Madura Island is an
Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of
Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km
2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administratively part of Madura's four regencies). Administratively, Madura is part of the province of
East Java. It is separated from Java by the narrow
Madura Strait. The administered area has a density of 744 people per km
2 while main island has a somewhat higher figure of 826 per km
2 in 2020.
Etymology
The name of Madura island is of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
origin. The origin of the island's name lies in the legend that the island is in the realm of
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
deity
Baladewa. The name ''Madura'' itself is derived from the word ''"
Mathura"'' - a word in
Indian-origin language
Sanskrit for the native home of Baladewa "Baladeva". The corrupted form of Sanskrit word ''Mathura'' became the ''Madura''.
[Ed. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, 1903-09]
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 : explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those peoples from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth centur
Arthur H. Clark Company
The Arthur H. Clark Company (founded 1902) is a major printer of publications related to the history of the Western United States.
The company was named for its founder Arthur Henry Clark (1868-1951). He was born and raised in England and atten ...
, Volumes 34-35 p.169.
History
In 1624,
Sultan Agung
Sultan Anyakrakusuma is known as Sultan Agung ( jv, ꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦲꦒꦸꦁꦲꦢꦶꦥꦿꦧꦸꦲꦚꦏꦿꦏꦸꦱꦸꦩ, Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Anyakrakusuma) was the third Sultan of Mataram in Central Java ruling from 1613 to 1645. ...
of
Mataram conquered Madura, and the island's government was brought under the
Cakraningrats, a single princely line. The Cakraningrat family opposed Central Javanese rule and often conquered large parts of Mataram.
Following the
First Javanese War of Succession
The First Javanese War of Succession was a struggle between Sultan Amangkurat III of Mataram and the Dutch East India Company who supported the claim of the Sultan's uncle, Pangeran Puger to the throne.
Amangkurat II died in 1703 and was brie ...
between
Amangkurat III
Amangkurat III (Amangkurat Mas; died in Dutch Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), 1734) was a short-lived ''susuhunan'' (ruler) of the Sultanate of Mataram, who reigned 1703–1705. When his father Amangkurat II of Mataram died, he soon lost his half-uncle ...
and his uncle,
Pangeran Puger
Pakubuwono I (also as Pakubuwana I, before his reign was known as Pangeran Puger), uncle of Amangkurat III of Mataram was a combatant for the succession of the Mataram dynasty, both as a co-belligerent during the Trunajaya rebellion (from 1677 t ...
, the Dutch gained control of the eastern half of Madura in 1705. Dutch recognition of Puger was influenced by the lord of West Madura, Cakraningrat II who is thought to have supported Puger's claims in the hope that a new war in central Java would provide the Madurese with a chance to interfere. However, while Amangkurat was arrested and exiled to Ceylon, Puger took the title of
Pakubuwono I
Pakubuwono I (also as Pakubuwana I, before his reign was known as Pangeran Puger), uncle of Amangkurat III of Mataram was a combatant for the succession of the Mataram dynasty, both as a co-belligerent during the Trunajaya rebellion (from 1677 t ...
and signed a treaty with the Dutch that granted them, East Madura.
The Cakraningrats agreed to help the Dutch quash the 1740 rebellion in Central Java after the Chinese massacre in 1740. In a 1743 treaty with the Dutch, Pakubuwono I ceded the full sovereignty of Madura to the Dutch, which was contested by
Cakraningrat IV
Cakraningrat IV was a ruling prince (1718-1745) from West Madura,
and a member of the Cakraningrat dynasty which was the subordinate ruler of the Mataram Sultanate.
During his reign, he tried to expand his authority to include all Madura Island a ...
. Cakraningrat fled to
Banjarmasin, took refuge with the British, was robbed and betrayed by the sultan, and captured by the Dutch and exiled to the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
.
The Dutch continued Madura's administrative divisions of four states each with their own regent. The island was initially important as a source of colonial troops and in the second half of the nineteenth century it became the main source of salt for Dutch-controlled territories in the archipelago. The Dutch gradually sidelined the Sultan and took over direct control of the entire island in the 1880s, governing it as the
Madoera Residency
Madoera Residency ( nl, Residentie Madoera) was an administrative subdivision (Residency) of the Dutch East Indies located on the island of Madura and with its capital at Pamekasan. It also included some smaller islands off Madura such as the Kang ...
.
Geography
Madura Island is a relatively flat topography and there is no significant difference in elevation, which makes Madura a
badland. Geologically, Madura is part of the northern
limestone mountains of
Java. The limestone hills in Madura are lower, rougher, and rounder than the hills in northern Java.
Demography
Madura (including its offshore islands) has a population of about four million, most of whom are
ethnically
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
Madurese. The main language of Madura is
Madurese, one of a family of
Austronesian languages, which is also spoken in part of eastern Java and on many of the 66 outlying islands.
The Madurese are a large ethnic population in Indonesia, numbering around 7 million inhabitants. They come from the island of Madura as well as surrounding islands, such as
Gili Raja Gili may refer to :
People
*Gili Cohen, Israeli Olympic judoka
*Gili Haimovitz (born 1993), Israeli taekwando fighter
*Gili Landau (born 1958), Israeli footballer and manager
Other
*Gili, Iran
*Gili Islands, an archipelago of three small islands o ...
,
Sapudi
Sapudi Islands are a group of 14 islands that lie between Madura Island and the Kangean islands of Indonesia. It is part of the Greater Sunda Islands and is located in the Java Sea. The Sapudi Islands are administered as three ''kabupaten'' (distr ...
,
Raas, and the
Kangean Islands
The Kangean Islands or simply Kangean (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Kangean'') is a collective name referred to the area of Kangean Island, Kangean (the main island) and its surrounding islands lie in the north of Bali Isla ...
. In addition, many Madurese live in the eastern part of
East Java, commonly called the "Horseshoe", from
Pasuruan to the north of
Banyuwangi. Madurese are found in Situbondo and Bondowoso, and east of Probolinggo,
Jember, and a few at most who speak Javanese, including North
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
, as well as some of
Malang
Malang (; ) is a landlocked List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province of East Java. It has a history dating back to the age of Singhasari, Singhasari Kingdom. It is the second most popul ...
.
Madura has a
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
majority and a large
Shia minority. However, since 2012, interfaith discord has escalated into violence, with many Shia villages around the city of
Sampang being attacked and the population fleeing their homes for government refugee centers. The
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has provided details of such attacks in 2013.
Administrative divisions
Madura Island is part of East Java province and is divided into the following four
regencies
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, ...
, listed from west to east:
Note: Sumenep Regency, besides including the eastern quarter of Madura Island, also includes many offshore islands - notably the
Kangean Islands
The Kangean Islands or simply Kangean (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Kangean'') is a collective name referred to the area of Kangean Island, Kangean (the main island) and its surrounding islands lie in the north of Bali Isla ...
(648.56 km
2) to the east of Madura, the smaller
Sapudi Islands
Sapudi Islands are a group of 14 islands that lie between Madura Island and the Kangean islands of Indonesia. It is part of the Greater Sunda Islands and is located in the Java Sea. The Sapudi Islands are administered as three ''kabupaten'' (distr ...
(167.38 km
2) lying between Madura and the Kangean Islands, and
Talango Island (50.27 km
2) closer to Madura; it also includes the small
Masalembu Islands
The Masalembu Islands (Indonesian:''Kepulauan Mesalembu'') lie in the Java Sea to the north of Madura, about halfway between Madura and Borneo. They administratively form Masalembu District (''kecamatan'') of Sumenep Regency of Madura, in th ...
(40.85 km
2) to the north (between Madura and
Kalimantan
Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo.
In 2019, ...
) and the Giligenteng Islands (30.32 km
2) to the southeast of Madura. The mainland (i.e. the area on Madura Island itself) covers 1,156.21 km
2 (with 789,476 inhabitants in 2020) consisting of 18 districts, while the various islands are 937.38 km
2 in area (with 334,960 people in 2020), comprising 9 districts, with 128 islands, 46 inhabited.
Economy
On the whole, Madura is one of the poorest regions of the East Java province. Unlike
Java, the soil is not fertile enough to make it a major agricultural producer. Limited economic opportunities have led to chronic unemployment and poverty. These factors have led to long-term emigration from the island, such that most ethnically Madurese people do not now live on Madura. People from Madura were some of the most numerous participants in government
transmigration programs, moving to other parts of Indonesia.
Subsistence
agriculture is a mainstay of the economy.
Maize is a key subsistence crop, on the island's many small landholdings.
Cattle-raising is also a critical part of the agricultural economy, providing extra income to peasant farmer families, in addition to being the basis for Madura's famous bull-racing competitions. Small-scale fishing is also important to the subsistence economy.
Among export industries,
tobacco farming is a major contributor to the island's economy. Madura's soil, while unable to support many food crops, helps make the island an important producer of tobacco and
clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
s for the domestic ''
kretek
Kretek () are unfiltered cigarettes of Indonesian origin, made with a blend of tobacco, cloves, and other flavors. The word "kretek" itself is an onomatopoetic term for the crackling sound of burning cloves.
Partly due to favorable taxation ...
'' (clove cigarette) industry. Since the
Dutch era, the island has also been a major producer and exporter of
salt.
Bangkalan
Bangkalan is a town on the western coast of Madura Island in Indonesia, the government seat of the Bangkalan Regency.
Tourism
Mount Jaddih is 10 kilometres from Bangkalan and can be accessed by a motorcycle to the mountain top to see Bangkalan ...
, on the western end of the island, has
industrialized substantially since the 1980s. This region is within a short ferry ride of
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
, Indonesia's second-largest city, and hence has gained a role as a suburb for commuters to Surabaya, and as a location for industry and services that need to be near the city.
The
Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) Bridge, opened in 2009, is expected to further increase the Bangkalan area's interaction with the regional economy.
Climate
Almost all parts of Madura are lowlands and closer to
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
, which make the island is warmer and drier than the mainland of
East Java.
According to
Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the climate of coastal Madura is
tropical savannah (''Aw'').
According to
Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the climate of inland Madura is
tropical savannah (''Aw'').
Culture
Bull racing
Madura is famous for its bull-racing competition (called ''
karapan sapi''), where a
jockey
A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...
, usually a young boy, rides a simple wooden sled pulled by a pair of
bulls over a course of about 100 meters in ten to fifteen seconds.
Music and theatre
Several forms of music and theatre are popular on Madura, particularly among poorer people for whom they provide an inexpensive form of entertainment and community-building. The ''topeng'' theatre, which involves
masked performances of classic stories such as the
Ramayana and
Mahabharata, is the Madurese performance artist best known outside the island, due to its role as a representative Madurese art form at exhibitions of regional cultures from all over Indonesia. However, performances of it are rare on Madura and are generally restricted to entertainment at large official functions. The less formal ''loddrok'' theatre, where performers do not wear masks and perform a wider range of themes, is more popular on the island.
The
gamelan orchestra, best known as a classical Javanese instrument, is also played on Madura, where several of the former royal courts, such as at Bangkalan and Sumenep, possess elaborate gamelans. ''Tongtong'' music, more exclusive to Madura, is played on several wooden or bamboo drums, and often accompanies bull-racing competitions.
Vessels
The Madurese are considered to be excellent sailors. Madurese vessels loaded with cargoes of wood from other islands, like
Borneo, used to ply their trade between Indonesia and
Singapore. Traditional vessels of Madura include the
golekan,
leti leti
Leti leti is a type of traditional transport vessel from East Madura, Indonesia, especially from the administrative district of Sumenep. The leti leti is a recent development, the hull form and sail were developed in the 19th century. In 1979 sail ...
(or leteh-leteh),
lis-alis
Lis-alis is a type of traditional boat of Madura, Indonesia. Lis-alis usually present in canals that provide salt evaporation service in southern part of Madura and around Surabaya. Until the present, lis-alis remained overwhelmingly popular as a ...
, and
janggolan
Janggolan refers to two different type of ''perahu'' from Indonesia. One is from Madura, and the other from Bali. The Madurese janggolan is a type of indigenously constructed boat, meanwhile Balinese janggolan is an indigenous boat with western-sty ...
.
[Clifford W. Hawkins, ''Praus of Indonesia'' / 0-333-31810-2]
References
Bibliography
*
* Bouvier, Hélène (1994) ''La matière des émotions. Les arts du temps et du spectacle dans la société madouraise (Indonésie).'' Publications de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient, vol. 172. Paris : EFEO. .
* Farjon, I.(1980) ''Madura and surrounding islands : an annotated bibliography, 1860-1942'' The Hague: M. Nijhoff. Bibliographical series (Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Netherlands)) ; 9.
* Kees van Dijk, Huub de Jonge, and Elly Touwen-Bouswsma, eds. (1995). ''Across Madura Strait: the dynamics of an insular society''. Leiden: KITLV Press. .
*
* Smith, Glenn (1995) ''Time Allocation Among the Madurese of Gedang-Gedang. Cross-Cultural Studies in Time Allocation,'' Volume XIII. New Haven, Connecticut: Human Relations Area Files Press.
* Smith, Glenn (2002) ''Bibliography of Madura (including Bawean, Sapudi and Kangean).'
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Sanskrit-language names
Greater Sunda Islands
Islands of Indonesia