Ecology of Sulawesi. Tony Whitten
was waning, and the power of the Hindu Majapahit kingdom of East Java was in ascendency. Around this time the southwest peninsula supported a relatively small population scattered in small settlements centred on resource-rich geographical features such as lakes, rivers and estuaries to supplement the produce of swidden agriculture. Most contacts were with traders from northern Sulawesi, Maluku and Sumbawa rather than from Java (MacKnight 1983). Great quantities of ceramics were imported from China and elsewhere through these trading links, and were used in ritual, two-stage burials (still practiced by some Toraja people today) up to at least the middle of the 17th century (Hadimuljono and Muttalib 1979). Makassar, Luwu, Bantaeng and Salayar were listed as dependencies of Majapahit and their ships are described in a 14th century Javanese poem as harassing trade ships from Malacca. Bugis states were trading with Arab ships during this period. Of these states, Luwu was the first to establish a kingship, and dynasties established later elsewhere were believed to be quasi-divine though still subject to the same forces which influenced their subjects. The 'high-culture' centres of this period in Indonesia tended to be coastal and concerned largely with trade but because of its narrowness, the majority of the southwest arm of Sulawesi was affected. The history of this period is composed mainly of genealogies and was written on leaves of lontar palms Borassus flabellifer (Mattulada 1985) as was the custom in the drier and more seasonal parts of Asia until the Portuguese introduced the techniques of paper manufacture (Whitmore 1977).
At this time there were about 50 kingdoms in the southwest peninsula (although Bone, Wajo and Luwu were clearly dominant), and the kings and their people worshiped images-presumably a mix of the traditional animistic beliefs and traces of Hinduism. These kingdoms, most of them little more than a small town with a feudal chief ruling over a subservient hinterland, had their main settlements near river mouths. These settlements probably comprised 100-200 households and were built backing on to the river (Mattulada 1978).
The name Celebes was first used by the Portuguese historian Tome Pires, whose discerning and comprehensive accounts of eastern Asia in his Suma Oriental were written in India and Malacca between 1512-15. He mentions that the Portuguese sailed to the Spice Islands or Moluccas via Singapore, Tanjung (?)Puting (Central Kalimantan), Buton and sometimes Makassar. Celebes, Banggai and Siau were said to produce foodstuffs and gold for the Moluccas. 'Celebes' applied initially only to the northern point of the north arm (Punta de Celebres) and was first marked on a map in 1524. Only later did it come to apply to the whole mainland (Pires 1944).
There are four hypotheses concerning the derivation of the word Celebes. First, the Bugis word 'selihe' (the 'h' is sometimes pronounced as an 'r') means sea current, so Punta de Celebres would mean Point of Currents (Pires 1944). Second, it derives from 'sula' (island) 'besi' (iron), for the area around Lake Matano in the centre of Sulawesi is one of the richest deposits of iron ore in Southeast Asia. Third, it derives from 'Si-lebih' or the one with more islands (Crawfurd 1856); and fourth, it derives from a corruption of Klabat, the name of the impressive volcano north-east of Manado which dominates the Minahasa landscape (Sarasin and Sarasin 1905; de Leeuw 1931). The modern name Sulawesi clearly derives from Sula-besi ('b' and 'w' are frequently transposed).
The first writer to mention the northern islands was Pigafetta who wrote the journal of the first round-the-world voyage led initially by the Spanish captain Magellan. Magellan himself died in the Philippines in early 1521, but later that year his ships sought a passage from there to the Moluccas. Having left southern Mindanao, they encountered the small Kawio Islands and then sailed to Sangihe Island which was said to be "very beautiful to look at". The island was divided between four kings. The boats then passed the islands of Kalama, Kanakitang, Para, Sanggeluhang and Siau, the last of which was ruled by a king called Raja Ponto. After reaching Ruang, they turned south-east (Pigafetta 1906), never setting eyes on the Sulawesi mainland only 80 km distant.
Gowa was the first dominating power on Sulawesi, due in part to the alliance made with the Bajau or sea nomads (see below) who furnished the kingdom with a wide range of marine produce. Gowa dominated the whole Makassar-speaking region and its capital, Makassar, was a cosmopolitan trading centre. Malay traders began living there in the middle of the 16th century, followed by the Portuguese. The Dutch opened a trading post and factory in 1607, the English in 1613, and the Danes in 1618. Agents from France, the Philippines, India, Arab countries, Aceh and China were also to be found (Reid 1983).
The Dutch displaced the Portuguese from the Moluccas and tried to exercise a monopoly on the spice trade. The importance of Makassar was, however, that people were able to buy spices there without having to tangle with the Dutch. Malay and Gowa ships sailed to the Moluccas with food and foreign goods and traded them for spices which were then sold in Makassar. Makassar became even more popular when it was made a free port.
Catholicism preached by Portuguese missionaries from the 1540s did not make a great impact, and later kings sent envoys to the Malay Peninsula to find Islamic teachers. Islam was accepted as the state religion by the twin kingdom of Goa-Tallo in 1605 and this was the last major Indonesian state to do so.38 Gowa and the states of Bone, Wajo and Sopeng that formed a Bugis alliance were often warring within and between themselves and these last three later accepted Islam at different times after the powerful Gowa. Acceptance of Islam at that time was tantamount to acceptance that they had to be allies (or vassals) of Gowa. Gowa influence spread slowly to south-east Borneo, Buton, Palu, Toli-Toli, Lombok, Flores, Sum-bawa and Timor (Hadimuljono and Muttalib 1979).
Inland, the Toraja people of the central mountains traded with the Bugis but their supposed headhunting traditions tended to minimize the degree of contact. The present-day Aluk-Todolo religion of western Toraja probably resembles the early beliefs of all the inland tribes of that region.
The Minahasans, who are physically most closely related to the Filipinos,39 have never been subject to dynastic rule although it is believed that there was pressure to institute kings in the early 7th century. In response to this, a large open meeting is said to have been held in about 670 A.D.around the stone known today as Watu Pinabetengan,40 and the government of the independent states was discussed (Taulu 1981). In contrast, Bolaang Mongondow and all the islands north of Manado had kings and slaves, and were subject to the rule of the Portuguese-influenced Sultan of Ternate (an important 'spice island' on the west coast of Halmahera, 300 km to the east of Minahasa), as were the Banggai Islands and the mainland area of Luwuk. The first Europeans to live in Minahasa were Spaniards from Magellan's boats escaping from the Portuguese in Ternate in about 1524, although it seems that Portuguese ships had occasionally called before this to buy rice (Jones 1977). Christianity was brought successfully to Minahasa and Sangihe-Talaud in the 1560s by Portuguese missionaries, and the king and people of Siau accepted Christianity in 1568, the same year that Indonesia's third oldest church, the Evangelical Church of Minahasa, was founded. At about the same time most people in Bolaang Mongondow and Gorontalo were accepting Islam, although some had been converted earlier by Bugis traders (Jones 1977). In 1574, Spaniards from Manila sent envoys to Minahasa and in 1619 a pastor was sent out. Eleven years earlier, the Dutch East-India Company built a wooden fort that doubled as a trading post near Manado. In 1643 the Spaniards attempted to impose a half-Spanish king on the Minahasans who were adamant that they wanted to retain their independent status. This spurred the Minahasans to call in the Dutch and ask for a defence and trading alliance (although this was not formally concluded until 1679) (Taulu 1981). The history of this period was written onto a rock face at Watu Pinantik by an ousted Spanish priest, and these writings can still be discerned (Taulu 1981). The trading agreement later turned sour and many states actively opposed the Dutch. This came to a head when Dutch arms and ammunition were seized and taken to Moraya Fort on the shores of Lake Tondano. The Resident began a siege and the will of the Minahasans broke only after he ordered a flock of pigeons with burning palm-fibre tied to their legs to be released; these landed on the thatched roof of the fort and razed it to the ground (Taulu 1981).
The royal court of Makassar was cultured, tolerant, and secure in its success as one of the great entrepots of Southeast Asia (Reid 1983). It was also a thorn in the flesh of the Dutch and as a result its zenith lasted barely 50 years. In 1660 the Dutch destroyed six Portuguese ships in Makassar's deep-water harbour, captured the fort and made an alliance with the Sultan of Gowa. Later they schemed with the Bugis state of Bone, in particular with Arung (Prince) Palakka, against Sultan Hasanuddin