PERANAN SUNGAI ASAHAN DALAM PERDAGANGAN MASA KOLONIAL BELANDA, 1867–1942
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36526/sosioedukasi.v15i3.9682Keywords:
Asahan; River; Trade Dutch; colonial upstream-downstream ;Afdeeling AsahanAbstract
The Asahan River is one of the major rivers on the east coast of Sumatra that served as the lifeline of trading activities for communities along its course, from the upstream area around Lake Toba to its estuary at Tanjung Balai Port. This article aims to reconstruct the role of the Asahan River in trading activities during the Dutch colonial period of 1867–1942, and to examine the obstacles and maintenance efforts undertaken to sustain the flow of trade. This study employs the historical method comprising heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography, drawing on colonial archives (Algemeene Secretarie, Binnenlandsch Bestuur), memories van overgave, contemporary newspapers, and Dutch East Indies reports. The findings show that after Asahan was established as an afdeeling in 1867, the Asahan River played a central role in connecting the upstream downstream relations that had existed since the Sultanate of Asahan, while also serving as the main route for mobilizing plantation commodities tobacco, rubber, palm oil, gambier, and tea to Tanjung Balai Port for export. The river's navigability was repeatedly disrupted by siltation caused by sedimentation and upstream land clearing for plantations, which the colonial government addressed through dredging, road and railway construction, and the partial relocation of port functions to Teluk Nibung. This study contributes to the historiography of rivers in Sumatra, particularly the still under-studied east coast region.
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