Were the Batak people cannibals

Answer 1

False. The Batak were never cannibals. Many writers quote British explorer William Marsden, who in his 1783 book History of Sumatra wrote sensational accounts about the inland inhabitants of North Sumatra, and their alleged cannibalistic rituals. However his accounts, by his own admission, were all provided by second hand or third hand sources. Marsden admits that he never witnessed the practice himself1.

Recent research studies by anthropologists have shown that rumours of "cannibalism" were in fact, spread by North Sumatran coastal rulers, who went out of their way to circulate these stories to foreign travelers. By doing this, coastal rulers had more power to control local trade with foreign merchants by frightening them out of making direct contact with inland people2.

After those coastal rulers were subjected to European colonial rule during the 19th century, it was inland Batak chiefs themselves who began to spread rumours of "cannibalism" among their villagers. Their purpose was to appear to foreigners as valuable intermediaries (middle-men) between the foreigners, and so called local "cannibals"2.

These rumours vanished after the Dutch established colonial rule over the inland regions at the beginning of the twentieth century2.

Today, some enterprising tourist guides in North Sumatra still perpetuate this story for unsuspecting foreign tourists.

1Marsden, W., 1783. The history of Sumatra. Printed for the author, by J. McCreery, and sold by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.

2Masashi, H., 2005. European Travelers and Local Informants in the Making of the Image of "Cannibalism" in North Sumatra. The Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko, 63, 42.