Figures, places, and events in Acehnese history associated with the year 1887.
People
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — 1887
1887 was the year in which the Bataviaasche firma De Lange received the concession for the construction of a coal station at the Sabangbaai on the island of Poeloe Wè — the founding act of what would become, after the free-port opening of 1897 and the founding of the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang in 1898, the great harbour of Sabang. De Buitenbezittingen treats 1887 as the constitutive moment of Sabang as a Dutch commercial establishment: the year in which the location of the future harbour was fixed and the institutional framework for its development was put in place.
The 1884 origin and the 1887 commission
The Dutch interest in Poeloe Wè as a coaling station dated from 1884, when the Netherlands-Indies Government built a small coal shed at the Zuidbaai (Lhôc Balhan) and appointed a chief over the island. The Balhanbaai, however, “bleek echter weldra voor de scheepvaart verschillende bezwaren op te leveren” — soon proved, however, to present various obstacles for shipping — and in 1887 a commission was sent out to investigate. The commission “kwam tot de conclusie, dat de Sabangbaai meer aan te bevelen was” — came to the conclusion that the Sabangbaai was more recommendable. In the same year, the Bataviaasche firma De Lange received the concession for the construction of a coal station at the Sabangbaai.
The geestelijken vader and the political champion
The geestelijken vader — the spiritual father — of Sabang, De Buitenbezittingen records, was “de heer van Oosterzee,” who first proposed the location. The political champion of the project was the then-majoor van Heutsz, whose 1892 brochure De Onderwerping van Atjeh would, five years later, propagate the larger vision of Sabang as an ocean harbour and free port. Van Heutsz’s brochure urged the use of the talrijke natuurlijke voordeelen — the numerous natural advantages — that Sabang offered for shipping and trade, and proposed the establishment of a free port that would compete with Penang — “de eenige concurrentie” — by drawing Atjeh’s trade away from the British entrepôt through the eeuwenoude betrekkingen of the Atjehsche coastal traders with their friends in Penang.
The 1897 opening and the 1898 founding
The concession of 1887 bore fruit a decade later. In 1897 Sabang was opened as a free port for general trade; in 1898 the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang was founded, taking over the operation of the harbour from the firm of De Lange. The hopes that van Heutsz had placed in Sabang as a competitor to Penang were, however, only partially realised: “de grootsche toekomstdroomen van Sabang als handels-emporium voor geheel Noord-Sumatra niet verwezenlijkt hebben” — the grand dreams of Sabang as the trade emporium for all of North Sumatra were never realised.
People
Account from De Buitenbezittingen (1917) — 1887
1887 was the year in which the Bataviaasche firma De Lange received the concession for the construction of a coal station at the Sabangbaai on the island of Poeloe Wè — the founding act of what would become, after the free-port opening of 1897 and the founding of the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang in 1898, the great harbour of Sabang. De Buitenbezittingen treats 1887 as the constitutive moment of Sabang as a Dutch commercial establishment: the year in which the location of the future harbour was fixed and the institutional framework for its development was put in place.
The 1884 origin and the 1887 commission
The Dutch interest in Poeloe Wè as a coaling station dated from 1884, when the Netherlands-Indies Government built a small coal shed at the Zuidbaai (Lhôc Balhan) and appointed a chief over the island. The Balhanbaai, however, “bleek echter weldra voor de scheepvaart verschillende bezwaren op te leveren” — soon proved, however, to present various obstacles for shipping — and in 1887 a commission was sent out to investigate. The commission “kwam tot de conclusie, dat de Sabangbaai meer aan te bevelen was” — came to the conclusion that the Sabangbaai was more recommendable. In the same year, the Bataviaasche firma De Lange received the concession for the construction of a coal station at the Sabangbaai.
The geestelijken vader and the political champion
The geestelijken vader — the spiritual father — of Sabang, De Buitenbezittingen records, was “de heer van Oosterzee,” who first proposed the location. The political champion of the project was the then-majoor van Heutsz, whose 1892 brochure De Onderwerping van Atjeh would, five years later, propagate the larger vision of Sabang as an ocean harbour and free port. Van Heutsz’s brochure urged the use of the talrijke natuurlijke voordeelen — the numerous natural advantages — that Sabang offered for shipping and trade, and proposed the establishment of a free port that would compete with Penang — “de eenige concurrentie” — by drawing Atjeh’s trade away from the British entrepôt through the eeuwenoude betrekkingen of the Atjehsche coastal traders with their friends in Penang.
The 1897 opening and the 1898 founding
The concession of 1887 bore fruit a decade later. In 1897 Sabang was opened as a free port for general trade; in 1898 the N.V. Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang was founded, taking over the operation of the harbour from the firm of De Lange. The hopes that van Heutsz had placed in Sabang as a competitor to Penang were, however, only partially realised: “de grootsche toekomstdroomen van Sabang als handels-emporium voor geheel Noord-Sumatra niet verwezenlijkt hebben” — the grand dreams of Sabang as the trade emporium for all of North Sumatra were never realised.
Account in du Croo’s Generaal Swart (1943)
On 7 May 1887 H. N. A. Swart departed for the East Indies aboard the s.s. Zuid-Holland, arriving at Batavia on 17 June and being posted to the 6th Battalion on 22 June.
Account of Nederburgh’s 1887 Defense on the Aceh Problem
In 1887, former Council of the Netherlands Indies member Mr. S. C. H. Nederburgh published De proeve van een onderzoek der middelen tot oplossing van het Atjeh-vraagstuk, verdedigd en toegelicht (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff), a major defensive work elaborating his six-point plan for reducing the Groot-Atjeh garrison to a single coastal enclave and restoring a restricted Acehnese Sultanate under Dutch overarching sovereignty, in direct polemical response to critics such as Col. W. A. Kielstra.
- Sabang
- Sabang Maatschappij
- Poeloe Wè
- Joannes Benedictus van Heutsz
- De Onderwerping van Atjeh (1892 brochure)
- Penang
- 1897
- 1898
- 1884
- 1892
- H. N. A. Swart
- General Swart, Pacifier of Atjeh (1943)
- Pacificatie van Atjeh
- Atjeh-oorlog
Source
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.
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.
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. 243–248.
Figures, places, and events in Acehnese history associated with the year 1887.
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), passim.