# Ambonese people

The Ambonese (Ambonese: Orang Ambon) are an ethnic group of mixed Austronesian and Melanesian origin from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sulawesi and north of Timor in Indonesia. They are evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. They also live on the southwest of Seram Island, which is part of the Moluccas, Java, Western New Guinea, and other regions of Indonesia. Additionally, there are about 35,000 Ambonese people living in the Netherlands. By the end of the 20th century, there were 258,331 (2007 census) Ambonese people living in Ambon, Maluku.

## Language

The dominant language is Ambonese Malay, also known as Ambonese. It developed as a trade language in central Maluku and is spoken as a second language elsewhere in Maluku. Bilingualism in Indonesian is high around Ambon City.

## Religion

The predominant religion of the Ambonese is split between Christianity (Reformed Christianity and Roman Catholicism) and Muslim (Sunni Islam), while indigenous customs such as tattooing have largely disappeared. According to Mikhail Anatolievich Chlenov, the relationship between the adherents of both faiths here have traditionally been neighborly peaceful, based on the union of the communities' pela; which in the Ambonese language means "friend." However, he also mentions that clashes between Ambonese people and other non-indigenous ethnic groups occur on religious grounds. Mounted tension then resulted in the 1998 inter-religious conflict in Ambon, of which, until today, the number of victims has turned into thousands of people. In the situation of an almost civil war, people were forced to move to refugee camps across the capital of the island, Ambon, Maluku, with lines dividing its Muslim and Christian sections were made.
The problem is not completely resolved, and the religious issue is still acute, as indeed, in other parts of Indonesia.

## History

Ambon belonged to the colonial ethnic group. They were formed in the 16th to 18th century as a result of the mixing of the indigenous population of Ambon Island and West Seram Regency, the human trade of the Hitu people, and with the immigrants from both other parts of Indonesia and Europeans. In the 15th to 16th century, the largest center of spice trade was established under the rule of the Sultanate of Ternate, and its capture then became the goal of the foreign colonialists, who at the beginning of the 16th century were the Portuguese colonials, and at the beginning of the 17th century the Dutch colonials.
The Ambonese people resisted the Dutch colonization until the beginning of the 19th century. However, their resistance did not help in preventing the Dutch conquering the Indonesian Archipelago and suppressing uprisings of local ethnic groups against the colonialists. Due to its far-sighted policy, the Ambonese people have achieved a privileged position in Indonesia since the mid-19th century. Many of them were Europeanized, adopted Christianity, the wealthy townspeople were legally equated with the ruling colonizers, and they were involved in state and military services. For such loyalty, the Ambonese authorities were nicknamed "black Dutch".
During the Indonesian National Revolution war for the Independence of Indonesia in 1945–1949, large groups of Ambonese people, especially members of the colonial army, emigrated to the Netherlands and New Guinea.

## Economy

At present, the Ambonese people are considered one of the most developed peoples of Indonesia, belong to the class of local intellectuals. Mostly engaged in the production for sale of spices such as carnation and nutmeg, as well as sago as a food source. Since the 17th century, they were producers of nutmeg; which led to the conquest of the Dutch colonial in Ambon Island and its surrounding region in 1605 as an attempt to monopolized the nutmeg trade, and finally the Amboyna massacre. Developed fishery, agriculture, horticulture and small trades are also means of earning a living. Ambonese craftsmen work in various industries such as pottery, blacksmithing, weapons making, shipbuilding, carving on tortoiseshell shell and mother of pearl, making ornamental crafts from buds of carnation, weaving boxes and mats from strips of palm leaves. Traditionally, they serve in the army and the administrative sector.

## Social structure

The Ambonese live in traditional rural communities called negeri, headed by a starosta called a raja. Communities are divided into territorial groups called soa, which in turn unite patrilineal clans called mata ruma. Marriages are performed only within sectarian groups. For the Ambonese, these are traditionally characterised by patrilocal marriages Relations between members of the community are governed by traditional norms of behaviour called adat, which derive from ancestral customs. Today, adat largely governs matters of family, inheritance and land rights, as well as elections for leadership positions.

## Culture and lifestyle

A typical Ambonese village consists of about 1,500 people who live in houses made of materials from woven sago leaves or plastered bamboo, wood, coral stones, on stone foundations; they cultivate surrounding hillsides. Traditional rural settlements of Ambonese people are located on the shore and have a linear layout. Houses are built on stilts.

### Clothing

Men adopted modern European style clothing, and only on special occasions they would wear short jackets and black trousers. Women also wear thin blouses or small-patterned sarongs with black color for the older women and the younger women wear bright colored cotton dresses up to knee-length.

### Food

The basis of the Ambonese diet is a porridge made from sago starch, vegetables, taro, cassava, and fish. The inhabitants of the Ambon Island also have access to imported rice.

### Music

The Ambonese people have a rich musical folklore, much of which has absorbed many European musical elements. For example, the Ambonese quadrille (katreji) and the songs of the lagoon, which are accompanied by a violin and with a lap steel guitar. Traditional musical instruments include the 12 gongs, drums, bamboo flute (efluit), xylophone (tatabuhan kayu) and Aeolian harp.