Religion Realm

Islam is thought to have entered through the east coast area, although there are assumptions from the west coast, especially in the Pariaman area, the Arcat and Inderagiri areas on the east coast have also become Minangkabau port areas & the Kampar River and Batang Kuantan have their origins in the Minangkabau inland area. The arrival of the Pesisir Tribe to Barus caused the ousting of Tamil traders who had traded in the city for hundreds of years before. The next wave was a group led by Sultan Ibrahimsyah who came from the South Coast. The Dutch East Indies government employed many of them to fill teaching and government positions. Pesisir / Pasisi means the area on the edge of the ocean. The name Pesisir Tribe for this group was never known until the 20th century. In the 2000 population census, the Pesisir people were classified as a separate ethnicity that was different from the Batak. In its development, the term Pesisir Tribe was used more to emphasize the political interests

The Melayu Deli area is close to Singapore which is famous as a trade center. This mountain range reaches the Sunda Strait region. The Kembaren clan then founded a kingdom known as the Balun Aru Kingdom in 1200 - 1608 AD. In the Kembaren Library, the Kembaren clan is said to originate from Pagaruyung in Minangkabau Land. Aru had a slave market called Arqat. In his report, Tome Pires also described the greatness of the Aru Kingdom's naval fleet which was able to control ship traffic through the Malacca Strait at that time. Groeneveldt emphasized that the location of the Aru Kingdom was approximately at the mouth of the Barumun River & Gilles stated that it was near Belawan. Although the detailed existence of the Aru Kingdom has not been fully revealed, Luckman Sinar in the book Sari Sejarah Serdang notes that the name Aru first appeared in 1282 in Chinese records during the leadership of Kublai Khan. In 1350, the Hindu-style Majapahit Kingdom conquered this kingdom. According to