On the tiny island of Poelo Gontong, in east Sumatra, the Company set up a guard post even before the Siak area had been conquered. This military outpost soon acquired a reputation as an unhealthy place with a high percentage of fatalities. |Given its situation as a tiny island in the mouth of the Siak River, Poelo Gontong was a strategic location. The outpost enabled the VOC to control the trade flows to and from the interior. In 1765 the Supreme Government in Batavia decided to disband the settlement. The decision was influenced by the ongoing conflicts between the VOC and Rajah Mahmud of Siak. When the Rajah's men attacked Poelo Gontong in 1759 they killed a few score men.
