Adonara is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, located east of the larger island of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

in the

Solor Archipelago The Solor Archipelago () is a group of islands in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, lying to the east of Flores and to the west of the Alor Strait and the Alor Archipelago. To the north is the west part of the Banda Sea, while to the south ...

. To the east lies

Lembata Lembata is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Lomblen island; it is the largest island of the Solor Archipelago, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. It forms a separate regency of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. The len ...

, formerly known as

Lomblen Lembata is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Lomblen island; it is the largest island of the Solor Archipelago, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. It forms a separate regency of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. The leng ...

. Adonara is the highest of the islands of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

, reaching an altitude of 1,659 metres, and it has an area of 529.75 km². It is situated in the

East Flores Regency East Flores Regency ( id, Kabupaten Flores Timur) is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Established in 1958, the regency has its seat (capital) in Larantuka on Flores Island. It covers a land area of 1,812.85 km2, and it ha ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Administration

The island is divided into eight

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas (in km²) and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2022. Note: (a) Adonara District covers only the northern part of Adonara Island ("Adonara Utara").

History

Local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

on Adonara is documented from the sixteenth century, when

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

traders and

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

established a post on the nearby island of

Solor Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the lang ...

. By that time Adonara and the surrounding islands were ritually divided between a population of coastal dwellers known as Paji, and a population mainly settling the mountainous inland called Demon. The Paji were susceptible to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, while the Demon tended to fall under Portuguese influence. The Paji areas on Adonara contained three principalities, namely Adonara proper (centered on the north coast of the island), and Terong and Lamahala (on the south coast). Together with two principalities on Solor (Lohayong and Lamakera), they constituted a league called Watan Lema ("the five shores"). The Watan Lema allied with the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC) in 1613, confirmed in 1646. The Adonara principalities had frequent feuds with the Portuguese in Larantuka on Flores, and were not always obedient to the Dutch authorities. In the course of the nineteenth century, the ruler of Adonara (proper) in the north strengthened his position in the

; by then, he was also the overlord of parts of eastern

and

. The Demon areas stood under the suzerainty of the principality of

Larantuka Larantuka () is a ''kecamatan'' (district) and the seat capital of East Flores Regency, on the eastern end of Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Like much of the region, Larantuka has a strong a colonial Portuguese influence. The town ...

, which in turn was under Portuguese rule until 1859, when it was ceded to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The principalities of Larantuka and Adonara (proper) were abolished by the

n government in 1962. Some post-

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

local officials trace their roots to past rulers, called ''

raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

'', of Adonara (proper). These include: Adonara 1911

* Foramma, c. 1650 * Boli I, c. 1671–1684 * Eke 1684–1688 (killed by

mountain people Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

) *

Gogok ''Gobeunok'' or ''Gogok'' are comma-shaped or curved beads and jewels that appeared from middle age of Mumun Period (1500 to 300 BC) through the Three Kingdoms of Korea (57 BC to 668 AD). The ''Gogok'' (곡옥; 曲玉) is posited by researchers ...

, c. 1702 * Wuring (brother of Eke), 1688–1719 *

Boli II Boli may refer to: * Boli (TV series), a Bangladeshi streaming television series * Boli (food), a golden yellow sweet pancake made with flour and ghee in South India *Boli (plantain), the name for roasted plantain in Nigeria * Boli, a fetish of Mal ...

(son of Wuring), 1719-after 1756 * unknown rulers * Jou, c. 1815 * Lakabella Jou (son of Jou), c. 1832 * Begu, d. July 28, 1850 (killed) * (son of Begu), 1850–1857 * Jou (brother of Pela), 1857–1868 * Kamba Begu (brother of Lakabella), 1868–1893 * Bapa Tuan (son of Kamba Begu), temporary Raja in 1893 for 6 months * Arkiang Kamba ( Arakang; brother of Bapa Tuan, b. 1866), 1893 or 1894 – abdicated December 18, 1930 * Bapa Ana (son of a sister of Kamba Begu),

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

with the title of Kapitan 1930 – December 1, 1935, condemned to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

1935 and sent to

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

* Bapa Nuhur, (son of Gela, a son of Bapa Tuan, b. 1915), 1941–1947 * Bapa Kaya, (son of Bapa Ana, d. 12/1/1954), Regent 1947–1951 * Mohamad Eke (great-grandson of Raja Jo, 1929 – c. 1985), 1951–1962, first referred as Government Asst during Bapa Kaya's rule and also Kapitan of Adonara

Geography

Adonara Island is a part of the Indonesian

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

East Flores East Flores Regency ( id, Kabupaten Flores Timur) is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Established in 1958, the regency has its seat (capital) in Larantuka on Flores Island. It covers a land area of 1,812.85 km2, and it ha ...

. It can be reached by airplane from Jakarta to Kupang, then by ferry to Larantuka, then by boat. The administrative centre of Adonara is the town of

Waiwerang Waiwerang is a town on Adonara Island, Indonesia. It is the largest community on Adonara. In the center of Waiwerang stands an obelisk built from September 1960 to August 1961 in a square beside another square that hosts government and social events ...

Notes

References

*P. Arndt (1938), 'Demon und Padzi, die feindlichen Brüder des Solor-Archipelags', ''Anthropos'' 33. *Robert H. Barnes (1995), 'Lamakera, Solor: Ethnohistory of a Muslim Whaling Village of Eastern Indonesia', ''Anthropos'' 90. *Robert H. Barnes (2004), 'The murder of Sengaji Begu: A turning point in Dutch involvement in the Solor Archipelago', ''Masyarakat Indonesia'' 30:2 *Benno M. Biermann (1924), 'Die alte Dominikanermission auf den Solorinseln', ''Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft'' 14. *Arend de Roever (2002), ''De jacht op sandelhout: De VOC en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw''. Zutphen: Walburg Pers. {{Authority control Solor Archipelago Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara