Deli Company

Deli Company () is a trading and distribution company in the timber, construction product and tobacco industries. It began as large tobacco plantation and production operation established in 1869 by the Dutch in Sumatra. It was granted a land concession by the Sultanate of Deli.

The company relied on immigrant coolie labor.Transforming the Public Sphere: The Dutch National Exhibition of Women’s Labor in 1898
Maria Grever, Berteke Waaldijk Duke University Press, 2 June 2004 page 136, 152 Black shank was a problem and was researched on the plantation. Publicly traded on the Amsterdam stock market, it was the first modern company to pay large annual stock dividends. Jacobus Nienhuys founded the company. A few years later he returned to the Netherlands after being indicted for the death of 7 workers and administration of the company was taken over by Jacob Theodoor Cremer who became its largest shareholder. The company's headquarters was constructed in Medan in 1911.

The company diversified into tea, rubber and other industries and acquired other companies over the years. Deli Company's tobacco business was nationalized by Indonesia along with other Dutch enterprises in 1958 under Indonesian president Sukarno. The state-owned Plantation Nusantara Group (PTP) took over the tobacco business but the Deli Company continued operations in other areas and businesses. It is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Corporation.Deli Universal History
Funding Universe The business was established near the Deli River.

History

The company was established in Medan, then just a village, but conveniently located at the confluence of the Deli and Babura Rivers. Business grew rapidly. The company gained a commanding position in the area's tobacco trade, running 10 huge estates and eventually controlling exports with a monopoly. It developed railroads including 54 stations and built a field hospital. As the company and Medan grew, the Sultan of Deli ( Ma'mun Al Rashid) moved his residence from Labuhan and Medan became the capital of North Sumatra in 1891.

Beside the possessions in Dutch East Indies the Deli Company had a lot of assetsRijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (Cultural Heritage Agency) in both Amsterdam and Rotterdam to ensure smooth operations, e.g.:
* Offices at Herengracht 286, 380 and 586, Amsterdam
* warehouse Het Veem, Amsterdam
* warehouses Medan, Bindjeij and Laboean
* Warehouse Wijnhaven, Rotterdam

Cigar smoking declined in the 1920s and the industry was hit hard by the Great Depression a decade later.Battle to preserve North Sumatra's smoking past
Peter Janssen 1 April 2015 Nikkei Asian Review

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Bedrijfsmedewerkers van de Deli Maatschappij in het veld bij een stoomploeg en een ossenkar TMnr 60043456.jpg, Fieldworkers with an ox cart and steam plow
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het proefstation van de Deli Maatschappij te Medan TMnr 60012530.jpg, Deli Company experimental station in Medan (1919)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Het hoofdkantoor van de Deli Maatschappij TMnr 60006949.jpg, Headquarters in Medan circa 1925
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Huis van de directeur van het Deli Proefstation voor Tabak TMnr 60047127.jpg, Director's house at the experimental station (1927)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van een groep bij de Deli Maatschappij werkzame Chinese arbeiders en opzichters TMnr 60011104.jpg, Chinese laborers, photo by Kristen Feilberg
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van arbeiders in dienst bij de Deli Maatschappij TMnr 60011111.jpg, Workers
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van de heer Nieuwenhuis werkzaam als administrateur bij de Deli Maatschappij TMnr 60037989.jpg, Administrator Nieuwenhuis
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van H. Ingerman van 1897 tot 1901 werkzaam als hoofdadministrateur bij de Deli Maatschappij TMnr 60042840.jpg, H. Ingerman, principal administrator from 1897 to 1901 at the Deli Company
COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van de heer Van Tijen van 1911 tot 1916 werkzaam als hoofdadministrateur bij de Deli Maatschappij met zijn vrouw TMnr 60042836.jpg, Portrait of the administrator Van Tijen, who served from 1911-1916, with his spouse
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Studioportret van een hoofdschrijver bij de Deli Maatschappij met zijn vrouw TMnr 60039684.jpg, Portrait of a "hoofdschrijver", head clerk, with his wife circa 1900
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Personeel van de Deli maatschappij op Medan TMnr 60022969.jpg, Employees in Medan (1921)

See also

* Deli Railway
* Deli Sultanate
*Deli Serdang Regency

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

Companies established in 1869
Tobacco companies of Indonesia
1869 establishments in the Dutch Empire
Agriculture companies of Indonesia