Patuan Bosar Sinambela ginoar Ompu Pulo Batu, better known as Si Singamangaraja XII, was the last priest-king of the Batak peoples of north Sumatra. In the course of fighting a lengthy guerrilla war against the Dutch colonisation of Sumatra from 1878 onwards, he was killed in a skirmish with Dutch troops in 1907. He was declared a National Hero of Indonesia in 1961 for his resistance to Dutch colonialism.
Si Singamangaraja XII
Batak warriors in traditional dress, ca. 1870.
Sisimangaraja XII featured on the 1,000-rupiah banknote.
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, Angkola, and Mandailing, related ethnic groups with distinct languages and traditional customs (adat).
Toba Batak male and female wearing traditional clothes
A traditional Toba Batak house (see Batak architecture).
Bark book with charms written in native Batak script, 1910.
Traditional boat (c. 1870), photograph by Kristen Feilberg.