The Karo, or Karonese, are a people of the Tanah Karo (Karo lands) and part of the Karo people from North Sumatera, Indonesia. The Karo lands consist of Karo Regency, plus neighboring areas in East Aceh Regency, Langkat Regency, Dairi Regency, Simalungun Regency and Deli Serdang Regency. In addition, the cities of Binjai and Medan, both bordered by Deli Serdang Regency, contain significant Karo populations, particularly in the Padang Bulan area of Medan. The town of Sibolangit, Deli Serdang Regency in the foothills on the road from Medan to Berastagi is also a significant Karo town.
Karoland contains two major volcanoes, Mount Sinabung, which erupted after 400 years of dormancy on 27 August 2010 and Mount Sibayak. Karoland consists of the cooler high lands, and the upper and lower lowlands.
The Karolands were conquered by the Dutch in 1904. In 1906, roads to the highlands were constructed, ending the isolation of the highland Karo people. The road linked Medan and the lowlands to Kabanjahe and from there to both Kutacane in Aceh and Pematangsiantar in Simalungun. The first Christian evangelism was conducted among the Karo people in 1890 by the Netherlands Missionary Society. Due to the perceived association with the colonialism of the Dutch East Indies, only a minority of the Karo converted initially and it was not until after Indonesian independence in 1945 that Christianity acquired significant support among the Karo people.
In 1911, an agricultural project began at Berastagi, now the major town in Karoland, to grow European vegetables in the cooler temperatures. Berastagi is today the most prosperous part of Karoland, just one hour from Medan, while towns further in the interior suffer from lower incomes and limited access to healthcare.
The administrative centre of Karo Regency is Kabanjahe.
Karo identity
The Karo people speak the Karo language, a Northern Batak languages but not mutually intelligible with Southern Batak languages, in addition to Indonesian. These Karo people are divided up into clans or merga. The Karo merga are Karo-Karo, Ginting, Sembiring, Perangin-Angin, and Tarigan; these merga are then divided up into sub-clans and finally families.
In the 13th to 16th century, the Karo people established the Aru Kingdom (also spelled Haru), located in modern-day Medan city and Deli Serdang Regency. It was one of the earliest kingdoms in Sumatra. The population of the Aru Kingdom adhered to native animism, Hinduism and Islam. Islam slowly gained influence in coastal area since the late 13th century. Despite being among the earliest Sumatran kingdoms that were exposed to Islam, the people of the Aru kingdom remained predominantly pagan, especially those who inhabited the interior regions. The successor state of the Aru Kingdom was the Sultanate of Deli, which demonstrate a mixed influences of Karo, Malay, Tamil, and Aceh.
Today, most of the Karo people are Christian, a religion brought to Sumatra in the 19th century by missionaries. However, an increasing number living away from the Karo Highlands have converted to Islam, with the influence of Muslim Malay from neighboring Deli area in Medan, and Javanese immigrants, thus making the traditional habits of pig farming and cooking less common. Some Muslims and Christians, however, still retain their traditional animist beliefs in ghosts, spirits (perbegu), and traditional jungle medicine, despite that fact it contradicts their other beliefs. The Gereja Batak Karo Protestan or Karo Batak Protestant Church is the largest church among the largely Christian Karo people of North Sumatra, Indonesia. This tribal congregation was established formally in 1941 as a Reformed-Calvinist church. The church has 276,000 members (as of 2006) in 398 congregations with 196 pastors. It is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
The Karo people traditionally lived in shared longhouses also called "rumah Siwaluh Jabu", but very few now remain (one in Desa Lingga, Karo district), and new construction is exclusively of modern designs.
The ancestors of the Karo are believed to have migrated from Formosa (Taiwan) thousands of years ago, but it is believed that some of the Karo people may have intermarried with visiting Tamils. This intercourse had an influence on their religious beliefs, as well as ethnic makeup. The marga Sembiring, meaning 'black one', and many Sembiring sub-marga (Colia, Berahmana, Pandia, Meliala, Depari, Muham, Pelawi and Tekan) are clearly of South-Indian origin, suggesting that inter-marriage between Karo and Tamil people took place.