Place:Medan, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia

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Medan (; English: ) is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. A regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra, it is one of the four main central cities of Indonesia, alongside Jakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar. As of the 2020 Census, Medan has a population of 2,435,252 within its city limits, and over 3.4 million in its built-up urban area, making it the fourth largest urban area in Indonesia. The Medan metropolitan area—which includes neighbouring Binjai, Deli Serdang Regency, and a part of Karo Regency—is the largest metropolitan area outside of Java, with 4,744,323 residents counted in the 2020 Census. Medan is a multicultural metropolis and a busy trading city bordered by the Strait of Malacca, making it as one of major economic cities in Indonesia. A gateway to the western part of Indonesia, Medan is supported by the Port of Belawan and Kualanamu International Airport, both of which are connected to the city centre via toll roads and railways.

The city was founded by Guru Patimpus, a Karonese man who named the area of swampy land in the confluence of Deli River and Babura river as Kampung Medan Putri. It later became a part of the Deli Sultanate which was established in 1632. In late 19th century, colonial Dutch seeking for new plantation area and choosen Medan and Deli as newest plantation hub with Deli Company set up his tobacco plantation and it became booming and transformed Medan into a trade hub within several years, the nickname Het Land Dollar, meaning "the land of the money was very known as tobacco was very important goods to be exported to the europe and the west, end up bring the rapid development of the city with The Deli Railway was established for shipping tobacco, rubber, tea, timber, palm oil, and sugar from the city to the Port of Belawan and exported around the world. Medan was the capital of the State of East Sumatra before it became the provincial capital of North Sumatra. Medan was dubbed Parijs van Sumatra due to the city's resemblance to Paris..

Medan is financial, trading, and economic center not only for North Sumatra province, but for the whole Sumatra Island that was very known since 19th century. For many foreign investors, Medan is not only rich in culture in history, but also presents itself as a dynamic economic hub of the world. As the robust capital of North Sumatra, Medan offers a large pool of human capital and talent, lower operational costs as well as a strategic location close to Singapore and Malaysia and diverse natural resources. The city is known as a trading hub for palm oil export. In North Sumatra, there are approximately 4 million acres of palm oil plantations. Medan is one of the progressive markets in trading. About 60% of the economy in North Sumatra is backed by trading, agriculture and processing industries.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

In ancient times, the city of Medan was known as Kampung Medan (Medan Village). It was a piece of swampy land with an area of approximately 4000 ha. Some of the rivers crossing the city of Medan drain into the Straits of Malacca. These rivers are Sei Deli, Sei Babura, Sei Sikambing, Sei Denai, Sei Putih, Sei Percut and Muara Belawan.

Aru Kingdom

The area in and around Medan city, Deli and Langkat Regency was the location of ancient Kingdom of Aru (Haru). The kingdom was established by the Karo people and flourished between 13th to 16th century. Several archaeological sites around Medan are connected to the Kingdom of Aru, including Kota Rentang in Hamparan Perak area, Deli Serdang Regency, the Kota Cina archaeological site in Medan Marelan, and Benteng Putri Hijau, a fort ruin in Deli Tua, Namorambe, Deli Serdang Regency.

Founding of Medan

Medan started as a village called Kampung Medan (Medan Village). Kampung Medan was founded by Guru Patimpus Sembiring Pelawi, a Karonese man who came from the Karo Land. Before he became a Muslim, he was a Pemena follower. Following the history of "trombo" and Hamparan Perak (XII Kuta), Guru Patimpus studied Islam from Datuk Kota Bangun. At the time, Guru Patimpus and his people wanted to meet Datuk. Not only did they want to meet him, they also wanted to compete with him for "power." Whenever Guru Patimpus went to Kota Bangun, he always passes Pulo Brayan. In Pulo Brayan, Guru Patimpus fell in love with the Princess of Pulo Brayan. Eventually, he married the princess and had two sons, Kolok and Kecik. The married couple then turned the forest area in confluence between Deli River and Babura River into a small village, naming it Kampung Medan (lit. Medan Village). The day has been marked as the date of Medan's anniversary, 1 July 1590.

In his days, Guru Patimpus is known to be a forward-thinking person. This was proved by sending their children to study and read the Qur'an to Datuk Kota Bangun and then sent them to Aceh to deepen their knowledge on Islam.

In early days, the natives called the area as the Land of Deli (Indonesian: Tanah Deli), it starts from Ular River to the Wampu River in Langkat while the Deli Sultanate in power at the time of his territory does not cover the area between the two rivers.

Statement confirming that the Kampung Medan is a description H. Muhammad Said quoting through the book Deli: In Woord en Beeld written by N. ten Cate. The statement said that early Kampung Medan was a fortress which was composed of two layers of roundabout-shaped walls at a confluence between two rivers namely Deli and Babura rivers. The Administrateur house is located across the river from the Kampung Medan. The location of Kampung Medan is in the modern-day location of the Wisma Benteng building now and the Administrateur house is in present-day PTP IX Deli Tobacco building.

Deli Sultanate

In the 16th century there was a kingdom called Aru, with its center located where Deli Tua is now (south of Medan). In 1612, the Acehnese Sultan Iskandar Muda defeated Aru. The Acehnese appointed Hisyamsudin (later he changed his name to "Tuanku Gocah Pahlawan"), titled as Laksamana Kuda Bintan as their representative in this kingdom of East Sumatra. In 1632 Aceh established the Deli Sultanate (Jawi: کسلطانن دلي) and Gocah Pahlawan became the first king. Gocah Pahlawan opens a new land in Sungai Lalang and Percut. As the Mayor and Deputy of Sultan of Aceh as well as by utilizing the large size of Aceh Empire, Gocah Pahlawan managed to expand his territory, thereby covering Percut Sei Tuan and Medan Deli district now. He also founded the villages of Gunung Barus, Sampali, Kota Bangun, Pulo Brayan, Kota Jawa, Kota Rengas and Sigara-gara. He died in 1669 and was followed by his son "Tuangku Panglima Perunggit" who moved the center of the kingdom to Labuhan Deli, which then proclaimed the independence of Deli Sultanate from Aceh Sultanate in 1669, with its capital in Medan Labuhan, approximately 15 km from the city center now.

During the reign of the third king, "Tuanku Panglima Padrap" (ruled 1698–1728), the kingdom was moved to Pulo Brayan due to floods. The fourth king, "Tuanku Panglima Pasutan" (ruled between 1728 and 1761) organized the kingdom in four tribes, each led by a Datuk (a Malay title for high ranking persons). During the time of the fifth king, "Tuanku Panglima Gandar Wahib" (ruled 1761–1805) the Datuks increased their power.

The sixth ruler was "Sultan Amaluddin Mengedar Alam" (ruled 1805–1850). During his years the Siak Sultanate became a stronger influence in Deli than the Acehnese Sultanate, and the ruler was given the title: Sultan. The seventh ruler was "Sultan Osman Perkasa Alam" (ruled 1850 to 1858), during his leadership the Deli Sultanate became autonomous.

The eighth ruler, "Sultan Mahmud Al Rasyid Perkasa Alam" (ruled 1858–1873) started the relationship with the Dutch, a relationship that became rather intimate. The next ruler was "Sultan Ma'mun Al Rashid Perkasa Alamyah", who ruled from 1873 to 1924 when the tobacco trade expanded. He moved the kingdom to Medan and finished the construction of the Maimun Palace in 1888. He also built the grand mosque of Al Ma'shun which is commonly known as Great Mosque of Medan now in 1907, he became known as the builder of early Medan in cooperation with the Dutch and Tjong Yong Hian and Tjong A Fie, two Chinese businessmen brothers and also Kapitans who built a large plantation business in Deli. They all brought Medan-Deli as new development area including business centers such as banks, offices, plantation areas, housing, railroad and a port. The tenth "Sultan Amaluddin Al Sani Perkasa Alamsyah" (ruled 1924–1945) expanded harbors, with commerce increased during his period. At the declaration of Indonesian Independence, the Sultan recognized the sovereignty of the republic and was in return given an important function as administrator of Deli-Malay traditions and culture.

The Sultanate of Deli still exists until this day, even though the administrative powers has been replaced with elected Mayors. The current sultan is "Sultan Mahmud Lamanjiji Perkasa Alam", the 14th sultan, (ruled since 2005). At age eight, he became the youngest Sultan of Deli ever crowned.

Dutch East Indies era

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 meant strongly intensified traffic between Europe and the Far East. The Dutch started the shipping company Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland that quickly expanded to 43 steamships in 1877. The English, however, had already 3,000 ships in those days. A journey from Europe to Indonesia took approximately 40 days. Genoa, Italy became the new transit harbor for passenger ships after the opening of the Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland. The journey was reduced to 23 days and 20 hours to Batavia (Jakarta). The ships also became bigger and more comfortable.

This resulted in an increase in cruise ships carrying predominantly white Europeans coming to Dutch East Indies as tourists for a tour of the region, including Medan as the largest tobacco plantation in Dutch East Indies at that time. To accommodate the tourists, it was deemed necessary to have European-class hotels. Therefore, in 1898, a Dutch businessman named Aeint Herman de Boer built Hotel de Boer in the northwest of the Esplanade (now Lapangan Merdeka Medan).

Exports were very dependent on British shipping in 1890 when Sabang became a bunker harbor. Belawan got its harbor in 1923. The shipping company Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) was established for the purpose of shipping valuable Deli Company tobacco, which was shipped to Batavia. This cargo was almost as valuable and stringent rules regulated its handling. It was strictly forbidden to stow anything on top of the tobacco and coolies were not even to walk on it when they worked in the hatches.

Cleaning of roads in Medan was, until 1912, done by prisoners. After that free coolies got the job. In 1917 the authorities started to use horse-drawn carts, equipped with brooms for the cleaning. In 1928 the horse-drawn carts were replaced by motorized vehicles. The first newspaper was the Deli Courant, established in 1885 although it was not a daily publication. In 1898, Joseph Hallermann, a German, established the daily De Sumatra Post, which survived until 1939.

There were planters in Medan from many countries: England, the Netherlands, USA, France, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland. Many of them became very rich and led affluent lifestyles. Medan became known as the Paris of Sumatra (lit. Parijs van Sumatra (Dutch)). Up until today, the area in downtown where the old airport is located is called Polonia, a name given by a Polish aristocrat who once owned a plantation here. One area of Medan is still called Helvetia (the old name of Switzerland). This name was given by a plantation owner from Switzerland.

Tobacco plantations

Medan did not develop rapidly until the 1860s, when the Dutch authorities began to release new land for tobacco plantations. Jacob Nienhuys, Van der Falk, and Elliot, who were Dutch tobacco merchants, pioneered the opening of the tobacco plantation in Deli. Nienhuys' previous tobacco business in Java moved to Deli after an invitation by an Arab from Surabaya named Said Abdullah Bilsagih, brother in law of the Deli Sultan Mahmud Perkasa Alam. Initially Nienhuys cultivated tobacco on 4,000 hectares of land in Tanjong Spassi, near Labuhan, owned by the Sultan of Deli. In March 1864, Nienhuys sent samples of his crop of tobacco to Rotterdam, Netherlands to test its quality. Apparently, the tobacco leaves were considered high quality for cigar materials. Hence Deli's name rose as a producer of the best cigar wrappers for Europeans.

The tobacco treaty was signed by the Sultan of Deli and the Dutch in 1865. After two years, Nienhuys along with Jannsen, P.W. Clemen, and Cremer founded the company De Deli Maatschappij abbreviated Deli Mij in Labuhan. In 1869, Nienhuys moved the head office of Deli Mij to Kampung Medan. The new office was built on the confluence of Deli and Babura river, precisely at the office of PTPN II (ex PTPN IX) now. With the transfer of the office, Medan quickly became the center of government activity and trade, as well as area with the most dominant development in western Indonesia. The rapid development of the economy transformed Deli into a major trading center nicknamed het land dollar aka the land of the money. Then, they opened up new plantations in the Martubung and Sunggal areas in 1869, as well in Sungai Beras and Klumpang in 1875, bringing the total to 22 plantation companies in the year 1874. Given the activities of the tobacco trade was already very broad and growing, Kampung Medan became increasingly crowded and then developed with a name that is known as the Medan-Deli.

The development of Medan-Deli as a trading center was followed by it becoming a center of government. In 1879, Capital Assistant of Deli Resident moved from Labuhan to Medan. On 1 March 1887, the capital of the Resident of East Sumatra also moved from Bengkalis to Medan Deli Sultanate Palace which was originally located in Kampung Bahari (Labuhan) and Pulo Brayan also moved with the completion of Maimoon Palace on 18 May 1891, and thus the Capital of Deli officially moved to Medan.

Growth of Medan-Deli

In 1915, the Residency of East Sumatra enhanced its status to Gubernermen. In 1918 the city of Medan officially became Gemeente (Municipal) with Mayor Baron Daniël Mackay. Based on the "Acte van Schenking" (Grant Deed) No. 97 Notary J.M. de-Hondt Junior, dated 30 November 1918, the Sultan of Deli handed over the land of Medan-Deli to the Gemeente, thus officially becoming the region under the direct rule of the Dutch East Indies. In the early days of this township, Medan still consisted of four villages, namely Kampung Kesawan, Kampung Sungai Rengas, Kampung Petisah Hulu and Kampung Petisah Hilir.

In 1918, there were 43,826 residents of Medan, made up of 409 Europeans, 35,009 Native Indonesians, 8,269 Chinese and 139 East foreigners such as Indians.

Since then, the Medan developed more rapidly. Various facilities were built. Some of these include the Office of Experiment Stations named AVROS in Kampung Baru (1919), now RISPA, the railway of Pangkalan Brandan – Besitang (1919), Tirtanadi Water Tower (1908), American Consulate (1919), Teacher school on Jl. H.M. Yamin now (1923), Mingguan Soematra (1924), Pool Association Medan (1924), Central Market (Grote Markt), St. Elizabeth Hospital, Eye Hospital and Kebun Bunga Sports field (1929).

Since the beginning, Medan has been positioned at the center of trade. Being chosen as the capital of Deli, Medan also developed into a center of government. Until now, excluding one of the areas of the city, also serves as the capital of North Sumatra province.

Japanese occupation and post independence era

In 1942, the Japanese invaded the Dutch East Indies, arriving in Sumatra by February. Sumatra was placed under the command of the 25th Army, based in Singapore. The Japanese troops who landed in the Tanjung Tiram, Asahan and entered Medan by bicycles that they bought from the people around them by bartering. They have the motto that they help the Asians because they are the elder brothers of the Asians, so they are very welcomed upon arrival.

The transfer of Dutch colonial to the Japanese was very chaotic, the natives took this opportunity to take revenge against the Dutch. This situation was immediately brought under control by the Japanese army by deploying its troops named Kempetai. With the entry of Japan in Medan, the situation immediately changed, especially the civil government which in the Dutch era was called gemeentebestuur, the Japanese changed to Medan Sico (Municipal Government). The one who served in the civilian government at the Medan municipal level at that time until the end of Japanese rule was named Hoyasakhi. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, Sumatra came under the authority of the South East Asia Command headed by British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 17 August, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia independence in Jakarta, and appointed Muhammad Hasan as governor of Sumatra. However, news of the proclamation was only announced by Hasan in Medan on 30 September. After allied troops landed in October, clashes with armed Republicans led to the Battle of Medan.

In December 1947, the Dutch established the State of East Sumatra with Medan as its capital in the area they controlled following the Operation Product against the republicans. This became part of the United States of Indonesia, but was dissolved into the unitary republic of Indonesia in 1950.

The city development remained stagnant until the 1970s, when big developments, especially palm oil and rubber plantation company headquarters, making Medan the busiest city outside Java. The big migration program brought a lot of Javanese and the Batak people began to settle in the city as many people from Java and rural part of the province sought jobs.

In 1998, 4 to 8 May 1998 riots occurred in Medan due to 1997 Asian financial crisis. They began when demonstrations around many campuses for nearly two months between students clashing with security officials that resulted in the death of a student. The next day, the mobs became bigger, targeting and attacking the business and trading sector that lead into a racial riot, with many shops and vehicles burned and looted at several roads around the city which is majority owned by Chinese residents. As a result, a curfew was imposed for more than two weeks until peace returned.

In 5th September 2005, the Mandala Airlines Flight 091 crashed right a minute after takeoff from old Polonia International Airport from Medan to Jakarta. The aircraft stalled and crashed into a heavily populated residential area along Djamin Ginting road in Padang Bulan, of the 117 passengers and crews on board, only 17 survived, an additional 49 civilians on the ground were killed. This flight accident led to planning by moving to newly airport in Deli Serdang that completed in 2012, named as Kualanamu International Airport. The moving way to new airport relaxed height restriction laws in the city, currently many under constructed apartment, conominium, office building, and others which passed 100 meters and above, bring the sign of current rapid development of Medan.

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