The long war for Aceh

In the late 19th century the Dutch started taking over the governments (Sultanates)of the Indonesian Archipelago, home to the biggest concentration of Muslims in the world. In the course of that take over the Dutch battled with the local Raden, the Indonesian noblemen. This proved to be easy. On the Westernmost part of Indonesia however, in the Sultanate of Aceh on the Island of Sumatera the resistance to Dutch rule actually intensified after the Dutch took over the Kraton, the seat of the Sultan and a Jihad was waged on the Dutch by the whole population of Aceh.

In a war that was to last for almost 30 years the Dutch finally found out what made Jihad tick and how to defeat it. This was done by Snouck Hurgronje, a scholar of Islam and General van Heutz. MORE