The cool volcanic plateau of the Karo (Kabanjahe, Berastagi) above the Deli coast, lived on by the Karo Batak in village federations under clan heads.
'Batak' is a collective name; the peoples name themselves Toba, Karo, Pakpak and so on. The Karo trade down the Deli river toward Kota Cina and west over the hills. A later tradition links some Karo clans with the kingdom of Haru (Aru), which is not attested before 1282, so it is not read back. Everything said of their clans, feuds and marriage alliances comes from nineteenth-century ethnography and is a caution for 1200, not a record.
No source of 1200 names a Karo chief or a Karo village.
Who holds it
- Title
- Clan (merga) heads and village headmen of the Karo, not named
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names a holder for any date near 1 January 1200.
Overlord
None named.
What it holds
- The plateau's villages and rice land
- The forest tracks down to the Deli coast and over the hills to the west
Allies and rivals
Kota Cina and the Deli coast port on one side; the Toba and Pakpak on the others. Whether the coast port paid the highlanders or taxed them is not recorded.
How things stand that morning
Not recorded. A highland people with no king, no capital and no writing that survives; villages under their headmen, tied by marriage and feud.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Thin: later ethnography, the campaign board and geography; nothing dated near 1 January 1200 describes the people.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Drawn on the modern regencies (kabupaten) that match the people's later homeland; the boundaries of 1200 are not known.
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board note (a lead only, checked against the sources above)
- Wikipedia (English): Aru Kingdom
- Nineteenth and twentieth century ethnography of the Batak, Minangkabau, Rejang and Lampung peoples (Dutch and later writers), read back to 1200 as a caution only, from memory, not rechecked
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.