PADANG
Since the 16th century Padang has been a trade centre. During the
16th and 17th centuries pepper was cultivated and traded with India,
Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In 1663 the city came
under the authority of the Dutch and a trading post was built here in
1680. The city came under the British Empire twice, the first time from
1781 to 1784 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and again from 1795 to 1819 during the Napoleonic Wars.
Afterwards the city was transferred back to the Netherlands. Up to
approximately 1780 the most important trade product was gold,
originating from the gold mines in the region. When the mines were
exhausted, the emphasis turned to other products such as coffee, salts
and textiles.
In 1797 Padang was inundated by a tsunami with an estimated flow depth of 5–10 meters, following an earthquake, estimated to be 8.5–8.7 Mw,
which occurred off the coast. The shaking caused considerable damage
and the deaths of two people, while the tsunami resulted in several
houses being washed away and several deaths at the village of Air Manis.
The boats moored in the Arau river ended up on dry land, including a
200-ton sailing ship which was deposited about 1 kilometre upstream. In
1833 another tsunami inundated Padang with an estimated flow depth of
3–4 meters as a result of an earthquake, estimated to be 8.6–8.9 Mw, which occurred off Bengkulu.
The shaking caused considerable damage in Padang, and due to the
tsunami the boats moored in the Arau river broke their anchors and were
scattered.[3]
The population of Padang in 1920 was 28,754, the second largest city in Sumatra behind Palembang.[4] At the time of independence
in the 1940s the city had around 50,000 inhabitants. Coffee was still
important, but copra was also a major item produced by farmers in its
hinterland. The population growth since then has been partly a result of
growth in the area of the city, but largely is a result of the
migration to major cities seen in so many developing nations. In 1950
there was development of the Ombilin
coal field with Padang as its outlet. This was seen by some observers
as reflecting the economic as well as political colonisation of
Indonesia.
On 30 September 2009, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit about 50 kilometres off the coast of Padang. There were more than 1,100 fatalities, 313 of which occurred within Padang
