1680

Properties2
tagsyear, colonial, dutch, achehnese, sumatra
aliases1680, the year 1680, MDCLXXX

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1680 was the year of the Padang Conference of 29 August 1680 — the assembly at Padang of the principal regents of the West Coast of Sumatra under the presidency of commissioner Laurens Pit de Jonge, at which a new general bond of “perpetual peace” was sworn between the Compagnie and the Westkust chiefs. In Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland it is the high-water mark of the Painansch Contract system and the year in which the Westkust passed, in form, from an Acehnese suzerainty shared with the Compagnie to a Dutch protectorate exercised in the name of a Menangkabau sovereign.

The new Menangkabau emperor

The year opened with a change at the top of Menangkabau. On 24 February 1680 the commandeur Hurdt at Padang received an embassy from the uplands, announcing “that a new ‘keijser’ in the Menangkabau realm had succeeded; that he had the old contracts, ‘concluded with his predecessor’ confirmed, and at the same time given order ‘to confirm commander Hurdt in the honour-title of imperial stadtholder’” (dat een nieuwe ‘keijser’ in het Menangkabausche rijk was opgevolgd; dat hij de oude contracten, ‘met sijn voorsaat aangegaan’ liet bevestigen, en tevens opdracht gegeven had, ‘den commandeur Hurt in de eertitul van keyserlycke stadthouder te confirmeeren’).

The Pit de Jonge commission

The faithful allies had been carrying on a heavy struggle against the rebels of Paoeh, and when Hurdt’s own attempt to break them failed, Batavia decided to send a commissioner. Laurens Pit de Jonge departed on 28 May 1680 with two ships, fitted out above the ordinary equipment with 170 soldiers.

The military preliminaries

On arrival at Padang and landing of the troops, Pit’s force, “reinforced with 5000 Padangers, made such an impression that the principal rebels of Paoeh and their adherents of Kotta-tengah at once came to beg pardon” (versterkt met 5000 Padangers, zoo’n indruk, dat al dadelijk de voornaamste rebellen van Paoeh en hun aanhangers van Kotta-tengah vergiffenis kwamen verzoeken). On the Koran they swore on 24 July 1680 a solemn oath of loyalty and obedience. On 5 August they renewed their submission. On 13 August envoys came from “evil-willing mountain peoples” who had previously burned the Compagnie’s lodge at Priaman, and were likewise admitted, “saving however ‘a pecuniary fine of 1000 rijksdaalders’” (behoudens ‘een pecuniek amende van 1000 rijexdaalders’).

The Padang Conference: 29 August 1680

The general assembly followed. “Finally on 29 August 1680 a meeting took place at Padang with the principal regents of the West Coast, at which a new general bond was founded and sworn” (Ten slotte had 29 Augustus 1680 te Padang een bijeenkomst plaats met de hoofdregenten van de Westkust, waarbij een nieuw algemeen verbond werd opgericht en bezworen). All bound themselves “holily and faithfully for ever and eternally, yes firmly and unchangeably, to be and to remain Compagnie’s friends and true allies” (‘heylighlyck ende getrouwelyck voor altoos ende eeuwighlyck, ja vast ende onveranderlyck, verbinden te sullen zijn ende te blyven Compagnie’s vrunden ende waere bondtgenoten’).

The signatories were the “keijser” of Indrapoera, the panglima-radja at Padang, the governors of Salido and Kotta Tengah.

The Hurdt suspension

Pit’s commission was both political and economic. Economically he was to investigate “the causes of the poor results of the gold exploitation at Salido, and at the same time the commercial bookkeeping of Hurdt” (de oorzaken van de povere resultaten van de goudexploitatie te Salido, en tevens naar de commercieele boekhouding van Hurdt). “Hurdt was suspended by Pit and sent to Batavia” (Hurdt werd door Pit geschorst en naar Batavia opgezonden).

Significance

1680 is the high-water mark of the Painansch Contract system. The Padang Conference of 29 August 1680 is the moment at which the Westkust passed, in form, from an Acehnese suzerainty shared with the Compagnie to a Dutch protectorate exercised in the name of a Menangkabau sovereign who had explicitly authorised the Dutch commandeur to act as his imperial stadtholder.

The year is also the political precondition of the 1683 Tikoe rising and the 1684 Tikoe submission. The 1680 conference did not include the northern Westkust chiefs of Tikoe, and the Atjehsch-gezinde partij there remained active through the early 1680s. The closing of the 1641–1684 cycle would require the additional work of Van Leene’s 1682 expedition and the 1683–1684 Tikoe campaign.

See Also

Source

De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 20–21 (tekst bij blad 4: Atjeh en de Westkust van Sumatra in 1684).

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