The Batak may be mentioned in Zhao Rugua's 13th-century Description of the Barbarous Peoples ( Zhu Fan Zhi 諸蕃志), which refers to a 'Ba-ta' dependency of Srivijaya. The last Batak king who fought valiantly against Dutch imperialists until 1905 was an Indonesian Shaivite king. The Bataks practiced a syncretic religion of Shaivism, Buddhism and local culture for thousands of years. While the archaeology of southern Sumatra testifies to the existence of neolithic settlers, it seems that the northern part of Sumatra was settled by agriculturalists at a considerably later stage.Īlthough the Batak are often considered to be isolated peoples thanks to their location inland, away from the influence of seafaring European colonials, there is evidence that they have been involved in trade with other neighbouring kingdoms for a millennium or more. Linguistic and archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesian speakers first reached Sumatra from Taiwan and the Philippines through Borneo or Java about 2,500 years ago, and the Batak probably descended from these settlers. A traditional Toba Batak house (see Batak architecture).
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