The first historic evidence of the name Mandailing is found in a 14th century text book, “Hindu and Buddhist relics” and can still be found in the countryside. However there is very little, almost no documentation archived prior to the late 16th century on Mandailing.
One of Mandailing’s first claims of fame was gold mining in the late 16th, 17th and very early 18th centuries. In those times Highland Mandailing first became famous for it’s gold and was dubbed “The Mountain of Mass”. (The Mountain of Gold) Mandailing is also the name of a distinct ethnic group of people who originated from the south west corner of Sumatra.
The Mandailing’s have yet to be officially recognized and in the past have been labeled Bataks or Malays. The Mandailing’s have their own territory called “The Mandailing Homelands. The Mandailing Homelands is situated to the south of Lake Toba and to the north Padang. The homeland can be accessed from Padang, capital of West Sumatra and Medan, capital of North Sumatra. The Mandailing country is traversed by two of Sumatra’s most important rivers, the Aek Batang Gadis and Aek Batal Natal that converge and drain into the Indian Ocean on the west coast of North Sumatra. Aek Batang Gadis is the largest river and its origin is in Highland Mandailing, and enters Lower Mandailing flowing from south to north.
The Mandailing’s themselves divide their homeland into two distinct domains. The area to the north and a little to the west is called Mandailing Godang (Lower Mandailing). The area to the south is called Mandailing Julu (Highland Mandailing.) Mandailing is also the name of a highly regarded coffee that was grown and produced from Highland Mandailing in the Kabupaten of Pakantan. This rare species of Arabica was introduced for the first time into Highlands of Mandailing in 1835 via the “Kultur System” by Dutch coffee and spice traders.
Their intent was to produce an export quality coffee for the Netherlands based company, “The Dutch East India Trading Co”, or VOC as it was known in those times. With all good there seems to be bad and the Mandailing grown coffee met several major setbacks. In 1800 the VOC was formally dissolved; the 1880’s saw a Leaf Rust epidemic which all but whipped out the plantations. Finally the coffee industry in Indonesia came to an abrupt halt in 1942. Amidst the Second World War the export of Mandailing coffee ceased virtually overnight. Japanese had invaded and occupied Indonesia and on doing so immediately placed a ban on all exports.
It looked to be the end to a world class and extremely popular coffee, Indonesia’s no.1 Arabica. Apart from highland Mandailing’s gold, the individuality of its people, coffee or its treasures it one of the most beautiful places on this earth. Highland Mandailing is absolutely pristine with almost a spiritual contact of some kind, like no where else on earth. It’s where Sumatra’s greatest rivers are borne with crystal waters and home to more species of birds and wildlife than any other part in the Indonesian archipelago. Unknown and unnamed species are being discovered here more often than any other place on earth. It is the only natural home and only place in Sumatra where wild Sumatran tiger roam freely.
