1890 Photograph of Buildings and Fields of the Brindjey Tobacco Estate, Sumatra

Rivers and Railways in Tobacco Country.

This is a rare c. 1890 set of albumen photographs of the large Bindjey Estate tobacco plantation in North Sumatra, part of the Sultanate of Deli, a protectorate of the Dutch East Indies. Together, they provide a sense of the complex stages of the tobacco production process and the equally complex mix of nationalities at work on the plantation.

A Closer Look

The photographs, representing the recto and verso of a single card, present different parts of the estate under construction and in operation. The top photograph shows a group of men of various ethnicities constructing a shed for fermenting tobacco leaves, a critical step in the production process. The bottom photograph similarly includes a group of men of different nationalities, the Europeans in their distinctive white suits, standing amid a sea of tobacco plants and the stumps of cleared trees. Behind them is a neat row of large buildings, perhaps sheds for drying tobacco.

Bindjey Estate

Bindjey Estate (misspelled here as Brindjey, often spelled in a variety of ways including Binjai) was a major tobacco plantation from the Dutch colonial era (late 1800s-early 1900s) in North Sumatra, famous for its massive tobacco production, especially for the 'Deli Wrapper' cigar that was considered a top product in Europe and America. This estate was owned by Gustav Engelbrecht, a German from Hanover, who managed the estate in Sumatra before returning to Hamburg, Germany, in 1892. Like other colonial cash crop plantations, the Bindjey Estate relied on cheap labor, in this case Javanese and Chinese 'coolies' who were at best indentured servants and at worst effective slaves. Indeed, workers at Bindjey, as on other plantations, were subject to the Poenale Sanctie, which allowed plantation owners to beat or imprison workers for 'breach of contract' if they were seen as being lax or attempting to run away.

Publication History and Census

These photographs were taken c. 1890 by an unknown photographer. Stylistically, they are similar to the later published works of the famed German photographer Charles J. Kleingrothe (1864 - 1942) and could be early examples of his work, though the captions suggest an English-speaking photographer. We have not identified any other examples.

Condition

Very good. Mounted albumen photographs. Image represents recto (front) and verso (back) of single card.