270
I. N. Parker
Framing Environmental Adaptations in the Raja Ampat,
at the Juncture of Oceania and Southeast Asia
The Raja Ampat islands, an archipelago off the northwestern coast of Indonesia’s
West Papua Province, it is a zone with a long history of human settlement and
contact (O’Connell and Allen 2015). The islands are also embedded in a unique
biogeographical seascape of globally recognized high species diversity known as the
Coral Triangle (Polhemus 2007). The major islands are Waigeo, Salawati, Batanta
and Misool, along with many smaller islets of limestone, coral and atolls. Raja
Ampat is also a political unit or Regency (Kabupaten), with seventeen subdistricts
(kecamatan), with a combined population of 46,613 (2016) living in 89 villages—the
largest town is Waisai.
1 In the villages they speak a Halmahera-West New Guinea
language—Beser, Ambel, Ma’ya—alongside Papuan Malay (Kamholz 2014).
The people of Raja Ampat have long been at a crossroads of ocean currents,
trade circuits and politics. Traders, pirates, European voyagers, explorers and sultans
have interacted with resident populations in the Raja Ampat area since the sixteenth
century (Andaya 1993; Ellen 2003).
2 Waves of settlers from islands to both the east
and west have shaped the region’s hybrid linguistic and social character. Goods and
gifts have facilitated marriage alliances, slave raiding, inter-regional trade networks,
global spice monopolies, and contests over access rights (Ploeg 2002: 89; Timmer
2011).
While there are several distinct ethnic communities living among the islands and
bays of Raja Ampat, this study focuses on interactions with Ma’ya, Ambel and Beteo
settlements in and around Waigeo Island.
3 The Ma’ya people are considered to be
original inhabitants of Waigeo Island (Mansoben 1995; Leeden 1989). In the past,
they were intermediaries in the exchange of natural resources for precious goods (and
people) between Moluccan Sultans, Biak raiders and people from the New Guinea
mainland. Today, they make their living from fishing, subsistence gardening and
selling selected products. In every Ma’ya community, different clans (gelet) have
rights to control access and use of particular land and sea zones (Mansoben 1995:
255). The Ambel (a Ma’ya subgroup that speaks a distinct language) live in several
small villages along the shores of Waigeo’s Ma’yalibit Bay, fishing, collecting sea
products, and trading garden produce or sago. The Beteo are the most numerous
ethnolinguistic group in the Raja Ampat region generally. They arrived from Biak at
least 200 years ago on large canoes (karures), and established coconut reserves on
outer islands (Ploeg 2002: 79). Once feared as pirates (bajak laut), the Beteo later
1 https://rajaampatkab.bps.go.id/linkTableDinamis/view/id/44, accessed 20 April 2018.
2 The name of Raja Ampat—the islands of the four (Indo. empat) Rajas—highlights a history of
loose-knit relational governance known regionally as sosolot, “based on intense trade and migration
among autonomous kin and trade friends” (Goodman 2006: 10).
3 It is unclear whether the Ambel should be considered a separate people or a Ma’ya sub-group that
speaks the Ambel language. For purposes of this chapter, Ambel refer to those people (whether selfidentified as Ma’ya or not) who live among the seven predominantly Ambel-speaking settlements
in Ma’yalibit Bay.
I. N. Parker
Framing Environmental Adaptations in the Raja Ampat,
at the Juncture of Oceania and Southeast Asia
The Raja Ampat islands, an archipelago off the northwestern coast of Indonesia’s
West Papua Province, it is a zone with a long history of human settlement and
contact (O’Connell and Allen 2015). The islands are also embedded in a unique
biogeographical seascape of globally recognized high species diversity known as the
Coral Triangle (Polhemus 2007). The major islands are Waigeo, Salawati, Batanta
and Misool, along with many smaller islets of limestone, coral and atolls. Raja
Ampat is also a political unit or Regency (Kabupaten), with seventeen subdistricts
(kecamatan), with a combined population of 46,613 (2016) living in 89 villages—the
largest town is Waisai.
1 In the villages they speak a Halmahera-West New Guinea
language—Beser, Ambel, Ma’ya—alongside Papuan Malay (Kamholz 2014).
The people of Raja Ampat have long been at a crossroads of ocean currents,
trade circuits and politics. Traders, pirates, European voyagers, explorers and sultans
have interacted with resident populations in the Raja Ampat area since the sixteenth
century (Andaya 1993; Ellen 2003).
2 Waves of settlers from islands to both the east
and west have shaped the region’s hybrid linguistic and social character. Goods and
gifts have facilitated marriage alliances, slave raiding, inter-regional trade networks,
global spice monopolies, and contests over access rights (Ploeg 2002: 89; Timmer
2011).
While there are several distinct ethnic communities living among the islands and
bays of Raja Ampat, this study focuses on interactions with Ma’ya, Ambel and Beteo
settlements in and around Waigeo Island.
3 The Ma’ya people are considered to be
original inhabitants of Waigeo Island (Mansoben 1995; Leeden 1989). In the past,
they were intermediaries in the exchange of natural resources for precious goods (and
people) between Moluccan Sultans, Biak raiders and people from the New Guinea
mainland. Today, they make their living from fishing, subsistence gardening and
selling selected products. In every Ma’ya community, different clans (gelet) have
rights to control access and use of particular land and sea zones (Mansoben 1995:
255). The Ambel (a Ma’ya subgroup that speaks a distinct language) live in several
small villages along the shores of Waigeo’s Ma’yalibit Bay, fishing, collecting sea
products, and trading garden produce or sago. The Beteo are the most numerous
ethnolinguistic group in the Raja Ampat region generally. They arrived from Biak at
least 200 years ago on large canoes (karures), and established coconut reserves on
outer islands (Ploeg 2002: 79). Once feared as pirates (bajak laut), the Beteo later
1 https://rajaampatkab.bps.go.id/linkTableDinamis/view/id/44, accessed 20 April 2018.
2 The name of Raja Ampat—the islands of the four (Indo. empat) Rajas—highlights a history of
loose-knit relational governance known regionally as sosolot, “based on intense trade and migration
among autonomous kin and trade friends” (Goodman 2006: 10).
3 It is unclear whether the Ambel should be considered a separate people or a Ma’ya sub-group that
speaks the Ambel language. For purposes of this chapter, Ambel refer to those people (whether selfidentified as Ma’ya or not) who live among the seven predominantly Ambel-speaking settlements
in Ma’yalibit Bay.