Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern
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 ...
. It is one of 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 ...
and is in the province of
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 ...
. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 788,190. To the northwest of Sumba is
Sumbawa
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. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there ...
, to the northeast, across the
Sumba Strait
Sumba Strait (Indonesian: Selat Sumba) is a strait in Indonesia.
It separates the island of Sumba from the major islands of Flores and Sumbawa, as well as minor islands including Komodo and Rinca. It connects the Indian Ocean to the Savu Sea
...
(Selat Sumba), is
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 ...
, to the east, across the
Savu Sea
The Savu Sea (or the Sawu Sea) ( id, Laut Sawu, pt, Mar de Savu, tet, Tasi Savu) is a small sea within Indonesia named for the island of Savu (Sawu) on its southern boundary. It is bounded by Savu and Rai Jua to the south, the islands of ...
, is
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...
, and to the south, across part of the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.
History
Before colonization by western Europeans in the 1500s, Sumba was inhabited by
Melanesian
Melanesian is the adjectival form of Melanesia. It may refer to:
* Melanesians
* Melanesian mythology
* Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceani ...
and
Austronesian people.
In 1522, through the Portuguese, the first ships from Europe arrived. By 1866 Sumba belonged to the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
, although the island did not come under real
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
administration until the 20th century. The Dutch mission started in 1886. One of the missionary was Douwe Wielenga. Jesuits opened a mission in
Laura, West Sumba.
Historically, this island exported
sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
and was known as ''Sandalwood Island'', or ''Sandel Island''.
Despite contact with western cultures, Sumba is one of the few places in the world where
megalithic burials are used as a 'living tradition' to inter prominent individuals when they die. Burial in megaliths is a practice that was used in many parts of the world during the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
and
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
s. It has survived to this day in Sumba and has raised significant interest from scholars.
At
Anakalang
Anakalang is a society and a megalithic site on the island of Sumba, in eastern Indonesia. It is noted for its quadrangular adzes and numerous megalithic tombs. The West Sumba island's best megalithic tombs are located here. They are large and ...
, for instance, quadrangular adzes have been unearthed.
Another long-lasting tradition is the sometimes lethal game of
pasola
Pasola is a mounted spear-fighting competition from western Sumba, Indonesia. It is played by throwing wooden spears at the opponent while riding a horse to celebrate the rice-planting season. The word ''pasola'' means spear in the local language ...
, in which teams of often several hundred horse-riders fight with spears.
On
August 19, 1977, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the
Richter scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
occurred and caused a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
.
316 people were killed on the island and islands off the west coast.
Geography, climate and ecology
![SundaIslands](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/SundaIslands.A2003242.0225.500m.jpg)
The largest town on the island is the main port of
Waingapu
Waingapu is the largest town in the eastern half of the island of Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. It is the capital town of the Regency of Sumba Timur. The town (a district of the regency) had a population of 35,932 inhabitants at the offic ...
, with a population of 35,932 in 2021.
The landscape is low, limestone hills, rather than the steep volcanoes of many Indonesian islands. There is a dry season from May to November and a rainy season from December to April. The western side of the island is more fertile and more heavily populated than the east.
Due to its distinctive flora and fauna Sumba has been categorised by the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
as the Sumba deciduous forests
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
. Although generally thought to be originally part of the
Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
southern hemisphere supercontinent, recent research suggests that it might have detached from the South East Asia margin. Sumba is in the
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lo ...
region, having a mixture of plants and animals of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n and
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
n origin. Most of the island was originally covered in
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
forest while the south-facing slopes, which remain moist during the dry season, were evergreen
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
.
Fauna
![Village-Sumba](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Village-Sumba.jpg)
There are a number of mammals, but the island is particularly rich in bird-life with nearly 200 birds, of which seven
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species and a number of others are found only here and on some nearby islands. The endemic birds include four vulnerable species — the secretive
Sumba boobook
The Sumba boobook (''Ninox rudolfi'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to Sumba in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist ...
owl,
Sumba buttonquail,
red-naped fruit-dove, and
Sumba hornbill
The Sumba hornbill (''Rhyticeros everetti'') is a large bird in the Bucerotidae, or hornbill family (biology), family. The scientific name commemorates British colonial administrator and zoological collector Alfred Hart Everett.
Description
It ...
— as well as three more common species: the
Sumba green pigeon,
Sumba flycatcher
The Sumba flycatcher (''Ficedula harterti'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.
It is endemic to Indonesia.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees ...
, and
apricot-breasted sunbird.
Saltwater crocodile
The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed ...
s can still be found in some areas.
The
Sumba hornbill
The Sumba hornbill (''Rhyticeros everetti'') is a large bird in the Bucerotidae, or hornbill family (biology), family. The scientific name commemorates British colonial administrator and zoological collector Alfred Hart Everett.
Description
It ...
or ''Julang Sumba'' (''Rhyticeros everetti'') is under increasing threat of extinction. Indiscriminate deforestation is threatening their survival. The population is estimated at less than 4,000 with an average density of six individuals per square kilometre. A hornbill can fly to and from over an area of up to 100 square kilometres.
Threats and preservation
Most of the original forest has been cleared for the planting of
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
,
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively ...
, and other crops so only small isolated patches remain. Furthermore, this clearance is ongoing due to the growing population of the island and this represents a threat to the birds.
In 1998 two national parks were designated on the island for the protection of endangered species: the
Laiwangi Wanggameti National Park
Laiwangi Wanggameti National Park is located on the island of Sumba in Indonesia. All forests types that exist on this island can be found in this national park. Some endemic plant species are protected in this national park, such as ''Syzygiu ...
and
Manupeu Tanah Daru National Park
Manupeu Tanah Daru National Park is located on the island of Sumba in Indonesia. This national park consists lowland forests on steep slopes that rise up to ca. 600m.Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia"Manupeu-Tanah Daru National Park", retrieved 4 ...
.
Administration
Sumba is part of the
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. The island and the very small 0ffshore islands administered with it are split into 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, ...
(local government regions), following re-organisation on 2 January 2007 when two new regencies were created from parts of West Sumba Regency. The four regencies are
Sumba Barat (West Sumba),
Sumba Barat Daya (Southwest Sumba),
Sumba Tengah (Central Sumba) and
Sumba Timur
East Sumba Regency ( id, Kabupaten Sumba Timur) is geographically the largest of the four regencies which divide the island of Sumba, within East Nusa Tenggara Province of Indonesia. It occupies 64% (nearly two-thirds) of the entire island, being ...
(East Sumba). The island had 686,113 inhabitants at the 2010 Census, which accounted for 14.6% of the provincial population in 2020. The figures for the regencies in 2010, 2020 and mid-2021 are given below. The provincial capital is not on Sumba Island, but in
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 ...
on
West Timor
West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ca ...
.
Culture
![KatholiekeKerkWaungapu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/KatholiekeKerkWaungapu.JPG)
Sumba has a highly stratified society based on
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
s.
This is especially true of East Sumba, whereas West Sumba is more ethnically and linguistically diverse.
The
Sumbanese people speak a variety of closely related
Austronesian languages and have a mixture of
Austronesian and
Melanesia
Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea.
The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...
n ancestry. The largest language group is the
Kambera language
Kambera, also known as East Sumbanese, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. Kambera is a member of Bima-Sumba subgrouping within Central Malayo-Polynesian inside Malayo-Polynesian. The island of Sumba, lo ...
, spoken by a quarter of a million people in the eastern half of Sumba.
Twenty-five to thirty percent of the population practices the animist
Marapu
The Marapu religion (also known as Marafu in Sumba) is a form of ancestral religion that is practiced mainly in the island of Sumba in Indonesia. Marapu is also practiced in many more remote areas of Sumba and Flores. Both the Christians and Mu ...
religion. The remainder are
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, a majority being Dutch
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
with a substantial minority being
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
. A small number of
Sunni Muslims
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 ...
can be found along the coastal areas.
Sumba is famous for ''ikat''
textiles
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, particularly very detailed hand-woven ''
ikat
''Ikat'' (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
In ''ikat'', the resist is formed by bi ...
''. The process of dyeing and weaving ''ikat'' is labor-intensive and one piece can take months to prepare.
Development and living standards
Sumba is one of the poorer islands of Indonesia.
Health
A relatively high percentage of the population suffers from
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, although the illness is almost eradicated in the west part of the island.
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
is high.
Water
Access to water is one of the major challenges in Sumba. During the dry season, many streams dry up and villagers depend on wells for scarce supplies of water. Many villagers have to travel several kilometres several times a day to fetch water. It is mainly the women and children who are sent for water, while the men are at work. The
Sumba Foundation has been active in raising sponsorship to drill wells in villages and attempting to reduce poverty on the island. As of February 2013, the
Sumba Foundation were responsible for 48 wells and 191 water stations, a supplying 15 schools with water and sanitation, and reducing malaria rates by some 85%.
Electricity
Electricity mainly comes from diesel generators. New projects include 3 MW Bayu wind power plant (PLTB) in Kadumbul, East Sumba by PT Hywind. Another is the Bodo Hula Biomass Power Plant (PLTBm), West Sumba. 1 MW capacity. Other existing renewable electricity projects involve solar PV and micro-hydroelectricity.
Tourism
Areas of interest
* Tanggedu Waterfall, 26 kilometres from the East Sumba Regency's capital city of Waingapu.
* Puru Kambera Beach, 26 kilometres from Waingapu, a one-hour drive
* Tarimbang Bay, 120 kilometres from Waingapu, a three-hour drive, is a surfers paradise with 2- to 3-meter tall waves between June and September.
* Watu Mandorak Cove, a white sandy beach with cliffs, a two-hour drive, and 42 kilometers from Tambolaka in the dry season. It takes longer and is not recommended in the rainy season.
* The Sumba Hospitality Foundation is located in Sumba Barat or West Sumba. The Foundation is an organization dedicated to providing vocational education in hospitality to underprivileged students hailing from all across Sumba.
International hotels
The island's most popular resort is the Nihi Sumba, which has been ranked as one of the world's five best eco-hotels and was awarded the world's best hotel of 2016 and 2017 from ''
Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure Co. (formerly Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation) is an American timeshare company headquartered in Orlando, Florida. It develops, sells, and manages timeshare properties under several vacation ownershi ...
'' for its native ambiance and authentic local experience. Despite its expensive rates, the resort has been fully booked.
[Asti Atmodjo,]
Sumba will be the next Bali: Association
''The Jakarta Post, 18 July 2012.
See also
*
Soemba Mission
Notes
References
*
External links
Sumba tourist and social information (private website)*
Map
Tourist and Road Map of SumbaSumba Islands maps
{{Authority control
Australasian ecoregions
Ecoregions of Indonesia
Ecoregions of Malesia
Islands of Indonesia
Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara
Lesser Sunda Islands
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Wallacea