A Keling Woman in North Sumatra, 1900s

Photo: Carl Josef Kleingrothe/National Gallery of Australia

A Keling woman posed in a photo studio in North Sumatra, circa 1900s. Keling is an area in southern India where the people are mostly dark skinned. Therefore in some areas of Southeast Asia, dark-skinned people are called Keling.

This photo studio belonged to Carl Josef Kleingrothe, a photographer from Germany who lived in North Sumatra.

This also shows that multiculturalism in Sumatra has existed for a long time, especially in plantation and mining areas, which often brought in coolies from India, China and Java.