Americans in Sumatra

Book C 1961 Americans in Sumatra author James W. Gould 978-94-011-8846-3.pdf Springer https://link.springer.com › content › pdf Pages displayed by permission of Springer. Copyright.

About this book
There is a common belief that until recently Americans have preferred isolation to interest in remote areas such as Southeast Asia. This thesis can be tested by examining the history of American relations with a place on the opposite side of the globe from the United States. Such a land is Sumatra. It is one of the largest islands in the world. Its 166,789 square mile area exceeds that of the third largest American state, California, and is larger than Italy. Lying halfway around the world from the United States, its 1050 mile length is almost divided by the equator, which runs across it for 285 miles.
Sumatra's strategic importance is two-fold.

Firstly, it is the first island stepping stone from the Asiatic mainland into the Australasian archipelago. This was demonstrated in 1942 when the United States stationed planes on Sumatra in an attempt to stem the Japanese advance southward.

Secondly, it lies athwart the shortest sea routes from Eastern Asia to Europe and the Eastern United States. Sumatra's southern tip forms one side of the Straits of Sunda which guards the access to the Java, China and Philippine Seas. At the island's northern tip is the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, the shortest sea lane be­ tween the Near and Far East. The opening of the Suez Canal in I869 shifted the shortest route between the Far East and the Western World from the Sunda to the Malacca Straits.

Table of contents (6 chapters) Scholar-Adventurers James W. Gould Pages 136-160 Pages 4 to 140 are not shown in this preview
Pages 153 to 156 are not shown in this preview
Pages 161 to 184 are not shown in this preview
Page 141 Most of the American technicians left Sumatra in April 1902, but some returned toward the end of the year.
An American, William Digby Coleman, who died in 1903, at Padang Sidempuan, far in the interior of Sumatra, was probably a gold-mining engineer.

Koninklijke Bibiotheek te 's-Gravenhage:
Boek dec 2023 ingezien en enkele aantekeningen:
American naturalist Dr. Thomas Horsfield 1773-1859;
Messrs Eales and Hanson;
Wilkes Expedition USS Vincennes, Brigs Porpoise and Orego; Lieutenant Charles Wilkes 1798-1877; Commander Cadwallader Ringgold 1802-1867; Lt. Commander John Rodgers 1812-1882; vessel John Hancock, storeship J.P. Kennedy, schooner Pennimore Cooper.

Americans in Sumatra Appendix A: USA Consular Officers in Sumatra 1833-1960. Frances Davenport 2; James W. Davidson 153; Lilion D. 169; Davies, Donald M. 39, 106; Davis, Dwight F 153; Davis, Edgar F. 83, 84; Davis Halcom 154; Davis Percy H. 83.
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