Minangkabau people

Minangkabau
Urang Minang
اورڠ مينڠ

A Minangkabau bride and groom, the bride is wearing a Suntiang crown.
Total population
circa 9 million
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia	6,462,713
West Sumatera	4,219,729
Riau	676,948
North Sumatera	333,241
Jakarta	272,018
West Java	241,169
Jambi	163,760
Riau Islands	162,452
Banten	95,845
Bengkulu	71,472
Lampung	69,652
South Sumatera	64,403
Aceh	33,112
Malaysia	901,000
Languages
Minangkabau, Indonesian and Malay.
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
Malays, Mandailing, Kerinci

Minangkabau people (Minangkabau: Urang Minang; Indonesian: Suku Minang; Jawi: اورڠ مينڠ), also known as Minang, is an ethnic group indigenous to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia. Minangkabau people is the largest matrilineal society in the world, with property, family name and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men, although some women also play important roles in these areas. This custom is called Lareh Bodi Caniago and is known as Adat perpatih in Malaysia. Today 4.5 million Minangs live in the homeland of West Sumatra, while about 4.5 million more are scattered throughout many Indonesian and Malay Peninsular cities and towns.

The Minangkabau are famous for their dedication to education, as well as the widespread diaspora of their men throughout southeast Asia, the result being that Minangs have been disproportionately successful in gaining positions of economic and political power throughout the region. The co-founder of the Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Hatta, was a Minang, as were the first President of Singapore, Yusof bin Ishak, and the first Supreme Head of State or Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

The Minangkabau are strongly Islamic, but also follow their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from animist and Hindu-Buddhist beliefs before the arrival of Islam, and remnants of animist beliefs still exist even among some practising Muslims. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "tradition [adat] founded upon Islamic law, Islamic law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah).