Geographical maps have always – up to the present day – played a central role in the creation of tourist spaces. This map of North Sumatra, published by the Travellers Official Information Bureau in 1935, shows the vast area as a recreational location. Kuta Raja, the then capital of Aceh on the north coast, is, according to the map, not the location of the decades’ long resistance against Dutch domination but an easily accessible town with a hotel. The map also illustrates how Europeans used old names for new places – take, for instance, Arnhemia to the south of Medan. In this manner, colonised areas were joined to the ‘mother country’ and simultaneously subordinated to it.
Map of North Sumatra / Sumatra Northern Section, published by the Officieele Toeristenbureau van Nederlandsch-Indië / The Travellers Official Information Bureau of Netherland India. Batavia: Officieele Toeristenbureau van Nederlandsch-Indië, [1935]. [KK 167-01-10/12_001]