Indonesian history dates back to many centuries ago, and history does not focus on a specific town but the whole country.  Medan, however, is very old and developed and known in the very early years of Indonesia, when Sumatra was well known.

During 12th - 13th century, there was a Kingdom called Aru in the area of present Medan.  In 1350, the North Javanese Majapahit Kingdom conquered the Pasai and Aru kingdoms. In the end of the 14th century Majapahit started to lose its power. 

The Arabs expanded their trade considerably with Indonesia in the 14th century and Islam spread along the coasts of Sumatra. It was a new revolutionary concept that made all men equals. Islam also became an important concept for coastal areas in countering the threat of Portuguese and Dutch colonialism.

There have several wars between the Acehnese and the Bataks.  The Acehnese were traders and expanded their interest south and eastward.  In 1539, the Acehnese attacked the Bataks and in 1612, Aceh took Deli and Aru (in Medan area).

The Dutch, when they came back to Indonesia, intensified their colonial rule. But this sparked widespread revolts for freedom. The revolted were however suppressed one after the other. The mention only a few: the Padri War (1821-1837), the Aceh War (1873-1907), and the Batak war.  

In the 1820's Aceh began again to emerge as a commercial and political power. In 1854, Aceh imposed is authority over Langkat, Deli and Serdang. A clash with the Dutch became inevitable. In 1858 the Dutch took Siak in North Sumatra through a treaty in order to prevent British interest from succeeding. They claimed the oil rich Langkat and Deli, infringing on Acehnese territory. Between 1870 and 1910 the Dutch tried to take complete control over all areas they claimed. This era was the height of their imperialism. In 1904 a Dutch military expedition taken control over Batak region. The Dutch saw North Sumatra and Aceh war broke out, the Dutch infringed on authority of King Sisingamangaraja XII.

In 1861 European missionaries start spreading Christian around Lake Toba. Tobacco cultivation is introduced in the Medan area in 1865. The Dutch take over Asahan totally and remove the sultan. In 1871 the English and the Dutch sign the Treaty of Sumatra and the Dutch gets a free hand. In 1873 they declared war on Aceh.  The situation got extra serious for the Dutch when Datu Sunggal fought the Deli Sultan in 1872, which was protected by the Dutch. Datu Sunggal's 500 Malay and 1,000 Batak soldier forced the Dutch to call in reinforcements from Riau. The Batak war begins in the same year and lasts until 1894. King Sisisngamangaraja united all local Batak leaders and led the Bataks in the field.

In 1906 rubber plantations with new varieties start to develop fast. The plant was brought in from South America to Java in 1876. Aceh falls officially into Dutch hands in 1913 after heavy losses on both sides. In 1914 the Dutch controls Nias completely. In 1922 the new harbour Belawan start to serve Northern Sumatra. In February 1942 a revolt starts against the Dutch in North Sumatra and Aceh, with Japanese support. On March 1 the Japanese make an air raid on Medan. On March 28 the last Dutch force in Sumatra surrenders in Kutacane, Aceh. After World War II British troops land in Indonesia as a contingent of the Allied Forces to disarm the Japanese. Dutch troops came along with the British with the ultimate aim of regaining control of Indonesia. They landed in North Sumatra on June 10, 1945.

On August 17, 1945, Soekarno (1901-1970) reads a unilateral Declaration of Independence. This date is now the Indonesian National Day. On November 10, 1945, fighting broke out between British troops and the newly formed Indonesia Republic Army. On December 27, 1949 the Dutch East Indies ceased to exist. On December 1949 the Dutch formally transferred sovereignty to Indonesia.

It is a popular belief that the Dutch ruled Indonesia for 350 years. However, most areas of present day Indonesia came under Dutch control in the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. The Dutch built only limited infrastructures and were not very interested in educating the Indonesians. Their two major and lasting Dutch accomplishments in Indonesia were the introduction of National language, Indonesia, and the formation of one nation, Indonesia.

Before independent all of Sumatra was called "Government Van Sumatra" hade by a governor sitting in Medan. In 1950 Sumatra was organized in three provinces where Aceh became incorporated under Medan. This led to a rebellion in Aceh in 1953 and in 1957 Aceh became its own province, as once was promised before they joined the Republic. In 1956 the present form of North Sumatra was formed, i.e. with 12 regencies and a number of municipalities. In February 1958 a rebellion started in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.  It called itself Pemerintah Revolusioner Republik Indonesia (PRRI), which means Republic Revolutionary Government of Indonesia. They were joined by rebellion in Sulawesi and got training, weapons, and active involvement from CIA. They did however not get sufficient local support in North Sumatra and in Aceh. The foreign oil companies continued to pay their taxes to Jakarta. Later in 1958 the Indonesian army landed in Medan. They secured the oil fields and prevented a planned American intervention. The rebels were driven out of Medan on March 17 and a month later Padang and Bukittingi were cleared. Only some guerilla fighting in remote areas continued. The American involvement badly hurt the relations with Indonesia and only made the communist party more popular. The Indonesian communist party became the biggest outside the communist world.

In 1965, after failed communist revolution attempt, Soeharto starts to squeeze out Sukarno and in 1967 he became the second president.  Soeharto stabilized Indonesia politics with harsh methods and made the economy came start growing.  However, democracy was set aside, the economy came under domination by huge monopolies, and the corruption developed into extreme proportions. Civil law was paralyzed. Soeharto politics finally lead to a total economic collapse in the beginning of 1998. Medan, like Jakarta and major other towns, was hit by riots that forced the president to step down. In May, B.J. Habibie becomes president. In 1999 Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) becomes the new democratically elected President with Soekarno's daughter Megawati Soekarnoputri as Vice President. In July 2001, Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes the fifth President when Abdurrahman Wahid is discharged by the Indonesian parliament.

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