Medan 419 Years Old History
July 1, 2009 by Medan Indonesia
Filed under Information, Medan History
Medan is 419 years old this year!
However, the founding date of Medan 01 July 1590 has been criticized as `inaccurate’ as the Jakarta Post reported below.
Leaving all the arguments aside of the birth date of Medan, the founding year is right! So we can confirm that Medan is in fact a very old town of 419 years old. You can see some of Medan Historical buildings below or newer pictures/” target=”_blank”>pictures & photos of Medan
Medan History
The Jakarta Post reports that Historians have criticized the anniversary celebrations for Medan, the provincial capital of North Sumatra, claiming the date was chosen more as a compromise rather than based on historical analysis.
Ichwan Azhari, head of Medan State University’s Center for Social and Historical Studies, said the July 1 anniversary date was completely fabricated and held no historical relation whatsoever with the founding of Medan city.
“To present date historians have found no basis for why July 1, 1590, was the decided birth date of Medan,” Ichwan told The Jakarta Post.
He said a manuscript, Hampatan Perak, did mention the year 1590 as the time when a figure named Guru Patimpus established the first village between the Deli and Babura Rivers in Medan. Still, no exact date was mentioned.
Ichwan said that prior to 1909, Medan’s anniversary was celebrated every July 1, but it was eventually changed to April 1.
This date was upheld for 66 years before it was finally reverted back to July 1 in 1975.
“This action shows we actually have no strong data *regarding the founding date of Medan*. We need to correct this so that we are not deceived by history,” he said.
He said he had raised the matter with both the municipal administration and local legislature but received no response.
The only living member of the committee assigned with determining the founding date, T. Lukman Sinar, said July 1 did in fact have nothing to do with the establishment of Medan.
July was chosen because it was relevant to the history of the Karo ethnic group’s Manteka Kuta (establishing a village), while the 1st was selected because it was simply the first day of the month.
He also said the committee dropped the April 1 choice because the date was set by the Dutch colonial administration.
“There was a very strong feeling of nationalism at that time, so the April 1 anniversary was dropped,” he said.
Personally he had no issue with being criticized for the inaccuracy of the date, he said, and had no problem with changing the date to accommodate history.
For more information about the history and demographics of Medan refer to Medan History
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Can anyone contribute or share photograph of Medan that were taken many many years ago here?Not many people have a camera during those times,i suppose.I love to see such photograph and imagine how my grandpa and father went through during their early days in Medan.I know they are very poor but happy and looking forward daily to the prosperity of this town.
Pictures shown here consist of mostly hotels and shopping malls.It would be great if I can see old photoes of Medan and the Medanese daily routine,etc..
Sadly my forefathers are no longer around to see these photoes here .But I know they should be proud of the progress of Medan.
We will try to find more pictures. The one posted here are one of the oldest pictures we can get. If any readers have these pictures, please email us at contact[at]medanku.com or post them in our forum
i was born in medan in 1944. is there anyone out there that knows my father michel gonero?. during the war he made makeup for the sultans wives. he was russian en my mother italian. i am looking everywheree just to get closing on what happened to him. ty all
[...] 1961 October 30 my father Tan Ui Sian was born as the youngest in the family. He had two siblings Tan Ui Chin which is my aunt and Tan Ui Sik which is my uncle. They grew up in Pematang Siantar and they moved to Medan because of job purposes. My grand father became a teacher in Medan. Few years later when my dad was in high school they moved to Jakarta because of my grand father’s work again. He worked in a Glass company an moved there in 1974. 1978 my aunt, uncle and grand mother left my father in Medan and left to Jakarta for school and work purposes and in 1979 my father followed his family to Jakarta for university. Medan [...]
Hi, The exhibition titled: “Silent Coercion: Sumatra’s East Coast through a Colonial Lens” (From 23 Nov 2010 to 6 Feb 2011) at the National Museum of Singapore displays many images of Medan taken around 1910. Please see:
http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/nms/nms_html/nms_content_6c.asp?content_template=4&content_id=23&tab_id=23&cine_id=3045&fest_id=0