The southern end of the Batak country: a corridor of valleys (Mandailing) and the Angkola country around Padangsidimpuan, between the Minangkabau border and the Padang Lawas plain where the brick temples stand.
Gold is washed in these streams and the villages are stockaded against each other rather than against outsiders. The Angkola pass is the shortest crossing of the Barisan range in the north, which is why Padang Lawas can sell to both oceans: down the Barumun to Panai, and down to Natal on the west coast. The relation of these valleys to the Padang Lawas temple-building polity (Panai) is not recorded: the builders may have been their kin or their lords.
Customs are later ethnography read back.
Who holds it
- Title
- Lineage heads of the Mandailing and Angkola, 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 Mandailing streams and their gold
- The Angkola pass road to Natal
Allies and rivals
Panai and the Padang Lawas temples to the east; Natal on the west coast; the Minangkabau of the Pasaman border to the south.
How things stand that morning
Not recorded. No king, no capital, no writing; villages under their lineage heads, stockaded against each other.
Wealth
Gold dust washed from the streams.
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): Padang Lawas archaeological site
- 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.