1890

1890 was a pivotal year in the history of Atjeh and the broader Dutch colonial empire, marked by three intertwined developments: the founding of the Koninklijke Maatschappij tot ontginning van Petroleum terreinen in Nederlandsch Indië (“Royal Company for the exploitation of oil fields in the Netherlands Indies”) — the future Royal Dutch — that inaugurated Dutch oil activity in northern Sumatra, the Dutch marine expedition that seized the eastern coastal town of Edi in Atjeh (Aceh), and the first issue of the Atjeh Marineblad naval periodical documenting the Dutch campaign in the sultanate. Together these events illustrate both the economic expansion of Dutch petroleum interests and the military consolidation of Dutch authority on the Aceh coast in the late nineteenth century.

The Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij founded

According to Ir. Van der Ploeg’s chapter Mijnbouw (“Mining”) in Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk (1946): “The first to drill oil in exploitable quantity was Zijlker, and indeed in a concession in the Landschap Langkat in the year 1884. But it was not until 1890 that the Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij founded on this came into being.” The six-year gap between the 1884 concession and the 1890 founding of the Koninklijke reflects the time required to assemble the capital and organisation for a petroleum-refining operation in a region where no such operation had previously existed.

The Koninklijke’s first Director, A. J. B. Kessler, succeeded “through almost superhuman effort” in raising production at the Pangkalan Brandan refinery in Langkat to a level that allowed a modest dividend to be paid in 1895. Kessler secured the help of H. W. A. Deterding — then agent of the Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij (“Netherlands Trading Society”) in Penang — for the sale of lamp-oil. Deterding “saw at once the great importance of a good sales organisation, which he therefore, in those days a novelty, set up under his own management.”

The Telaga Said concession sequence

Van Bemmelen records that in 1890 the concession at Telaga Said became the first oil property of the newly founded Koninklijke Maatschappij tot ontginning van Petroleum terreinen in Nederlandsch Indië. The company, later known worldwide as Royal Dutch, acquired the Telaga Said concession in the same year, making it the founding asset of what would become the Royal Dutch (and subsequently Royal Dutch Shell) oil empire. The chronological sequence of northern-Sumatran oil exploration is therefore:

1883 — J. Zulkler obtains the first North-Sumatran oil concession.
1885 — The Fennema-led crew drills the Telaga Said well to success.
1890 — Founding of the Koninklijke Maatschappij with the Telaga Said concession as its inaugural oil property.
1907 — Amalgamation of Royal Dutch with the Shell Transport and Trading Company, creating Royal Dutch Shell; the B.P.M. is created as Royal Dutch’s East-Indies subsidiary.
1912 — Entry of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey via its subsidiary the N.K.P.M..
1931 — Entry of the Standard Oil Company of California via its subsidiary the N.P.P.M..
1940–1941 — Van Bemmelen’s production tables record the East Atjeh, Tamiang and Atjeh oil complex fields on Aceh territory.

The parallel Dordtsche Petroleum Maatschappij

The same year 1890 also figures in the parallel history of the Dordrecht Petroleum Company, which had begun its Javanese operations with the sale of the first 8000 cases of lamp-oil in 1889. The two companies — the Sumatra East Coast–based Koninklijke and the Java-based Dordtsche — were to remain in parallel existence until their eventual merger (via the 1903 “Asiatic” sales organisation and the 1906 founding of the Batavian Petroleum Company and Anglo-Saxon) into the Royal Dutch Shell concern.

Dutch Expedition to Edi

In 1890 a Dutch marine force of the Korps Mariniers (“Marine Corps”) landed at Edi on the eastern seaboard of Atjeh (Aceh). The operation aimed to secure the vital maritime trade routes that ran along the coast and to create a forward base capable of supporting further penetrations into the interior of the sultanate. By extending Dutch control to this strategic point, the expedition reinforced the colonial administration’s ability to project power, monitor coastal traffic, and consolidate authority over the eastern Aceh coast.

Launch of the Atjeh Marineblad

The same year saw the inaugural issue of the Atjeh Marineblad, a Dutch naval periodical dedicated to documenting the progress of the Dutch campaign in Atjeh (Aceh). The 1890 issues provided updates on the aftermath of the earlier Atjeh expedition (1873–1876), detailed the condition of Dutch forts along the Aceh coastline, and offered commentary on the broader military and political situation in the sultanate.

People associated with 1890

These scholars, officials and industrialists are recorded in contemporary and later sources as figures linked to the events and publications of 1890.

Places associated with 1890

Significance

The year 1890 stands out in the encyclopedia of Atjeh history because it simultaneously marks the corporate birth of the Dutch oil enterprise that would dominate global petroleum markets and a decisive moment in the Dutch military consolidation of Aceh’s eastern coast. The convergence of economic and military initiatives in this single year underscores the multidimensional nature of Dutch colonial expansion in the late nineteenth century. The same year, the Dutch military conquest of Atjeh was entering its second decade (the first Aceh expedition had been in 1873); the parallel development of the Langkat oilfield and the Atjeh military conquest together reshaped the strategic significance of northern Sumatra in the late-colonial Indies.

Dutch terms used in this article

Koninklijke Maatschappij tot ontginning van Petroleum terreinen in Nederlandsch Indië — Royal Company for the exploitation of oil fields in the Netherlands Indies
Koninklijke Petroleum Maatschappij — Royal Petroleum Company
Dordtsche Petroleum Maatschappij — Dordrecht Petroleum Company
Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij — Batavian Petroleum Company
Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij — Netherlands Trading Society
Korps Mariniers — Marine Corps
Landschap — self-governing territory
Mijnbouw — Mining
Atjeh — Aceh
Acheh — Aceh
Atjeh-oorlog — Aceh War
Atjeh Marineblad — Atjeh Naval Gazette
Nederlandsch-Indië — Netherlands Indies

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

Zentgraff cites 1890 as the start-year of Dutch casualty statistics: alleen in de periode van 1890 tot en met 1914 de verliezen van ons Leger, aan dooden en gewonden, 7707 officieren en minderen hebben bedragen. 1890 is also the year of the founding of the Korps Maréchaussée, whose first commander was kapitein Notten.

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

The attack on the Boekit Roembia

The action of 11 June 1890 was fought on the left bank of the Idi-rivier under the command-in-chief of Major-General van Teijn, with van Heutsz present. The 6th and 14th Battalions crossed the river at 6.22 a.m., advanced at 7.10 through mist and alang-alang against occupied trenches, took them at the cost of twenty-seven Acehnese dead, and stormed the summit fortification at 7.55, the second section of the 2nd company under 2e luitenant Swart entering first. Dutch losses were one officer and thirteen men wounded. The retirement on Idi began at 3.30 p.m. and ended at 4.30 p.m.

Van Heutsz tapped the wounded lieutenant on the shoulder: “you brought that off, my boy!”

The Militaire Willemsorde

By royal decree of 30 August 1891 no. 2, Swart was appointed Knight 4th Class of the Militaire Willemsorde “on account of his exploits in various encounters with the enemy in Atjeh during the year 1890]]”.

The state of the war

The year fell in the period of the geconcentreerde linie, in which five thousand soldiers were massed in the celebrated square geographical mile; evacuations in 1890 numbered 3,408 men. Du Croo treated the van Teijn–van Heutsz partnership of these years as having demonstrated “that the Acehnese adversary had respect only for purposeful force” — a demonstration the Government failed to act upon.

In 1891 the fiercest religious resistance leader, Teungkoe di Tirò, died; his eldest son and successor Teungkoe Mat Amin would fall at Aneu’ Galong in 1896. In July 1891 Dr. Snouck Hurgronje began his stay in Atjeh, which lasted until February 1892.

The Eereteeken voor belangrijke krijgsbedrijven awarded to Swart covers, for Atjeh, the period 1873–1890.

Foundation of the Korps Maréchaussée (April 1890)

In April 1890 the Korps Maréchaussée was instituted by Gouvernementsbesluit, under the further approval of the King, with the intention of exercising police work inside the geconcentreerde stelling of Groot-Atjeh, and originally “voorbestemd om die taak over te dragen aan het burgerlijk bestuur, zoodra de toestanden het zouden toelaten” — destined to hand that task over to the civil administration as soon as conditions should permit.

The immediate provocation was the state of affairs after the concentratie decision of 19 August 1884: small bands crept inside the line, attacked convoys and destroyed engineering works, and overvallen occurred “met schier verbijsterende regelmaat.” The carrying of weapons by the Atjehnese population was made punishable and a passenstelsel introduced, but “het kwaad echter niet was bestreden,” and a separate corps was raised.

Only one divisie was at first designated: a captain-commandant, one first lieutenant, a European sergeant-major, a European fourier, twelve European sergeants, twelve non-European sergeants, twelve non-European corporals and 180 non-European maréchaussées.

The fortieth anniversary of the foundation was celebrated on 2 April 1930 with the presentation of a colour to the corps and the publication of Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh. Over the whole period 1890–1930 approximately 950 members of the corps fell and about 250 were wounded.

Source

Wat Indië Ontving en Schonk, samengesteld en verzorgd onder leiding van Dr. C. W. Wormser (Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek N.V., onder de auspiciën van het Indisch Instituut, 1946), p. 252 (chapter Mijnbouw door Ir. F. P. C. S. van der Ploeg).

The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), p. 7 (petroleum history, founding of the Koninklijke Maatschappij).

De geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Korps Mariniers van 1665-1945, OCR edition, p. 473.

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), Chapter II, pp. 10–11; Chapter III, p. 14; Chapter V, p. 33; Extract from the service record, pp. 173–174.

Het Korps Maréchaussée in Atjeh: De Atjehsche Garde, 1890 - 2 April 1930 (“The Corps of Maréchaussée in Atjeh: The Atjehnese Guard”), Extra Jubileum-nummer of Het Nieuws van den Dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië issued for the fortieth anniversary of the corps (1930), pp. 1-16. Offprint DLP-143, Bibliotheek KITLV, accession 621 116 794.

tags	year, timeline, colonial, oil, aceh, 19th-century, aceh-war, marechaussee
aliases	year 1890, the year 1890, 1890 AD, 1890 (year)

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