Amanatun was an

Atoni The Atoni (also known as the Atoin Meto, Atoin Pah Meto or Dawan) people are an ethnic group on Timor, in Indonesian West Timor and the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi-Ambeno. They number around 844,030. Their language is Uab Meto. The Atoni l ...

princedom situated in what is today

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 ...

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 ...

, which existed up to 1962. It was also known as the princedom of Onam. The area once included one of the best ports where the commercially important

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 ...

was loaded on Dutch and Portuguese ships.

Origins of the kingdom

According to local legend, the ancestor of the royal line, Banu Naek, emerged from the sea together with his brothers

Liurai Liurai is a ruler's title on Timor. The word is Tetun and literally means "surpassing the earth". It is originally associated with Wehali, a ritually central kingdom situated at the south coast of Central Timor (now included in Indonesia). The sa ...

and

Sonbai Sonbai (also spelt ''Sonnebay'', ''Sonba'i'', or ''Sonbait'') was an Indonesian princely dynasty that reigned over various parts of West Timor from at least the 17th century until the 1950s. It was known as the most prestigious princedom of the Aton ...

. Liurai settled in South Belu and Sonbai in West Timor, and they were the ancestors of princely lineages in these regions. Banu Naek remained in Nokas and Nitibani near the south coast and was acknowledged as ruler by the locals. Since his belongings, and his own body, were golden (natun), his princedom was given the name Amanatun. The ''sonaf'' (residence) of the prince was situated in Nunkolo in the interior, which was inaccessible to enemies. At his side there was a lineage of ''Uis Pah'' (lords of the land) with various practical tasks, such as surveying land, defining borders, and deciding shares of the harvest. The ''Uis Pah'' stayed at Menu on the south coast, close to the port Boking where trading activities took place. On lower levels of the traditional ruling system, there were fettors (district chiefs) and greater and smaller temukungs (settlement chiefs).

Contacts with Europeans and Eurasians

In European documentary sources the area first appears in the 16th century as Batumean, actually the name of a coastal village. The princedom of Batumean consisted of the more important Amanatun in the west, which subsequently gave its name to the entire domain, and Amanesi (Nenometan) to the east. The sandalwood riches of Batumean soon attracted the Portuguese traders based on

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 ...

and later

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 ...

. After 1613 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 ...

(Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) likewise competed for the wood. A third rival was the Indonesian kingdom of

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

which devastated Batumean with a fleet in 1641. After this calamity Batumean approached the Portuguese Eurasians or

Topasses Topasses (Tupasses, Topas, Topaz) were a group of people led by the two powerful families – Da Costa and Hornay – that resided in Oecussi and Flores. The Da Costa families were descendants of Portuguese Jewish merchants and Hornay were Dutch ...

in Larantuka and the princely family was baptized by the Dominican missionaries. In spite of a brief anti-Portuguese resistance in 1655, Batumean stayed a vassal under the Topasses for the next century. The name Batumean disappeared by the end of the 17th century, and the domain was subsequently known just as Amanatun. The resources in sandalwood appears to have dwindled in this period, and the area was left much to itself.

Under Dutch suzerainty

After a major Topass defeat against the VOC forces of Kupang in 1749, large parts of West Timor submitted to Dutch suzerainty, including Amanatun. However, it was too distant from Kupang to be effectively monitored. It was only in the early 20th century that a real colonial rule was implemented. A Dutch column marched into Amanatun in 1906 as a part of a larger campaign of pacification of West Timor. A number of skirmishes with local chiefs took place in the years up to 1910. Some eastern parts of the princedom, Anas-Nenometan, which had previously been absorbed by the

Wehali Wehali (''Wehale'', ''Waihali'', ''Veale'') is the name of a traditional kingdom at the southern coast of Central Timor, now in the Republic of Indonesia. It is often mentioned together with its neighbouring sister kingdom, as Wewiku-Wehali (Waiwi ...

kingdom, were returned to Amanatun in 1910. By this time the princedom covered 917 square kilometers and had 15,300 inhabitants. The raja Muti Banu Naek was deposed in 1915 for his opposition against Dutch designs. His three successors governed as zelfbestuurders (rajas under colonial surveillance) until the definite departure of the Dutch in 1949. The last raja Lodeweyk Lourens Don Louis Banu Naek was in charge of Amanatun in the first years of Indonesian independence to 1962, when it was changed into a kecamatan (administrative district). It is now a part of the

kabupaten A regency ( id, kabupaten), sometimes incorrectly referred to as a district, is an administrative division of Indonesia, directly under a province and on the same level with city (''kota''). Regencies is divided into districts (''Kecamatan'', ''D ...

(regency) Timor Tengah Selatan.Y.Y.K. Banunaek (2007), ''Raja Raja Amanatun yang berkuasa''. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, pp. 93-108.

List of rulers

*Pedro of Batumean mentioned 1642 *João of Batumean mentioned 1645 *Don Louis Nai Konof before 1751-1766 *Don Joan Benao 1766-? (son) *Nai Taman mentioned 1832 *Loit Banu Naek ?-c. 1899 *Muti Banu Naek c. 1899-1915 (son) *Kusa Banu Naek 1916-1919 (distant kinsman) *Kolo Banu Naek 1920-1946 (son of Muti Banu Naek) *Lodeweyk Lourens Don Louis Banu Naek 1946-1962 (cousin)

Origins of the kingdom

Contacts with Europeans and Eurasians

Under Dutch suzerainty

List of rulers

References

Further reading