1930 compilation. The regulation imposes a permit-system (schriftelijke vergunning of the Zelfbestuur) on the burning of alang-alang on woeste gronden (uncultivated lands), with a mutual-aid fire-fighting duty on omwonanden (local residents).

The onderafdeeling Sigli as operational supplement (Reg. No. 4b)

The operational supplement to Reg. 4a — Reg. No. 4b, the Zelfbestuursbesluit van 27 Juli 1925 tot vaststelling van voorschriften tot uitvoering der bepalingen regelende de heffing en inning van de zg. Pantjang Alas voor de landschappen in de onderafdeeling Sigli, afdeeling Pidie (Self-government decree of 27 July 1925 establishing prescriptions for the execution of the provisions regulating the levying and collection of the so-called Pantjang Alas for the landschappen in the onderafdeeling Sigli, afdeeling Pidië) — provides the detailed uitvoeringsvoorschriften for the Pantjang Alas in the onderafdeeling Sigli (the most-coastal and most-commercially-active of the four Pidië onderafdeelingen). It establishes the Gezien-counter-signed kwitantie as vervoerpas: Alle origineele kwitanties van betaling van pantjang alas moeten … in den linker benedenhoek vermelden de aanteekening “Gezien” onderteekend door den Plaatselijk Besturenden Ambtenaar (All original kwitanties of Pantjang Alas payment must bear in the lower-left corner the annotation “Gezien” signed by the Plaatselijk Besturend Ambtenaar). Parallel besluiten exist for the other three Pidië onderafdeelingen — Meureudoe, Lammeulo, and Padangtidji — with the same inwerkingtreding of 1 December 1925.

Significance (Zelfbestuursverordeningen account)

Pidie’s significance in the 1930 compilation rests on its being the most-landschap-fragmented afdeeling of the Gouvernement — twenty-four zelfbesturende landschappen under Reg. No. 4a (1925) and twenty-six under Reg. No. 23 (1928), the longest signatory-clauses in the compilation — and therefore the natural laboratory for the afdeeling-level Pantjang Alas revision of 27 July 1925 that operationalised a uniform fiscal template across an entire afdeeling for the first time. The 1925 Pidië revision replaced the earlier 1912 landschap-level Pantjang Alas regime (originating in Meulaboh, Reg. No. 2) with the afdeeling-level regime that the Gouvernement would extend across all the highland and island onderafdeelingen by 1926. Pidie is, in this sense, the empirical demonstration of the afdeeling-level Pantjang Alas regime and the reboisatie-motive’s first appearance in the Atjeh regulatory record.

Account from Atjeh by H.C. Zentgraff (1938)

Zentgraff treats Pidië as the heartland of the Tiro-oelama’s and of the most stubborn resistance. Op de Westkust kon je weleens gevangenen maken, maar dit kwam in Pidië practisch niet voor; ieder ervaren soldaat wist dat de menschen in Pidië zich liever doodvochten dan gevangen te geven.

In 1898 Van Heutsz made the tocht naar Pidië en daarna naar Tangsé, and in 1901 on his verjaardag (25 October) took the famous Bateë Iliq at Meureudoe and Samalanga — een 25 October zooals Van Heutsz die nooit zal vergeten. In June 1904 kapitein Stoop discovered the schuilplaats of Tengkoe Tjot Plieëng — de heiligste en hoogste onder de strijdbare geestelijke hoofden — tusschen twee uitloopers van de Gle Keulabéë Asap; the Tengkoe escaped but left his Koran and his zegelamulet (an heirloom of Tengkoe Sjech Saman di Tiro). Dat Tengkoe Tjot Plieëng die amulet verloor was, ondanks zijn rantej boei, als het schrift aan den wand.

During a patrol in Pidië, Potjoet Meurah was arrested on suspicion of hiding a klewang; she drew her rentjong and stormde op de brigade in with “Dan ben ik liever dood.” Days later Veltman found her at the keudé Biheuë hidden behind cloths with papje van koelendrek on her wounds; he washed the maden from the wounds and she recovered, though lame for life. Kolonel Scheurer nam de houding aan and saluted her.

Atjeh, door H.C. Zentgraff. Gedrukt bij Drukkerij “De Unie”, 1938, Batavia.

Zelfbestuursverordeningen Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, Serie A No. 9 of the Mededeelingen van de Afdeeling Bestuurszaken der Buitengewesten van het Departement van Binnenlandsch Bestuur, Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1930, esp. Regs. 4a, 4b, and 23 (pp. 13, 18, and 121). OCR-filename: 20260719_030404_DLP-112-Zelfbestuursverordeningen_Atjeh_en_onderhoorigheden_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.

The hearth of resistance, 1898

In his column area, the sagi of the XXII Moekims, van Heutsz attacked the positions of Panglima Pòlém and drove him to Pidië; the column at Lho’ Nga drove Teukoe Oemar from Leupoeëng, but his bands returned repeatedly, so that only in 1898 did T. Oemar likewise withdraw to Pidië and join Panglima Pòlém and the pretender-sultan Toeankoe Mochamad Dawot. “Pidië became from that moment the hearth of the resistance.”

Van Heutsz entered “the Pidië hotbed” on 1 June 1898 with four battalions; in four months Pidië was subjected.

Swart’s service in Pidië

H. N. A. Swart served in Pidië as captain from 22 November 1898, first with the 7th Battalion at Sigli and its detached Sundanese company, with which he marched out often in the Padang Tidji district; then, from 30 May 1899, with the 12th Battalion. In the operations of 1899 he was wounded by a grazing shot above the right temple at the storming of the kampong Bambi on 8 May.

The resistance of 1908–1912

In this district, “the cradle of the irreconcilable religious leaders, the Tirò Teungkoes,” the oelama party took heavy blows in 1908, the Tirò band having fled from Geumpang to Pidië at the end of 1907 before the patrols of H. J. Schmidt. Captain G. K. Dijkstra took over the administration from major Schröder. On 8 February 1908 Schmidt surprised the band’s hiding-place on the kr. Meu’, where five of the principal Teungkoes fell.

In the night of 8–9 December 1908 Tgk. Aron carried out at Keudé Garot “an almost perfect hussar’s stroke,” passing his band off as a patrol in captured uniforms, capturing eight rifles and wounding the Imeum of Garot.

In 1910 Boreel at Lam Meulò and Schmidt at Tangsé became the pace-setters; in May Schmidt killed Tgk. Tjhi’ Majét and Tgk. di Boekét, the leadership of the Tirò band passing to the sixteen-year-old Tgk. Ma’at. In August Roelofsen at Geumpang laid low Keudjroeën Leupoe. In 1910 186 resistance men fell in Pidië, twenty-eight were taken prisoner and 174 submitted.

Among those killed were the kramat-venerated nestor of the religious resistance leaders, Habib Teupin Wan — so holy that the fingers of those who dared point at him would stiffen — three scholars of great name, and two well-known band-heads; and the notorious Tgk. Moehamat Haroen of Lam Meulò, laid low by captain F. P. A. van Gheel Gildemeester of the 4th Division.

In July 1911 the controleur G. J. van Dongen took over the administration of the sub-division from the civil authority, the marechaussée captain W. A. Herold. In 1912 the garrison of Pidië could be reduced by two companies. In December 1911 Schmidt completed his commission with the death of Tgk. Ma’at.

By 1913 only Pang Bintang, T. Dagang, a few survivors of the Tirò band under Tgk. Ma’ Aréh di Lam Goet and the Tjoebo-bende remained; all were eliminated that year, and “Central Pidië was cleared.”

The Scheepens murder

On 10 October 1913 the Civil Authority of Pidië, overste W. B. J. A. Scheepens, was stabbed at Sigli during a sitting of the Landschapsgerecht by the oelèëbalang of the II Moekims Titeuë, T. Béntara Titeuë; he died on 17 October. Swart travelled to Sigli by special tram with the surgeon Dubinsky, but surgical intervention could no longer help.

Agriculture and administration

Swart considered the improvement of the sawah culture in Pidië especially important, since rice from the north coast had a good and easy outlet to Sumatra’s Oostkust, where there was always a shortage. He sought and found a collaborator to help him improve the existing water conduits, the loeëngs. An agricultural school was opened at Pedir on 12 February, of which the population did not yet fully grasp the significance but understood enough to see that an attempt was being made to raise agriculture.

The separately administered territory of the VII Moekims Pidië was among the sub-divisions placed under civil administrators in 1909.

In 1914

In the interview Swart gave to the Sumatra Post on 6 and 7 March 1914 he reported that in “the Pedir country, once the focal point of resistance (180,000 inhabitants)” there were still ten ill-disposed men wandering about with two rifles — for whom, however, all twelve brigades of a division of marechaussée plus twelve brigades of infantry, some five hundred men in all, were searching, partly to reassure public opinion, “otherwise it would merely be said that Atjeh is being stripped of troops.”

Significance (du Croo, 1943)

Pidië was, after Groot Atjeh, the most important theatre of the Atjeh war: the seat of the pretender-sultan and of the Tirò oelama line, the district in which van Heutsz’s new method was first proved, and the district in which the last great religious resistance of the province was finally extinguished.

Sources

Atjeh gedurende de tweede expeditie en later, Een Oud Officier, Batavia: Ogilvie & Co., 1876, pp. 8-10.

20260707_232246_DLP-55-De_geschiedenis_van_het_Nederlandsche_Korps_Mariniers_van_1665_1945_OCR.txt, p. 125.
Coen: Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandschen Handel in Indië (1598—1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. de Boer Jr., 1948), pp. 110‑113.
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. 12–14, 30–31, 47–49, 55–57, 137–138.
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgersschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872‑1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 29, 80, 94, 96, 108.
De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665‑1945, OCR text, pages 485‑488 (entries for Pedir on 97, 110, 115).- De onderwerping van Atjeh, door J. B. van Heutsz, Majoor der Infanterie, gewezen Chef van den Staf in Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden. ‘s-Gravenhage: De Gebroeders van Cleef; Batavia: G. Kolff en Co., 1893, esp. pp. 9, 11, 15, 16, 19, 27, 37, 49–51, 60, 67–68. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-107-De_onderwerping_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.
Raffles’ Atjeh‑overeenkomst van 1819, by P. H. van der Kemp, in Bijdragen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‑, Land‑ en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch‑Indië, 6e Volgr., Deel VII (1900), pp. 159–239. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit, LS.08781.
Tijdens de O.I. Compagnie, by Dr. E. C. Godee Molsbergen, Oud‑Hoogleeraar, Landsarchivaris te Batavia (Amsterdam: N.V. Swets & Zeitlinger Boekhandel en Uitgevers Mij., 1932), chapters XXIII and XI, pp. 81, 39‑43. De Rijkdom van Atjeh, uitgegeven door het Atjeh-Instituut, Amsterdam, 1923. OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-110-De_rijkdom_van_Atjeh_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 7–10, 14, 19, 23. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), passim. Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapter XIII, ‘Het groote rijstland Pidië’, pp. 88–95. De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), pp. 124, 178. Atjèh, by J. Kreemer, vol. II (1923), pp. 578 vg. The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 9 (Table 4: Oil production in 1940 and 1941, North Sumatra fields), p. 9 (Lho Sukon deepest exploratory drilling).

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. 26, 64, 94, 105, 156, 188, 190.

Account from Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh (1923)

Pidië was the great rice federation of Atjeh’s North Coast, watered by the Pidië river on whose watershed with the Atjeh River valley the mountain tramway was later projected, and the region whose thousands of smallholders — “Pidireezen” — swelled the East Coast pepper gardens in 1891 and whose tract, closed to the coasting trade, was relieved by the Sigli licence system of July 1894.

The rice land

The federation Gighèn — itself a part of the Pidië region — devoted itself from 1890 so successfully to rice culture that it became the granary (“voorraadschuur”) of the federation Pidië and could even spare rice for Groot-Atjeh; the yield of the sawahs of the North Coast in general sufficed for the population’s need. When the Pidië tract was closed for the coasting trade, its people took recourse to clandestine transport over land to Meureudoe and thence by sea to Lho Seumawè, until the temporary licence system introduced at Sigli in July 1894 with an extraordinary hacil on the export of products gave relief. In 1891 thousands of Groot-Atjehers and Pidireezen travelled to the East Coast of Atjeh to work in the pepper gardens and to return home with well-filled purses — a proof for Langhout that the Atjehnese farmer “geenszins van ondernemingsgeest ontbloot is” (“is by no means devoid of enterprise”).

Administration and the mountain line

Under Governor Swart the assistant-resident of Pidië had his government office at Sigli (photo caption: “Bestuurskantoor van den assistent-resident van Pidië te Sigli”). The mountain tramway connecting Groot-Atjeh with the coastal net, projected from 1898 from Seulimeum over the watershed between the valleys of the Atjeh river and the Pidië river, was definitively carried out in two sides from 1903 and in limited service from 15 September 1908 (see Atjeh Tram).

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

Pidie (Pidië, Pedir) was great rice land, valley between sea and mountains, former kingdom, now afdeeling formed 1922 including underafdeelingen Sigli, Lam Meulo, Padang Tidji and Meureudoe.

History

Power kingdom Pidie four centuries past pride sense greatness remained with those who developed to heads memory lived wish mighty princeliness cherished dream strengthened wish Then gesture sword raised war among oelèëbalangs greater smaller landscapes who would once again as victor all emerge from series little wars? End came without answer because resistance vs Netherlands government had to unite all Atjeh grietmannen and then obey. To blessing land people it was over equipment war. Biggest heads Pedir and Keumangan between them weight ancient area both wished grasp but didn’t. Now years order subject all. Equipments forbidden wishes useless dreams deceptive There will still be dreamt as still spoken “uncrowned king of Pidie” but all delusion weakens duty delays Dutch administration execution task. Institution separate afdeeling Pidie last year will undoubtedly contribute destruction each illusion.

Geography and irrigation

In underafdeeling Sigli find 23 landscapes most divided moekims. Originally moekim group kampongs together mosque; later moekim simply part oelebalangschap district with subhead imeum or oelèëbalang tjoet. From Meureudoe coming meet landscape Ndjong largely mountain hill plain only coastal strip lagoon where road leads not tram which westward bends stretches large length. First end west lies good land Ndjong many sawahs landscape head famous richness proceeds notable thanks treasure soil fertility. Without waterworks cannot manage needed only already to limit bandjirs For padi population guided heads simple works; others created labour B.O.W.. From landschapsdienst thus landscape treasury majority accomplished often useful sometimes useless when insight execution incorrect or funds wrong destination disease commonly Indies. But forget small side human when again before immeasurable rice field collection fields lonely tree middle far background Atjeh Goldmountain see light mist Seulawaih Agam man and smaller Seulawaih Inong woman. Everything Nature sees or imagines indigenous presence distinction pair.

Kampongs many dwellings yard but dwellings not beautiful. Bamboo rich exactly as Lho Soekenn Sagopalm cocospalm pinang make great wild garden.

Rich part famous part subdistrict Sigli is valley Pidie enclosed sea mountain roughly triangle through which tram runs while roads ploughed nowhere so many landscape roads and good as this area Kroeëng Tiro which runs landscape Keumangan and Kroeëng Baroh near Sigli into sea main rivers. Throughout valley irrigation water fertile clay cultivable soil whole area many kampongs much bamboo much fruit trees also quite cattle cattle buffalo used partly field labour own slaughter Atjeher available trade etc.

Known cattle market Padang Tidji hoofdplaats underafdeeling name once weekly pasar designated fenced terrain maintenance sellers small amount per beast they bring 1922 average 100 head each market day buyers usually Bengalees Medan. Around Padang Tidji roads particularly well maintained head like Teukoe Radja Hoesin oelèëbalang Reubéé aware volks interests involved order neatness keeps roads regularly good.

Big road from Padang Tidji few km westwards then stops unbelievable but only big road south-north has big gap so that portion direction Seulimeum tram only big traffic road and connection over land Is path but desirable connection for big transport fully made.

Returning etc other big landscape Keumangan whose oeléëbalang Teukoe Oemar Keumangan etc Beureunoen large residence etc.

Beureunoen at Atjeh-tram short branch to Lam Meulo (Lamló) southwest hoofdplaats underafdeeling name Place still in valley Pidie surrounded very beautiful blangs Road along Kroeëng Baró south direction will over some time reach Tangsé surrounded sawah plains already fully in mountains This road probably once drawn to point at west coast then big role connections Sigli. South Lam Meulo blangs soon closed hill ridge Glé Gapoei whose slopes seem excellent cattle pasture Is through this glé (hill ridge) then again blangs Higher you come later activities padi cultivation posed Behind higher ridge Glé Meulinteuëng women in June busy planting bibit What lovely open mountain landscape great sawah plain around lonely tree! Here especially historic area landscape Keumala during resistance Pidie longest resistance where leaders resistance took position strategically important hill ridges.

Afdeeling Pidie its volksschooltjes polyclinics like other departments will benefit long term. Begroting collective landscapes afdeeling for 1923 over amount 457,103 gulden Expenditures salaries roomy place There are oeléëbalangs 100 200 gulden monthly highest paid 500 Army oelama imeums receive salaries 10 15 gulden monthly Dutch considered when clergy salaryed their education can check Incomes income tax estimated 164,220 slaughter tax 8500 hacil for pepper 9500 pinang 12,500 forest product 2000 redemption heerendienst 86,900 gulden.

Economy rice

Pidie nice land seems priciest department area from which still much to make important hinterland havenplaats where most bustle Sigli. Besides shipping and Atjeh-tram some services small trucks provide traffic need.

Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu

Neighboring kingdom that, before 1500, successfully conquered Atjeh and made it a vassal state. From this position Sultan Ali Moegajat Sjah, the second underking, broke away and founded Groot-Atjeh. Also the realm of Teukoe Oemar Keumangan (‘crowned king of PidiëRegion of Aceh; known for fatterigheid (smartness) and draaierij (deviousness). Population data missing for1920. Sits on west coastof Strait.onderafdeeling on the north coast, known for manufacture of genuine Acehnese koepiah caps; fertile coastal plain formed by alluvial deposit. Capital at SigliRegion/plains ofPidië on Noordkust; separated from Groot-Atjeh by tertiary hill land (the ‘attescheiding’); historic pepper area; cattle grazing lands.

Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 26, 64, 94, 105, 156, 188, 190.

Source

The Achehnese, Vol. II, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906. Chapter I, §§ 1, 9, pp. 1–2, 156. J. B. van Heutsz als Gouverneur Generaal 1904-1909, by J. C. Lamster (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon N.V., 1938), pp. 198–199, 252. Rijksarchief, Den Haag. Atjèh and the War with Japan, by Dr. A. J. Piekaar, translated from the Dutch original Atjèh en de oorlog met Japan (1949) (‘s-Gravenhage/Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve; English edition), Chapter I § 2, Chapter III § 2, Chapter V §§ 1–2, Chapter VII § 4. Notulen der bestuursvergaderingen ter bespreking van de verdere voorbereiding eener hervorming van het bestuurswezen in Nederlandsch-Indië (Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, 1914), p. 118. 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. 217. 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), Chapters III, IV, XI, XII, XIII, XVI, pp. 18–20, 106–109, 117–121, 132, 135, 150. Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 65–66, 71, 135–138, illustration caption p. 180. Atjeh als land voor handel en bedrijf, by Dr. R. Broersma, Gebrs. Cohen, Utrecht, 1925, pp. 78-84.

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