Mante people (Mantee in

Gayonese The Gayo people are an ethnic group living in the highlands of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The Gayo tribe has a population of 336,856 and they live predominantly in the mountains. Most Gayo live in three regencies in Aceh namely Bener ...

) or also spelled as Mantir, are one of the earliest ethnic group frequently mentioned in legendary folklore to have inhabited

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

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 ...

. This ethnic group along with other indigenous people such as the

Illanun people The Iranun are a Moro ethnic group native to Mindanao, Philippines (in Maguindanao del Norte: Barira, Buldon, Parang, Matanog, Sultan Mastura, and Sultan Kudarat; North Cotabato: Alamada, Banisilan, Carmen, Libungan, and Pigcawayan; Lanao d ...

Sakai people Sakai is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan Sakai may also refer to: Ethnic groups Sakai is a term historically used to refer to indigenous ethnic groups of the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, including: *Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of penin ...

Jakun people Jakun people or Orang Ulu/Orang Hulu (meaning "people of the upstream") are an ethnic group recognised as Orang Asli (indigenous people) of the Malay Peninsula in Malaysia. The Malaysian government recognises 18 different sub-groups of Orang As ...

Senoi The Senoi (also spelled Sengoi and Sng'oi) are a group of Malaysian peoples classified among the Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. They are the most numerous of the Orang Asli and widely distributed across the peninsula ...

and

Semang The Semang are an ethnic-minority group of the Malay Peninsula. They live in mountainous and isolated forest regions of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah of Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. The Semang are among the different eth ...

, are the ethnic groups that formed the existing

Acehnese people The Acehnese (also written as Atjehnese and Achinese) are an ethnic group from Aceh, Indonesia on the northernmost tip of the island of Sumatra. The area has a history of political struggle against the Dutch. The vast majority of the Acehnese p ...

today. The Mante people are regarded as part of the

Proto-Malay The term Proto-Malay, which translates to ''Melayu Asli'' (aboriginal Malay) or ''Melayu Purba'' (ancient Malay) or ''Melayu Tua'' (old Malay), refers to Austronesian speakers, possibly from mainland Asia, who moved to the Malay peninsula and ...

people group that initially settled around the region of

Aceh Besar Regency Great Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Besar) is a regency of the Indonesian province of Aceh. The regency covers an area of 2,903.49 square kilometres and had a population of 351,418 at the 2010 Census and 405,535 at the 2020 Census; the offici ...

and in the interior jungle. These indigenous people were thought to have migrated to

through the

Malay peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

. In the Acehnese legend, the

Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

and Mante people were mentioned as the descendants of Kawom Lhèë Reutōïh (meaning, "the Three Hundred people"); which were also one of the indigenous peoples in

. Today, this people are extinct or have disappeared as a result of intermarriage with other non-indigenous people groups that arrived later. To date, there are still no strong scientific evidence for the existence of this people.

Alleged last appearance

In March 2017, there were video recordings by a group of bikers in

who accidentally saw and recorded a man that was thought to be a Mante tribesman. The alleged Mante man at the site was caught by surprise and ran away immediately; and the scene was recorded by one of the bikers in the group. The video recording was uploaded on YouTube and quickly became a viral topic of discussion on social medias and in the news in

. The spread of the news gained the attention of the Aceh government to dispatch a search team to find the Mante people and examine their real existence. The Ministry of Social Affairs department also participated in the search in order to provide social security to the Mante people.

References

{{Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Sumatra Ethnic groups in Aceh