The Sultanate of Langkat () was a

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

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located in modern Langkat Regency,

North Sumatra North Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Utara) is a province of Indonesia located on the northern part of the island of Sumatra. Its capital and largest city is Medan. North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province after West Java, East Java and ...

. It predates Islam in the region, but no historical records before the 17th century survive. It prospered with the opening of rubber plantations and the discovery of oil in Pangkalan

Brandan Brandan is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Brandan Craig (born 2004), American soccer player *Brandan Greczkowski (born 1997), American judoka *Brandan Kearney (born 1993), American basketball player ...

Early history

In approximately 1568, a military commander from the Kingdom of Aru set up a kingdom which was the forerunner of the modern Langkat Sultanate. However, the first sultan was Sri Paduka Tuanku Sultan al-Haj Musa al-Khalid al-Mahadiah Mu’azzam Shah, known as Sultan Musa, who was awarded the title of sultan in 1887 by the Dutch monarch, as were the rulers of

Deli Deli may refer to: * Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop * Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia Places * Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...

, Serdang and Asahan as a token of gratitude for their services to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. The Dutch colonial authorities were able to use the Malay sultans to indirectly control eastern Sumatra. These sultans signed political contracts with the Dutch, and as part of their nominal authority over land use, personally received royalties for each land concession they granted allowing foreign interests to control tobacco estates. They also were granted control over their Malay subjects and guaranteed security of their sultanates.

Cooperation with the Dutch colonial authorities

The cooperative relationship with the Dutch made all the sultans enormously wealthy. As well as tobacco, contracts were also signed for oil exploitation, and by 1915, 37.9 percent of the income of the Langkat Sultanate passed directly to Sultan Abdul Aziz Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah, the son of Sultan Musa, who had inherited the throne in 1893. Abdul Aziz also built the huge Azizi Mosque in Tanjung Pura, seat of the sultanate, and established a religious education centre. Abdul Aziz was in turn succeeded by his son, Sultan Mahmud Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah, whose wealth grew in parallel with the income from various concessions and royalties, particularly following the discovery of oil in

Pangkalan Brandan Pangkalan Brandan (or Pangkalanbrandan) (''Pangkalanberandan'') is a port town in Langkat Regency, North Sumatra province, Indonesia, forty miles north west of Medan, close to the boundary with Aceh. The area's population is estimated at aroun ...

. He became the richest of the Sumatra Malay sultans, and by 1933 owned 13 limousines, racehorses and a boat that he never used. The ethnic Malay subjects of the sultan - 18.57 percent of the population in 1930, each received 4 hectares - later reduced to 2.8 hectares - for farming. Despite this huge income, by the end of 1934 the extravagant lifestyle of Sultan Mahmud had resulted in his accumulating a huge debt. As a result, the Dutch took control of the finances of the East Sumatran sultans, arranging loans to pay of the debts, and leaving the sultans with monthly allowances. The cooperation with the Dutch extended to political activities, including the banning of the popular nationalist

Partindo The Indonesia Party ( id, Partai Indonesia), better known as Partindo, was a nationalist political party in Indonesia that existed before independence and was revived in 1957 as a leftist party. Pre-independence party In 1927, future Indonesian p ...

party in 1933 and the recall in 1935 of the sultan's nephew

Amir Hamzah Tengku Amir Hamzah (February 1911 – 20 March 1946) was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia. Born into a Malay aristocratic family in the Sultanate of Langkat in North Sumatra, he was educated in both Sumatra and Java. W ...

from his studies in Batavia because he had become too involved in the Indonesian independence movement. Amir Hamzah subsequently married the sultan's daughter, Kamailia.

The end of the sultanate

The sultanate fell as a result of the

social revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political syst ...

of March 1946, a movement against what were seen as feudal and pro-Dutch aristocracies. The Sultanate of Langkat was declared abolished on 5 March. On 9 March, the palace was seized, seven aristocrats were killed and the sultan was handed over the republican authorities. He was released in July 1947 by Dutch forces who had launched a

military offensive An offensive is a military operation that seeks through an aggressive projection of armed forces to occupy territory, gain an objective or achieve some larger strategic, operational, or tactical goal. Another term for an offensive often used b ...

against the Republic of Indonesia. Mahmud Abdul died in April 1948

List of rulers

* 1568-1580: Panglima Dewa Shahdan * 1580-1612: Panglima Dewa Sakti * 1612-1673: Raja Kahar bin Panglima Dewa Sakdi * 1673-1750: Bendahara Raja Badiuzzaman bin Raja Kahar * 1750-1818: Raja Kejuruan Hitam (Tuah Hitam) bin Bendahara Raja Badiuzzaman * 1818-1840: Raja Ahmad bin Raja Indra Bungsu * 1840-1893: Tuanku Sultan Haji Musa al-Khalid al-Mahadiah Muazzam Shah (Tengku Ngah) bin Raja Ahmad * 1893-1927: Tuanku Sultan Abdul Aziz Abdul Jalil Rakhmat Shah bin Sultan Haji Musa * 1927-1948: Tuanku Sultan Mahmud Abdul Jalil Rakhmat Shah bin Sultan Abdul Aziz * 1948-1990: Tengku Atha'ar bin Sultan Mahmud Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah * 1990-1999: Tengku Mustafa Kamal Pasha bin Sultan Mahmud Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah * 1999-2001: Tengku Dr Herman Shah bin Tengku Kamil, grandson of Sultan Abdul Aziz Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah * 2001-2003: Tuanku Sultan Iskandar Hilali Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah al-Haj bin Tengku Murad Aziz, grandson of Sultan Abdul Aziz Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah * 2003-Now: Tuanku Sultan Azwar Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah al-Haj bin Tengku Maimun, grandson of Sultan Abdul Aziz Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van Mahmoed Abdoel Djalil Rachmat Sjah Sultan van Langkat Noord-Sumatra TMnr 10001816.jpg, Sultan Mahmud Abdul Jalil Rahmad Shah (ruled from 1927 to 1946) File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Paleis van de Sultan van Langkat tijdens een banjir Tandjoengpoera TMnr 60021731.jpg, The Darul Aman Palace of the Langkat Sultanate, Tanjung Pura during a flood File:Azizi Mosque side.jpg, The Azizi Mosque, Tanjung Pura, Indonesia built by Sultan Abdul Aziz

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Langkat, Sultanate of Precolonial states of Indonesia History of Sumatra Former sultanates Former countries in Southeast Asia Islamic states in Indonesia