Questions (and some info) about Indonesia

[Kyriakos]

I am mostly interested in the fourth larger island of the entire archipelago there, Sulawesi (mostly known by the Portuguese name of Celebes).

Sulawesi (i read) means "iron island", and was called that due to the iron which was exported from one of its regions.
The island seems to have had an interesting pre-archaic culture, which produced statues of bloated-forms, such as the following quite interesting megalith:

In Central Sulawesi there are over 400 granite megaliths, which various archaeological studies have dated to be from 3000 BC to 1300 AD. They vary in size from a few centimetres to ca.4.5 metres (15 ft). The original purpose of the megaliths is unknown. About 30 of the megaliths represent human forms. Other megaliths are in form of large pots (Kalamba) and stone plates (Tutu'na)

The country was later on a colony of the Netherlands, and became independent some years after the end of ww2, as a direct result of that conflict. It is the most populated of the (majority) muslim nations, having around 240 million people. The four larger islands (all of which are among the thirteen largest islands on our planet, while New Guinea is the second largest globally- but not entirely part of the nation of Indonesia) were the main colonial holding of the Netherlands which focused on the spice trade.

I would like to ask if anyone has information on the culture of the Celebes island and its development up to historic times. The Elephant of the Celebes is another focal point of my interest on this, from a different perspective (expressionist painting).

 

[Tee Kay]

Damn it, where's Masada gone

This might be better moved to History.

...were the main colonial holding of the Netherlands which focused on the spice trade.

The Dutch conquest of the East Indies was less about trade and more about production. They couldn't compete with the Malay traders so instead they took over islands where they could control both the production and distribution of spices by force. It helps that certain types of spices only grow on a few islands (nutmeg for instance were only found on the Banda islands, east of Sulawesi)

I would like to ask if anyone has information on the culture of the Celebes island and its development up to historic times. The Elephant of the Celebes is another focal point of my interest on this, from a different perspective (expressionist painting).

I don't know much. Lots of different tribal groups, speaking hundreds of different languages and dialects. The Bugis are probably the most prominent of the groups. There is indeed a source of iron near the centre of the island, around Lake Matano; the Kingdom of Luwu, located on the Gulf of Bone (the body of water between the "legs" of the island) grew up on the iron trade in medieval times. Makassar, at the southern tip of the western leg, used to be one of the major entrepots of the region in the 1500-1600s, being the closest large port before the major spice-producing islands like Banda to the east, before the Dutch rained on that whole parade.

As is known, Masada is the guy to talk to in all matters Indonesian, and I believe he is quite familiar with Sulawesi in particular.

 

[Kyriakos]

Thanks

Sulawesi is my main interest there, due to those pre-archaic statues

 

[Camikaze]

Moderator Action: Moved to World History.

Probably more likely to get more informative responses & discussions here.

 

[Masada]

TK has given a pretty good overview. I don't know much about the Lore Lindu megaliths. I'd also suggest that the upper end of the age range is more reasonable than the lower i.e. a date in the ADs.

 

[Kyriakos]

Thanks

So of those megaliths, the few (around 30?) that are clearly of some kind of human form, is it known around which era they were made? They are (by euro standards) pretty (proto)archaic-art-looking (eg cycladic art). Very rounded shape- very few protrusions in all main areas- which i suppose could always be out of practical reason (lack of ability to work the stone more) or it could have some basis in local deities/mythology of some similar form?

 

[Masada]

I'd suggest that's its artistic choice rather than a technical issue. But it's hard to know Sulawesi isn't well documented. I just flicked through some of my books and none of them had a chapter devoted to it.