Chen Zhenlong 陳振龍 (c. 1543–1619) is known as the father of sweet potato in China. Legend says that this Fujian businessman, is responsible for introducing sweet potatoes to 16th century China, becoming a critical solution to the widespread hunger crisis at the time. Born in Qingqiao Village, Changle County, Fuzhou…

Unveiling the Mystery: Discover the fascinating journey of Bika Ambon, a cherished Indonesian delicacy with Portuguese roots, as its enigmatic origins are traced through history and culinary traditions. Bika Ambon is a popular cake known as a specialty from Medan, North Sumatra. Bika Ambon is golden-brown colour, with by a…

Historian Michael Miller from University of Miami brought about an obscure history: When East Met East: Dutch East Indies Planters and the Ukraine Project (1942–1944). The Ukraine Project was a plan by Nazi officials during World War II to establish a colonial plantation empire in Ukraine, based on the model…

At the start of the twentieth century, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina introduced an ethical policy, emphasising their obligation to ensure the well-being of the colony’s inhabitants. Following a prolonged period of abstaining from involvement in local activities, the government of the Netherlands Indies began constructing Dutch-language schools throughout the archipelago. …

Love, Dukun and when Relationships went wrong On the afternoon of December 12th, Lim Long Soen walked into the police office at Paleisweg Medan, holding something like a ball in his hand. He went to the police inspector Mr. Van der Plank, writing at his desk. Van der Plank asked…

Billy Heaton is an Australian performer from Perth with his travelling Vaudeville around the world. In 1937, Billy travelled to Medan to perform in Medan, Malaysia, and India. He wrote about Life in the Far East. BILLY HEATON Writing from Medan, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies (Published in Kalgoorlie Miner, Fri…

Villa Patumbah is located in kecamatan Patumbak in North Sumatra 3° 31' 3" N, 98° 43' 1" E. This is the original villa Patumbah. Deli tobacco started on the east coast of Sumatra in the late 1860s. Few Dutchmen found that deli tobacco leaves fetched a high price in Europe…

Early 1900 Tjong A Fie set up a brick factory outside the Medan town. The area used to be a tobacco plantation, but the soil was very clayey, hard, and poor in nutrients and yielded poor tobacco. The land belonging to Deli Mij was then leased to Tjong A Fie…

Boven Digoel is in a remote location in the middle of Papua jungle used by the Dutch to settle exiled prisoners. It is hundreds of km upstream of the Digul river, in the middle of remote jungles, hot and humid, and malaria-infested. Communists, nationalists, dissidents who took part in anti-colonial…