FASCINATING PLANTATION HISTORY

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The plantation history of Indonesia is one of the most fascinating histories for me because it embraces many elements: industry, economy, social, culture, migration, globalization, and I can add more and more angles. 

If I relate it to the shared history between Indonesia and the Netherlands, the plantation history as if still alive because I could find many traces in both countries. 

The last webinar about shared history was about the plantation history at the Eastcoast of Sumatra (current North Sumatra). Indonesia was represented by Museum Perkebunan Indonesia-Musperin (the Indonesian Plantation Museum) in Medan. The speaker, Sordjai Kartasasmita is one of the founding fathers of the plantation industry in Indonesia and the initiator of the musea (yes, Musperin has two musea). 

When I searched the traces in the Netherlands, I found quite a number of essential traces. The multinational Deli Maatschappij is now Deli Home. Villa's of the plantation pioneers are still intact, for examples the canal villa of  Jacob Nienhuys (1836-1927) at Herengracht 380-382 Amsterdam and the villa of  Jacob Theodoor Cremer  (1847-1923) in Santpoort that is now becoming Landhuis Duin en Kruidberg. Santpoort is also a location of the former house of Madelon Székely-Lulofs (1899-1858) who wrote the famous books about plantation life in Deli, North Sumatra, 'Koelie' and 'Rubber'. A lot of information I found through an excellent website called Koloniaal Erfgoed te Voet.

Other fascinating information I found in the Bulletin Tussen Vecht en Eem, a magazine about regional history edition September 2018 about 'Sporen van Indië' (Traces about Indonesia) and Hilversum - indischebuurten.nl about villas with the Indonesian names. 

There is much more information I could find for the webinar series about the plantation history of the Eastcoast of Sumatra. I am glad that I organize these webinar series voluntarily to connect both countries. It reveals more and more facets and facts that I have not known yet. 






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