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SUMBAWA ISLAND - INDONESIA
Sumbawa Island
Gateway to Komodo & Flores Islands
Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located
in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the
west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. It is
in the province of West Nusa Tenggara.
Sumbawa is 15,448 kmē (three times the size of Lombok) with a
population of around 1.5 million. It marks the boundary between the
islands to the west, which were influenced by religion and culture
spreading from India, and the region to the east that was not so
influenced.
Demographics
Islam was introduced via the
Makassarese of Sulawesi.
Sumbawa has historically had two major linguistic groups who spoke
languages that were unintelligible to each other. One group centered
in the western side of the island speaks Basa Samawa (Indonesian:
Bahasa Sumbawa) which is similar to the Sasak language from Lombok;
the second group in the east speaks Nggahi Mbojo (Bahasa Bima). The
kingdoms located in Sumbawa Besar and Bima were the two focal points
of Sumbawa. This division of the island into two parts remains
today; Sumbawa Besar and Bima are the two largest towns on the
island, and are the centers of distinct cultural groups that share
the island.
Volcanoes
Sumbawa lies within the
Pacific Ring of Fire. It is a volcanic island, including Mount
Tambora (8°14’41”S, 117°59’35”E) which exploded in 1815, the most
destructive volcanic eruption in modern history (roughly four times
larger than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra,
in terms of volume of magma ejected). The eruption killed as many as
92,000. It also apparently destroyed a small culture of Southeast
Asian affinity, known to archaeologists as the Tamboran kingdom. It
launched 100 cubic kilometers of ash into the upper atmosphere,
which caused 1816 to be the "year without a summer
In a certain way Sumbawa is
the most western island of eastern Indonesia. It is
-travelling from west to east- the first island that
isn't directly influenced by the hinduist cultures from
Jawa and Bali. On this mainly islamic island, adat still
is an important factor.
Sumbawa consists of two different parts: Sumbawa Besar
in the west and Bima in the east. In the western part
most people speak a language which looks like the
language of the Sasak from Lombok. The language, spoken
on Bima, looks like the one on Flores and Sumba. In the
past, Sumbawa Besar has been influenced from Bali and
Bima from the Makasarese from Southern Sulawesi. The
name Sumbawa, which is the name of the island for those
who don't live there, is only used for the western part
of the island by the population itself.
Sumbawa is three times the size of Lombok, while the
number of people living there is far less, about one
third of that of Lombok.The island is rough and
mountainous and isn't blessed with a fertile area like
on Lombok. The irregular coastline consists of capes,
peninsulas and deep bays. The islands is 15.600 sq.km in
size and stretches over 280 km from west to east; the
width varies between 15 to 90 km.
About 85 per cent of Sumbawa is too mountainous for
agriculture, but the valleys of the river which are
filled with vulcanic materials bring in very wealthy
harvests. These valleys used to be home to many small
states.
Dramatic world record
Sumbawa is part of
the northern vulcanic chain of Nusa Tenggara. The island
has always known vulcanic activity, but not a single
eruption was as dramatic as the one of the Tambora in
1815. The Guiness Book of Records
says this was the biggest eruption ever. More than 36
cubib km rocks, debris and ashes were blown into the
sky. The beheaded, 2851 meter high cone now houses a
vast caldera.
By estimation 10,000 people were killed during the
explosion and another 30 to 40,000 (some estimations say
half the population) died of starvation. A vast area was
covered under a 50 cm thick layer of ash, which killed
all life. The mess was that big that parents sold their
child for three kilos of rice - as the story goes.
In 1845 a Dutch geologist reported big areas that were
still covered under a layer of 50 cm of debris and
ashes. The explosion entirely destroyed the sultanated
of Sangar and Pekat, which were located at the same
peninsula as Gunung Tambora. The vulcano has been
resting since that eruption, but the vulcanic tradition
of the island is not a thing of the past. In 1985,
Gunung Api (the 'firemountain') on the island of
Sangeang became active and several thousand people had
to be evacuated.
Early history
It is assumed that
the first Austronesians reached Sumbawa around 2000 BC
and they brought with them agriculture.
However there has never been an extended archeological
survey, the decorated stone sarcofaguses connect the
island with other megalyth cultures which are to be
found all over Indonesia. A stone with characters on it
was found along the Bay of Bima not too long ago,
probably with an Pallava- or Sanskrite background. They
probably date from the 7th century. Bronze drums in
Dongson style which have been found on the island, among
them a very nice one on the island of Sangeang which was
really made my Dongson-crafstmen, confirm that the
northern coast of Sumbawa was located along the trade
route to the spice and sandelwood-islands.
The Eastjawanese principalty of Majapahit, which was the
biggest principalty of Indonesia at it's biggest, was
trading with Sumbawa and probably had some political and
military power as well. After the fall of Malapahit
West-Sumbawa cam under the rule of the Balinese
principalty of Gelgel - because of maritial relations
and military expeditions. In the 15th and 16th century
the principalty claimed rule over Flores, Timor, Solor,
Savu and Sumba, but it's still the question whether this
was more than just a one time military expedition to get
some slaved and to control the trade in the region.
The Bo says that mahajara Pandu Dewata had five sons,
one of them Sang Bima. The traveller and charming guy
met a very beautifull girl and did what gods usually do
under such circumstances. The short living affair gave
them a girl.
On a later journey he met the daughter without knowing
it was her and fell in love with her. But even gods
aren't allowed to commit incest. When he disclosed her
identity, Sang Bima told her to lay the just born twin
sons on the river bank. It probably was with the hand of
god that the childness ncuhi, a clan leader,
found them and took care of them. One of the boys, Indra
Zamrud, founded the dynasty which he named after his
father: Bima. The other boy, Indra Komala, founded the
Dompu principalty west of Bima. The royal texts say that
the dynasty already had 17 rulers before they addoptes
islam in 1630.
Arrival of islam
In the 17th century a
family dispute between the two brothers about the throne
of Bima ended up to be a civil war. The conflict was won
in the first place by Salisian, named 'the usurpator' by
the royal messages. After his initial defeat the Ma
Batawadu, the right one, went to Makassar in Southern
Sulawesi to ask for help. He was told that he could get
all military help he wanted - and a free princess if he
wanted to - on the demand that he converted to islam..
Ma Batawadu agreed and returned with an army of tough
Buginese and Makassarese warriors, which defeated the
troops of his brother. In 1630 he became sultan under
the name Abdul Kahid. Ever since the royal cronics tell
about the 'connection of blood, religion and laws' with
Southern Sulawesi.
The syara, the islamic book of law, was widely
accepted until the Dutch rule forced the rules to be
less important in 1908. However Bima is now strictly
islamic, the government doesn't accept fundamentalism.
(Inhabitants of Bima tried to kill President Soekarno
because of his supposed anti-islamic ideas, but they
only succeeded in killing several schoolgirls). To
displeasure to the local population even a discotheque
was opened, but just two kilometers outside the city
limits.
The inheritance of the rule of the rulers of Sumbawa
Besar has been less good than that of Bima. The royal
line died in 1820 when an islamic adventurer from the
sultanate Banjarmasin in Kalimantan got hand on the
royal heirlooms and the throne. The dynasty which he
founded lasted until the independence of Indonesia.
Colonial period
On the whole, the
Dutch weren't very interested in Sumbawa. They tried to
monopolize trade, especially the trade in sappanwood,
but they didn't succeed in that. Only in the start of
the 20th century the Dutch had a firm rule over the
area. There was some heavy resistance, but the Dutch won
the battle due to their superior weapons and
organisation.
The influence of the Dutch lasted two years, when the
Japanese entered. The Dutch only left behind the Dutch
speaking aristocrats, the eldest still speak Dutch. The
local aristocracy had the right to visit Dutch schools.
The Japanese were welcomed to the island in the first
place, but they soon got hated when they killed, looted
and raped people on the island. After the war, Sumbawa
became a part of the Dutch instated United States of
Indonesia for a short time, before being integrated in
the Republic of Indonesia. The three districts of the
island (Sumbawa Besar, Dompu and Bima) are related to
the sultanates which had exsisted until the colonial
time. In 1951, the third sultan of Bima, Salamuddin,
which reigned from 1913, gave away power to the central
government. Hir heirs were placed at high governmental
positions in Bima and Jakarta.
Two ethnical groups
The Tua Samawa (Orang
Sumbawa) in the west and Dou Mbojo (Orang Bima) in the
east are the two main ethnical groups on Sumbawa. The
Samawa ('Sumbawa' in fact is a deformation of this name)
are related to the Sasak on Lombok and the Balinese
through language. The language which is spoken in Bima -
nggahi Mbojo - is closely related to the language spoken
on the eastern islands. Several thousand Balinese live
in the west, a few hundred in the east. Because of the
contacts with Sulawesi there are also Buginese,
Makasarese and Bajau colonists to be found. Some of the
original inhabitants retreated in the mountains to cling
to their traditions, mainly because of the arrival of
the islam. In West-Sumbawa traditional communities (the
Tau Tepal) can be found in the area of Tepal and Ropang.
In the east you can find a traditional population, the
Dou Donggo, which live on the southern flanks of Gunung
Soromandi and in the region of Wavo, east of the highway
between Bima and Sape.
The Dou Donggo still follow the leadership of their clan
leader (the ncuhi) and maintain traditional rites
which are related to the spirits of ancestors with
agrarian- and live-cycles. Their 'holy three' consists
of heaven, the water and the wind. Their religion is
named Marafu, and looks like the Marapu religion on
Sumba. The Donggo sacrifice water buffalo's, goats and
chicken (depending on their social status) to favour the
gods and spirits and to beg for good harvests and a good
health. Around the time that planting starts, in the
month November, a fertility ceremony is held in which
all Bou Donggo participate.
The Donggo are separated into two groups. The Donggo Ipa
('far mountain population') consists of a few thousand
people and still live the traditional way in the
mountains of the peninsula west of the Bay of Bima. The
Donggo Ele ('eastern mountain population') have been
influenced more by islam and live in the highlands east
of the airport and the bay, in the subdistrict Wavo
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