Andaliman, essential for the distinctive taste of the dish, is known to grow only in the Batak highlands above 1500 metres of North Tapanuli and Samosir, hence this dish is regarded as specifically of the Batak Toba and Mandailing, who dwell in these areas.
In 1864, Dr. Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen from Rhenish Missionary Society Germany, reached the Batak region and founded a village called "Huta Dame" (village of peace) in the district of Tapanuli in Tarutung, North Sumatra.
Batak script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 2010 with the release of version 6.0.
Danser notes that the first two originate from the Minangkabau language, whereas the latter is an orthographical error for tahoel-tahoel, which is the common Batak name for Nepenthes.
At the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century the Parmalim movement, which originated in Toba lands spread to other areas of the Batak lands.
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In his book "Toba na Sae; Sejarah lembaga sosial politik abad XIII-XX ( Jakarta: Komunitas Bambu, 2004) the Indonesian poet Sitor Situmorang describes the encounter between Guru Somalaing and Elio Modigliani who later wrote a book about his journeys into the independent Batak lands in his book "Fra i Batacchi indipendenti; Viaggio di Elio Modigliani" (1892 Roma: Società Geografica Italiana).
When he was 15, he was inspired to translate Saijah and Adinda (a poem), a part of Max Havelaar by Multatuli, from Dutch to Batak which was his mother tongue even though his Dutch was limited for this kind of literature.
The takumbo instrument, with slight variations, is also found in northern Luzon (Isneg Bambam, Pasing; Kalingga Tambi); in Zambales (Ayta Magkunana Tabenbbeng); in Mindoro (Hanunuo Kudlong); in Mindanao (Manobo Katimbok, Tabobo; Subanun Tabobok, Thambabok); and in Palawan (Batak Patigunggung).