Anai Valley Railway Bridge, 1911

Photo: Jean Demmeni/Universiteit Leiden

One of the most important infrastructures built by the Dutch East Indies colonial government was transportation. Without transportation there will be no exchange of goods and services between regions, which means stagnation of trade and the economy.

The photo above is the Anai Valley railway bridge in West Sumatra circa 1911. This bridge is one of the oldest railway bridges in Indonesia. Rail infrastructure was built in the area to transport plantation and mining products from the hinterland to the port for sale to European, Java, and other markets. Civil engineers were brought directly from the Netherlands to build bridges, tunnels, and railway infrastructure in the Dutch East Indies.

This photo was taken by Jean Demmeni, a photographer of French-Madurese descent living in West Sumatra, and the archive is kept by Leiden University in the Netherlands.