Bukittinggi & the Minangkabau Highlands

The Dutch set up an outpost on a hill here in 1825 during the Padri War and named it Fort de Kock, the name the town carried until it became Bukittinggi in 1949. During the Indonesian struggle for independence the city served as a seat of the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PDRI). It is also the birthplace of Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia's first vice-president and co-proclaimer of independence, whose family home is now a museum.

Jam Gadang was completed in 1926 as a gift from Queen Wilhelmina to the town's colonial controleur. Designed by Minangkabau architect Yazid Abidin, the 26-metre tower houses a clock mechanism made by Bernard Vortmann in Recklinghausen, Germany, and its faces famously show the number four as IIII. The roof has changed with history: a rooster figure in the Dutch era, a Japanese-style top during the occupation of 1942 to 1945, and the present Minangkabau horn-shaped roof after independence. During the Second World War the Japanese army also dug the network of tunnels known as Lobang Jepang beneath the town.

The Minangkabau are known for one of the world's largest matrilineal societies: family names, land and ancestral houses pass down through the female line, while religious and political roles are traditionally shared with men. Islam is central to daily life, summed up in the saying adat basandi syarak, syarak basandi Kitabullah (custom is founded on Islamic law, and Islamic law on the Quran), and every village has its mosque or surau. A strong tradition of merantau, leaving home to work and trade elsewhere, explains why Padang restaurants are found all over Indonesia and beyond. Halal food is the norm, and prayer facilities are easy to find.