In the Malay language “Medan” means a large place to gather. Since long ago Medan has been a meeting place for people who come from Hamparan Perak, Stabat, Suka Piring and other places. They came for trading, gambling and so forth.
When it was founded in 1590, Medan was just a small village called Medan Putri, which was built by Guru Patimpus, a descendant of Raja Singa Mahraja, who governed Negeri Bakerah in the Highlands of Karo. Around the 17th century Aceh and Deli Land competed to acquire this land. Due to its strategic location, which is on the meeting point of the rivers Deli and Babura – both formed a busy trading traffic route – Medan Putri quickly flourished into transit port for traders who come from all over the world.
Lake Toba, the largest lake in South East Asia, and the deepest in the world, was formed 75,000 years ago after an earth splitting volcano eruption. It is the largest and deepest volcanic crater lake in the world. It’s 906 meters above sea level with an average depth of 450m. The lake has an island in the middle called Samosir. You can get to Lake Toba from Medan in around 3 – 4 hours.
Lake Toba is in the centre of the homeland to the Batak people but ‘Tano Batak’ covers an area the size of Belgium within North Sumatra. With their own language, the Batak are mainly Christian, encountering Christian missionaries in the 1850’s and 1860’s from Holland and Germany.