Majene

Majene is the capital city of Majene Regency and it is located in the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi.

The population is estimated to be around 63,000 people, 51% of which are female and 49% of which are male. The city is divided into two districts: Banggae and Banggae Timur. In 2009, the average population density for Banggae was 1,514 people per square kilometer while the density for East Banggae was 834 people per square kilometer. 46.7% of the population consists of individuals under the age of 20 while 76.3% of the population consists of individuals under the age of 40.

(Source: Majene Census Bureau)

The largest population group are those of Mandar tribal origins. The next largest tribe represented in the city is the Buginese. The remaining ethnic tribes living in the city are mixed and include Javanese, Makassarese, Madurese, and ethnic Chinese, and people from Mamasa, Enrekang, Minang and Tana Toraja. Each of these tribes has their own corresponding languages.

As word-of-mouth accounts and limited written documentation of Mandar history reveal, there were seven coastal Mandar kingdoms and seven inland Mandar kingdoms. The coastal kingdoms included Balanipa (now known as Tinambung), Sendana, Bangai (now known as Majene), Pamboang, Tapalan, Mamuju, and Binuang (now known as Polewali). The inland kingdoms included Rantebulahan, Mambi, Arale, Tabulahan, Taban, Bambang, and Matanga.

The 3 kingdoms that occupied present day Majene county were Bangai, Pamboang (encompassing the sub-kingdom of Malunda), and Sendana. Peace was maintained among the seven coastal kingdoms by the “Pitu Ba’ba binanga” treaty, which essentially stated that the kingdoms had more to gain by living peacefully alongside each other than by warring for incidental gains in territory. The inland kingdoms also had a treaty known as “Pitu Uluna Salu”, which also prevented warring amongst themselves.

It is said that the Mandar people were brave sailors who used their prowess on the sea to travel between Ternate and Singapore, safely shuttling spices and other rare commodities from destination to destination. Majene’s strategic location as a remote “middle-ground” between the Spice Islands of Maluku and the Asian mainland made it an attractive target for Dutch intervention, which sought to intercept and monopolise the Maritime Southeast Asia trade routes.

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Wikipedia