Fort and disaster: Dutch colonial expansion, earthquake and tsunami in South Nias, 1856–1861

Following the Dutch East Indies conquest of the interior and western of Sumatra after the Padri war, the colonial government initiated further territorial expansion into the islands located in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra's west coast. In 1856, the Dutch succeeded in occupying and building a fort at Teluk Lagundri. However, this foothold was disrupted five years later by a catastrophic disaster. On February 16, 1861, Nias was shaken by a massive earthquake with a magnitude of 8.5, followed by a tsunami that devastated the coastal area. This study reconstructs the chronology of Dutch colonial expansion in South Nias since the establishment of the fort until the 1861 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent impacts of the disaster that followed. Employing historical methods, the analysis was based on 19th-century data. The findings show a significant interplay between the disaster and the colonial occupation. The 1861 earthquake and tsunami not only disrupted the Dutch administrative and military establishment in South Nias but also put into halt their expansionist efforts.