The Identity of "Sumatra" in History

Abstract

Any endeavours such as the 1981 Conference on 'North Sumatra', and the present book, raise questions about the most fruitful and appropriate boundaries for scholarly enquiry. Although two of my own books (1969; 1979) are premised on a quite different definition of 'North Sumatra' - including Aceh but excluding Tapanuli - I would be the first to concede that the Hamburg Conference did show the value of looking at the present (since 1956) province of North Sumatra as a distinct unit. Behind this question of definition, however, there lies an older and deeper question, whether Sumatra as a whole should be distinguished as a field of enquiry.