The Development of the Land Transports and the Effects on the Role

of River in East Sumatera 1900-1942

Edi Sumarno

, Nina Karina

, Junita Setiana Ginting

, Handoko

Departement of History, Faculty of Cultural Science, USU

Post Graduate Student of Departement of History, Faculty of Cultural Science, USU

Keywords: River, transportation, East Sumatera.

Abstract. The location of the ports on the riverbanks was closely related to the river as the main and accessible mode

of transport. Through the river, the goods from upstream were brought to downstream to be traded and

exported outward, especially to Penang. The goods from overseas were also imported through the river.

Therefore, in the absence of land transport, river became very strategic and significant. However, after the

presence of plantations, the abundant crops required efficient and effective transportation facilitity, impelling

the establishment of land transports such as railways and highways. The development of land transport

undoubtedly had certain impacts on river transportation, one of which was that the river transportation was

increasingly abandoned for it became ineffective and inefficient. However, there were also several rivers that

continued to be an important mode of transport.

1 INTRODUCTION

When the expansion of the plantation economy began

to occur since the last four decades of the 19th

century, many changes ensued in East Sumatra. The

expansion had turned the face of East Sumatra from a

wilderness into a plantation area, making this area as

the most developed areas outside Java which was

later known as het dollar landsch (dollar land). These

changes were very influential on the pattern of life of

local residents, among them was the transportation.

River as the main mode of transport suffered a

setback in line with the construction of land

transports; the highways and railways. The

implications of these changes were also very

influential on the port as a center of economic

activity, government, and culture of the local people.

Port as a traditional city then lost ground due to the

construction of highways and railways. This was due

to economic activity shifting from the river to the land

which caused the traditional ports were relatively less

needed.

The location of the ports on the riverbanks was

closely related to the river as the main and accessible

mode of transport. Through the river, the goods from

upstream were brought to downstream to be traded

and exported outward, especially to Penang. The

goods from overseas were also imported through the

river. Therefore, in the absence of land transport, river

became very strategic and significant. Those who

held the hegemony over the river would dominate the

economic and powerful advantages. Malay powers in

East Sumatra were originally formed due to their

hegemony over the river. The rulers took advantage

of the import-export duty, the trade monopoly, even

the transportation business. This paper will discuss

how the state of the river before the presence of land

transports, why the development of land transport

was needed and how the existence of the river after

the presence of land transports.

2 METHOD

The technique of collecting primary and secondary

data are conducted through observation or direct

survey to research object and searching supporting

data to libraries and institutions that are considered to

be the source of data, for example the National

Archives of the Republic of Indonesia; National

Library of Indonesia, North Sumatra Provincial

Library and Achives and Tengku Lukman Sinar

Library; this stage is conducted to collect archives,

books, publications / magazines and other materials

Sumarno, E., Karina, N., Ginting, J. and Handoko, .

The Development of the Land Transports and the Effects on the Role of River in East Sumatera 1900-1942.

DOI: 10.5220/0010068811631167

In Proceedings of the International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches (ICOSTEERR 2018) - Research in Industry 4.0, pages

1163-1167

ISBN: 978-989-758-449-7

1163

related to transportation and river. The data analysis

method applied is the historical and archaeological

analysis method that aims to study and explore facts

or experiences and developments of the past by trying

to draw conclusions and make interpretations of the

data from the event. The main data include data in the

form of archives, books, reports, and so forth that

most of which are still in Dutch. While supporting

data obtained from direct visits or field observations

by visiting the rivers in East Sumatra. After the data

collection are complete, the next step conducted is to

verify the data that have been obtained and then

interpret it into a complete writing.

3 THE RIVER

TRANSPORTATION BEFORE

THE PRESENCE OF LAN

TRANSPORTATIONS

Before the influx of Dutch colonial rule in East

Sumatra at the end of the 19th century, there may not

have been such a city as imagined today. If the city

can be defined simply as an area that is central to

governmental, economic, and cultural activities, then

the city at that time was the port. During that time,

port was the place where the Malay rulers lived and

ruled and was as the center of economic and cultural

activity.

In the interest of technical purposes, the term "port

city" will be added with the word "traditional" so that

it becomes a "traditional port city." There were many

"traditional port cities" in East Sumatera, like

Tanjung Pura in the Sultanate of Langkat, Labuhan in

the Sultanate of Deli, Rantau Panjang in the Sultanate

of Serdang, Tanjung Beringin in the Sultanate of

Bedagai, Bandar Khalifah in the Sultanate of Padang,

Tanjung Balai in the Sultanate of Asahan, and Siak

Sri Indrapura in the Sultanate of Siak. The location of

the ports generally located on the river banks, either

large or small. Thus, Tanjung Pura was located in

Langkat River, Labuhan in Deli River, Rantau

Panjang in Serdang River, Tanjung Beringin in

Bedagai River, Bandar Khalifah in Padang River,

Tanjung Balai in Asahan River, and Siak Sri

Indrapura in Siak River.

Deli River was the most significant river in Deli.

Many people used it as mode of transport. In addition,

there were also many residents who built their houses

close to the river and carried out their agricultural

activities there. The cooperations like trade relations

with the overseas countries were also connected

through this river (Edi Sumarno, 1998). It was also

through the Deli River that the relations between

England and Deli were built. It began with Anderson's

sailing trip to the upper reaches of the river, an area

that no other westerner had ever visited. Shallow

coastal conditions forced Anderson to drop anchor

offshore and continue on a small boat into the rivers

and hike along the riverbank visiting village after

village. On January 16 1823, Anderson landed on

Deli. In his observations, Anderson noted that, many

people had been skilled at making boats and ships in

Deli (Anderson, 1840).

Not only visited the Deli, Anderson also stopped

off to Sultan of Kejeruan Muda in Langkat, Sri Sultan

Ahmat in Bulu Cina, Sultan Besar from Serdang,

Bendahara in Batubara, Yang di Pertuan of Asahan,

and Sultan of Siak. All these sultanates or regions still

exploited river as an important mode of transport.

Although there were already paths, river as a mode of

transport still held a significant role. Rivers in the

southern area for example, a wide and deep river from

where many boats or canoes went back and forth to

transport commodity products from the hinterland

which then bartered to the downstream of the river.

Asahan River, Silau River, Bilah River, Kualuh River

and Barumun River were among the wide and deep

rivers crowded with trading activities at that time.

Many residents' houses overlooked the rivers. Apart

from being a mode of transport, the rivers were also

used as a source of life such as bathing, washing and

so forth (Anderson, 1971).

4 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF

LAND TRANSPORT AND ITS

IMPACTS

Transporting with canoes actually hampered the

planters for they only managed to ship out a small

amount of goods which took a long time and a great

cost. This was certainly inefficient for them;

therefore, by the end of the 19th century,

onderneming parties-built highways. The

construction of highways, especially in

cultuurgebied, was pioneered by onderneming parties

intended for their self-interest. These highways

divided in the middle of a plantation to facilitate the

planting and shipping of crops. One of the

onderneming parties who built their own highway

was Deli Maatschappij, which in the 1880s had built

a 10 KM road from Medan to Sunggal and a 20 KM

road from Lubuk Pakam to Bangun Purba.

The road constructions were then continued by the

government. Until 1918, the government had built

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

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more than 500 KM of main road connecting

important cities in cultuurgebied. They built a 107

KM road from Medan to Pangkalan Berandan

through Binjai and Tanjung Pura, 81 KM road from

Medan to Tebing Tinggi, 115 KM road from Tebing

Tinggi to Tanjung Balai and continued to the border

of Kualuh in Asahan, 22 KM road from Medan to

Belawan, 79 KM road from Medan to Kabanjahe, 92

KM road from Lubuk Pakam in Serdang to Seribu

Dolok in Simalungun, 53 KM road from Tebing

Tinggi to Pematang Siantar, 46,5 KM road from

Pematang Siantar to Parapat, and Kabanjahe passed

through Seribu Dolok in Simalungun to Lake Toba.

In addition, they also built connecting roads with

other areas, such as from Kabanjahe to Kotacane, as

well as from Parapat to Tapanuli (Broersma, 1992).

The constructions of these highways naturally

facilitated the flow of goods in and out; especially the

plantations in Afdeling Deli en Serdang no longer had

problems to transport the crops which were later

exported through the Port of Belawan. This

transportation development increased the activity in

Belawan for the transported goods kept growing and

increasing. It indicated that the constructions of

highways did not inhibit the activities in the port

because generally when the Dutch colonial

government built the highways, the port cities had

already suffered a setback.

The Dutch colonial government through the

private sector built not only the highways, but also the

railway network. The progress and development of

transportation forced people to constantly try to find

ways how to organize transportation quickly and

smoothly. The government had finally developed a

railway network that was able to ease the burden in

its driving force so as to be able to transport more

plantation products. This policy immediately put

through the railway companies to take parts in

building transportation facilities in the plantation area

(Indera, 1996).

The area of East Sumatra became well-known

after the government established this area as a

plantation area whose crops were then exported to

Europe and America. Trains served as main

transportations in the rural areas of plantation so as

the goods could be placed in ports to be transported

by ships. This policy was the answer to the planters

need for transportation. The railway network built in

the late 19th century aimed to serve the rapidly

expanding colonial export and import business

(Indera, 1996). The realization of the construction of

railway network in East Sumatra initially focused in

three areas; Deli, Serdang and Selesei. These areas

were very suitable for railway network due to its flat

ground condition and were also close to Medan. For

37 years starting from 1886 to 1937, Deli Spoorweg

Maatschappij (DSM) had built 553,254 KM railway

network (Indera, 1996). The construction had very a

positive impact on the economic development of the

plantation. This positive impact could be seen with

the large volume capacity; therefore, it did not have

to repeatedly transport the crops which costed a lot of

money. On the other hand, the construction also had

a negative impact, especially on the development of

river transportation which prior to the presence of

trains was a key and important mode of transport in

East Sumatra.

The expansion of onderneming in East Sumatra

was pioneered by Nienhuijs who tried to grow

tobacco in Deli in 1863. Although initially less

successful, the expansion went on a large scale after

(Stoler, 2005). In 1873, there had been 15

onderneming; 13 in Deli and 1 each in Langkat and

Serdang. This number continued to grow, until it

reached 86 onderneming in 1884; 44 in Deli, 20 in

Langkat, 9 in Serdang, and 3 in Padang Bedagai

(Volker, 1918). The expansion of onderneming in

some areas certainly took up a large area and spread

out in some areas in East Sumatra. For example, in

1915, the rubbers planted by onderneming took up

103.112 ha. In the same year, they used over 6531 ha

of land to plant tea and palm. These figures did not

include the land used for tobacco plants and other

crops (Edi Sumarno, 2006).

The distributions of land used were not spread

evenly. They did not utilize the Northern Langkat

afdeling, Sourthern Asahan afdeling, and almost the

whole area of Bengkalis afdeling. It was uncertain of

why the onderneming party was less interested in

expanding into these areas. It was most likely due to

the incompatibility of land, climate, and the

surrounding for the development of the plantation

industry. The uneven distribution of land controlled

by various onderneming in various regions had a

great influence on the distribution of highway and

railway construction. Since the construction of the

roads was intended primarily to support the plantation

industry, it was only conducted in places where there

were plantation areas and buffer zones. Therefore, the

railways were not constructed in areas where there

was not onderneming area or other area that could not

manage to support this plantation industry. Thus, in

the southern of Asahan and Bengkalis afdeling, the

river transportation still held an important role.

The construction of highways and railways in the

inland areas and its urgency in support of the growth

of the plantation industry had resulted in the role of

traditional ports which at the same time were also the

The Development of the Land Transports and the Effects on the Role of River in East Sumatera 1900-1942

1165

center of traditional power, was slowly changing.

Only the ports in Bengkalis afdeling and Southern of

Asahan continued to survive. The other ports suffered

setbacks as the "modern" Port of Belawan became the

major port in East Sumatra. This happened because

many export businesses conducted through this port

with supporting facilities such as highways and

railways. Along with this, import activity also mostly

took place at the same port. From there, the imported

goods were then distributed to many areas in East

Sumatra (Edi Sumarno, 2006).

5 THE EXISTENCE OF THE

RIVER AFTER THE

ESTABLISHMENT OF LAND

TRANSPORTATION

The rapid development of plantations in East Sumatra

had an impact on the development of land

transportation. The establishment of land transport

was the effort from the planters to transport the crops

effectively and efficiently. To that end, the planters

urged the Dutch colonial government in East Sumatra

to build cross-government roads that connected the

regions in East Sumatra. The roads were needed

considering the fact that the roads built by the planters

were merely a road connecting one plantation to

another plantation.

The demand from the planters was fulfilled by the

government. They built roads from the hinterlands

followed by a large highway stretching parallel to the

coast from the border of Aceh to Rantau Parapat. The

roads stretched from north-south to east-west, from

mountains to shore. However, until the end of 1928,

some big onderneming still did not get the access to

the road built by the government; most of which were

plantations located in the southern part of East

Sumatra. Most of the plantations still shipped their

goods by using canoes through Labuhan Bilik Port,

by the Bilah River estuaries and Negerilama (Arsip

BOW No. 2656).

The southern part of East Sumatra still utilized

river as a mode of transport as well, for instance,

Merbau River. The river was used to support the ship

of plantation goods. The colonial government with

the help of the public works agency (BOW) built a

pier, a field to pile up the goods and a waiting room

with a budget of ƒ 9.855. The construction of the pier

was on the banks of the Merbau River that connected

tributaries such as Sipare-pare, Pangkailan and Lubuk

Rampah. Not only the construction, the government

also kept the conditions of the rivers so as not to be

shallow and could be traversed by canoes and large-

scale ships by placing one bagermolen (dredging

maching/ mud suction) at each of the river bases

(Arsip BOW No. 2656).

From the statements above, it can be concluded

that river transportation continued to play significant

roles even though the establishment of land transport

continued to develop. With the attention of the

government who still used the river as a mode of

transport, the existence of the river transportation also

continued to survive. The reason behind it, especially

in the southern region of East Sumatra, was due to its

wide and deep river. This was in contrast to rivers

located in the northern regions of East Sumatra such

as Serdang, Deli and Langkat, where the rivers were

not as wide as the ones in the southern region and

continued to undergo silting and narrowing, making

it impossible to keep using as a mode of transport.

6 CONCLUSION

The development of the plantation business had both

positive and negative impacts. The positive impact

was the development of more adequate, effective and

efficient mode of transports. In addition, with the

construction of highways and railways, the

distribution of goods was spread more evenly and

eventually became a new embryo of economy. Not

only the positive impacts, the development of

transportation facilities also had a negative impact,

especially in terms of the decreasing role of the river

as a mode of transport for it was considered

ineffective and inefficient. However, although the

development of land transport was growing, the role

of the river transportation was still maintained,

especially in the southern region of East Sumatra. The

rivers in the southern area also underwent

developments as the government built supporting

facilities and infrastructures to ship the plantation

goods.

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

This article couldn’t have been possible thanks to

funding of “Penelitian TALENTA USU skema

Penelitian Dasar” with the contract number

243/UN5.2.3.1/PPM/KP-TALENTA USU/2018. We

also thanks to Lembaga Penelitan USU which has

accommodated this research. Besides that, we also

thanks to Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia because

the sources of this article are widely available there

ICOSTEERR 2018 - International Conference of Science, Technology, Engineering, Environmental and Ramiﬁcation Researches

1166

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