Deli

Deli lies on the eastern side of northern Sumatra, where rivers descend from the Batak highlands toward the Malacca Strait. Local chiefs and their communities formed a landscape of inland and coastal authority before the rise of the Malay sultanate. Deli's rulers drew upon alliances with these leaders as well as connections across the strait and with Aceh to the north.

In the seventeenth century Gocah Pahlawan, associated with Sultan Iskandar Muda of Aceh, established a ruling line in Deli. His marriage into a local chiefly family helped bind the new court to the surrounding communities. His successor Perunggit asserted a more independent position as Aceh's power weakened. In the early eighteenth century a dispute over succession led to the emergence of neighboring Serdang as a separate polity.

The later city of Medan lies here.