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Officially Medan's birthdate is the 1st July 1590.
The city is Indonesia's third most populous after Surabaya and Jakarta, with approximately 2 million people. Compared to Jakarta, the city might seem a little provincial, as it lacks most of the glossy Western skyscrapers and shops.
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2 Dutch Presence 3 Dutch Architecture |
The first inhabitants of Medan came from the Batak Karo community. It was not until the King of Aceh, Sultan Iskandar Muda, sent his warlord, Gocah Pahlawan Laksamana Khoja Bintan, to be the Kingdom of Aceh's representative in Tanah Deli, that the Kingdom of Deli started to grow. This growth stimulated growth in both the population and culture of Medan.
The Dutch governed Tanah Deli from 1658, after Sultan Ismail, ruler of Kingdom of Siak Sri Indrapura, yielded some of his once ruled land, Deli, Langkat, and Serdang. In 1915 Medan officially became the capital of North Sumatera Province, and officially a city at 1918.Founding
Medan's embryo was a village called Kampung Medan (Medan Village). Kampung Medan was founded by Guru Patimpus around the 1590s. Because Kampung Medan sits on Tanah Deli (Land of Deli), Kampung Medan is also referred as Medan-Deli. The original location of Kampung Medan is an area where the River of Deli meets River Babura.Dutch Presence
Medan did not enjoy vast development until the 1860s, when the Dutch colonialists began clearing the land for tobacco plantations. Medan quickly became a centre of government and commercial activity, dominating development of Indonesia's western region.