Mandailing
The Mandailing are an ethnic group from North Sumatra, Indonesia. They form part of the larger Batak ethnolinguistic group and are concentrated in the Mandailing region, particularly in the Mandailing Natal Regency, with communities in surrounding districts and in urban centers such as Medan. The majority are Muslims, and Islamic practices shape many customs, though adat, or customary law, remains influential in social life.
The Mandailing language, part of the Batak subgroup of the Austronesian language family, is spoken by many
Culture and society among the Mandailing include kinship groups known as marga and ancestral lineages. Traditional
Historically, the Mandailing region had links with the Aceh Sultanate and later the Dutch colonial administration.