Medan

Medan sits as the capital and largest city of North Sumatra, a province in Indonesia. Its position near the Strait of Malacca, along with the Port of Belawan and Kualanamu International Airport, makes it a regional hub and a multicultural center—serving as a financial engine for Sumatra and a gateway to western Indonesia. Roughly 60% of North Sumatra’s economy relies on trade, agriculture, and processing industries, including exports from the province’s 4 million acres of palm oil plantations. Indonesia’s National Development Planning Agency ranks Medan among the country’s four main central cities, alongside Jakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar. It is the most populous city in Indonesia outside the island of Java, with a 2024 population roughly equal to that of Moldova.

According to the 2020 Census, Medan’s city limits held 2,435,252 people; by mid-2024, the official estimate stood at 2,486,283—1,237,602 males and 1,248,681 females—with a projected rise to 2,498,293 by mid-2025. Including the surrounding urban area, the population exceeds 3.4 million, making it Indonesia’s fourth-largest urban area. The broader Medan metropolitan area, which includes Binjai, Deli Serdang Regency, and part of Karo Regency, is the largest metro area outside Java, counting 4,744,323 residents in the 2020 Census and 4,944,979 by mid-2024.

The city was founded at the confluence of the Deli and Babura rivers by a Karonese man named Guru Patimpus. Originally called Kampung Medan Putri, it became part of the Deli Sultanate, established in 1632. In the late 19th century, Dutch colonists seeking new plantation areas chose Medan and Deli as hubs, founding the Deli Company. The Dutch tobacco trade quickly turned Medan into an economic center, earning it the nickname “the land of the money.” The Deli Railway, built to ship tobacco, rubber, tea, timber, palm oil, and sugar from Medan to the Port of Belawan for global export, spurred further rapid growth. Medan first became the capital of the State of East Sumatra, then the provincial capital of North Sumatra.

The name “Medan” may come from the Batak Karo word meaning “healed,” “blessed,” or “recovered,” linked to the city’s founder, a traditional doctor. The oldest evidence of this term used for the city dates to the 13th–15th century, during the reign of Aru, the Karo monarch. Another theory suggests “medan” is of Malay origin, literally meaning “field,” possibly derived from the Tamil word for “ground,” cognate with Malayalam, or from the Persian term “meidan” for “field” or “ground.”

Medan lies in what was once the Kingdom of Aru, founded by the Karo people and flourishing between the 13th and 16th centuries. Nearby archaeological sites include Kota Rentang, a port settlement in Hamparan Perak; Kota Cina, an ancient trading site in Medan Marelan; and Benteng Putri Hijau, a fort ruin in Deli Tua. In the 16th century, Guru Patimpus Sembiring Pelawi, a Karonese man from Karo Regency, converted from Pemena to Islam. While traveling to study under Datuk Kota Bangun, he met and married the Princess of an unnamed kingdom. Accompanied by their two sons, Kolok and Kecik, the couple founded Medan village between the Deli and Babura rivers.

In 1632, the Aceh Sultanate under Gocah Pahlawan expanded to include Medan. Perunggit succeeded his father in 1669 and declared the Deli Sultanate, including Medan, independent of Aceh. Starting in the 1860s, Dutch authorities released new land for tobacco plantations. Said Abdullah Bilsagih, brother-in-law of Sultan Mahmud Perkasa Alam, persuaded Dutch tobacco merchant Jacob Nienhuys to move his business from Java to Deli. Dutch merchants Van der Falk and Elliot, along with Chinese brothers Tjong Yong Hian and Tjong A Fie, were also pioneers in Deli’s tobacco industry. In 1867, Nienhuys, Jannsen, P.W. Clemen, and Cremer founded De Deli Maatschappij; in 1869, they moved its head office from Labuhan Deli to Medan, making the city a tobacco trade center. Growth continued with the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal.

Sultan Ma’mun Al Rashid Perkasa Alamyah, ruling from 1873 to 1924, moved the kingdom’s capital to Medan. Known as the builder of early Medan, he completed the Maimun Palace in 1888 and the Great Mosque of Medan in 1907. In 1898, Dutch businessman Aeint Herman de Boer built Hotel de Boer to accommodate European cruise tourists visiting Medan. During the 1942 Dutch East Indies campaign, Japanese forces entered Medan on bicycles and occupied the city. The handover was chaotic, enforced by the Kempetai. Locals were subjected to forced Japanese language and worship. The Japanese held the city until their surrender in 1945. Medan then came under the South East Asia Command led by British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Following Indonesia’s Proclamation of Independence on 17 August, Medan became part of the new republic, with the news announced there on 30 September.

In October, Allied troops landed in Belawan and marched on Medan. The resulting conflicts with the Indonesian Army became known as the Battle of Medan. The Allies regained control in April 1946, and in December 1947 the Dutch established the State of East Sumatra with Medan as its capital. This state became part of the United States of Indonesia in 1949 and was dissolved into the Republic of Indonesia in 1950. Medan continued to grow as a center of commerce and culture.