ACEH (ATJEH) WAR

   The Treaty of Sumatra of 1871 between Great Britainand the Netherlands relieved the latter of its obligation under an 1824 treaty of the same name to respect the independence of the Sultanate of Aceh in the north of Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago. Aceh piracy caused the Dutch government to abandon its traditional policy of noninterference in Indonesian internal affairs. Beginning in 1873, several military expeditions were sent against Aceh, of which the sole immediate result was the occupation of its capital, Kutaradja (now Banda Aceh). Only in 1912, after brutal military actions, was resistance broken. In 1918, Aceh was granted its own civil administration. The famous Leidenprofessor of Islamicstudies Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje and Johannes van Heutsz played important roles as advisors of the government in the process of pacification in Aceh.