Ureuëng Acèh اورڠ اچيه | |
---|---|
Total population | |
3,526,000 [1] – 4,200,000 [2] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Indonesia | 3,404,000 (2010) [3] 3,484,000 (2015) [4] |
Malaysia | 640,000 (counted as part of the local "Malays") [5] |
Sweden | 150–200 [6] |
Languages | |
Religion | |
Sunni Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Chams, Malays, Gayo, Alas, Kluet, Nias, and Singkil |
The Acehnese (also written as Atjehnese and Achinese) are an indigenous ethnic group from Aceh, Indonesia on the northernmost tip of the island of Sumatra. The area has a history of political struggle against the Dutch colonial rule. The vast majority of the Acehnese people are Muslims. [8] The Acehnese people are also referred to by other names such as Lam Muri, Lambri, Akhir, Achin, Asji, A-tse and Atse. [9] [10] Their language, Acehnese, belongs to the Aceh–Chamic group of Malayo-Polynesian of the Austronesian language family.
The Acehnese were at one time partially Hinduised, as evident from their traditions and the many Sanskrit words in their language. [11] They have been Muslims for several centuries and are generally considered one of the most conservative Muslim ethnic group in Indonesia with the implementation of Sharia law in their home province of Aceh. [12] [13] The estimated number of Acehnese ranges between 3,526,000 people [14] and at least 4.2 million people. [15]
Traditionally, there have been many Acehnese agriculturists, metal-workers and weavers. Traditionally matrilocal, their social organisation is communal. They live in gampôngs , which combine to form districts known as mukims . [16] The golden era of Acehnese culture began in the 16th century, along with the rise of the Islamic Aceh Sultanate and later reaching its peak in the 17th century. [17] Generally, the Acehnese people are regarded as strict adherents to the Islamic faith and also as militant fighters against the colonial conquest of the Portuguese Empire and the Dutch Empire. [17] [8]
Aceh came to international attention as being the hardest-hit region of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake with 120,000 people dead.
Archaeological evidence of the earliest inhabitants of Aceh are from the Pleistocene age, where they lived in the west coast of Aceh (Langsa and Aceh Tamiang Regency region) and they exhibited Australomelanesoid characteristics. [18] They mainly lived from seafood, especially various types of shellfish, as well as land animals such as pigs and rhinoceros. [19] They had already used fire and buried bodies with certain rituals. [19]
The migration of the indigenous tribes, the Mantir people [20] and the Lhan people (Proto-Malay), as well as the Chams, Malays and Minangkabau people (Deutero-Malay) who arrived later, formed the pribumi dwellers of Aceh. Foreign ethnicity, especially Indians, as well as a small part of Arabs, Persians, Turks and Portuguese are also components of the Acehnese people. The strategic position of Aceh in the northern tip of the Sumatra island for thousands of years has become a haven and inter-marriage of various people group, namely those that are in the sea trade route from the Middle East to China.
Linguist Paul Sidwell wrote that "Sometime during this early phase of language shift, perhaps before the beginning of Common Era, the Chamic speakers who were to become the Acehnese left the mainland on a journey that would ultimately end in northern Sumatra." Basing on Graham Thurgood's thesis, Sidwell argues that Acehnese likely had been long separated from Chamic around the first to second century BCE. The modern geographic gap between Chamic languages and Acehnese might have been assimilated into Malay, Khmer, Thai, Vietnamese for the course of the next two thousand years. [21]
Chinese and Indian sources from 500 CE and onward mention that there was a settlement in northernmost Sumatra (Aceh) which was called P'o-lu. Many scholars believe that P'o-lu was close to the what is now Banda Aceh. [22] These sources also state that the average person wore cotton clothing while the ruling elite wore silk. The Chinese annals also claim that the local people were Buddhist. [23]
Acehnese folklore has it that the earliest people of Aceh came from the indigenous tribes such as the Mante people and the Lhan people. [24] [25] [26] The Mante people is a local native people group allegedly related to the Batak, Gayonese and Alas people, [20] [25] while the Lhan people is allegedly still related to the Semang people group who have migrated from the Malay Peninsula or the Indochina (Champa and Burma). [26] Initially, the Mante people settled in Aceh Besar Regency and later began to spread to other regions. [27]
Around the ninth and tenth century there was an influx of Arabian and Persian merchants to the Aceh region. When Marco Polo visited the area in 1292, he mentions that some of the port cities and towns had already converted to Islam. [23] It is commonly thought that when the Samudera Pasai Sultanate was founded, Islam was fully established in the region. Nonetheless, it is clear that Islam was a major religion in and around Aceh by the thirteenth century. [23]
During the decline of the Srivijaya kingdom, it is estimated that a number of Malay people began to migrate to Aceh. [28] They then settled down in the valleys of Tamiang River and later became known as the Tamiang people. [29] After they were conquered by the Samudera Pasai Sultanate kingdom (1330), only then did they begin to integrate into Acehnese society; although in terms of cultural and linguistic, there are still similarities with the Malay culture. By the sixteenth century, Aceh was an important cultural and scholastic Islamic center influential throughout much of Southeast Asia. [23]
Most of the Minangkabau people who migrated to Aceh settled around Meulaboh and Krueng Seunagan valley. [24] Generally in these fertile areas they manage wet paddy fields and pepper farming, as well as some trading. [24] The mixed population of Acehnese-Minangkabau people is also found in the southern region, namely in the areas around Susoh, Tapaktuan and Labuhan Haji. There are many who converse daily in both Acehnese language and their own native dialect, the Aneuk Jamee language.
As a result of the political expansion and diplomatic relations of the Aceh Sultanate with their surrounding region, the Acehnese people were also mixed with the Alas people, Gayonese, Karo people, Nias people and Kluet people. The unification of the Acehnese culture that stemmed from various ancestry are primarily in the Acehnese language, religion of Islam and the local customs, as how it was formulated by Sultan Iskandar Muda in the Adat Makuta Alamlaws, which is well known as "Kanun Mahkota Alam".
There are many of those who are of Indian descent in Aceh, which are closely linked to trading and the spreading of Hinduism-Buddhism and Islam [30] in Aceh. Those who are of Indian descent are mainly Tamils [31] and Gujarati people [32] which are found spread throughout the entire Aceh. Among some of the Indian people's influence on the Acehnese people includes the cultural aspects and physical attributes of part of the Acehnese people, as well as the variety in Acehnese cuisine that frequently utilizes curry. [33] Numerous place names of Sanskrit origin (for example, Indrapuri, Aceh Besar) reflects the cultural heritage of Hinduism in the past.
"The tribe of the Three Hundred is (insignificant) as the seeds of the drang (a bush which grows like a weed along fences);
The people of the clan Ja Sandang are even as anise and cummin (thus a little more valuable).
Those of the Ja Batèë (count) for something;
The Imeum Peuët it is which makes the world to tremble."— Oral poem (hadih maja) from
Snouck Hurgronje's De Atjeher''. [34]
Most of the Arabs that migrated to Aceh came from Hadhramaut, Yemen. Among the immigrants are those of the Ba Alawi including al-Aydrus (Aidrus, Aydarus), al-Attas, al-Kathiri, Badjubier, Sungkar, Bawazier & al-Habsyi and other clans; all of which are Arabic clans that originated from Yemen. [35] They came as ulamas to spread Islam and as traders. [30] Seunagan district for an instance, is well known to this today for numerous of ulamas of the Sayyid descent, of which the local community would address them with the title Teungku Jet or Habib as a form of respect. [24] Similarly, some of the Sultan of Aceh are also descendants of Sayyid. [36] Many of their descendants today have intermarried with the natives Acehnese people and do no longer bear their clan names.
There are also those of Persian descent that generally came to spread religion and to trade, [30] while those of Turkish descent generally were invited as ulamas, weapon merchants, military trainers and soldiers of war for the Aceh Sultanate. [37] [38] At present, people of Persian and Turkish descent in Indonesia are mostly scattered in Aceh Besar Regency. Names of Persian and Turkish heritage are still being used by Acehnese people to name their children. In fact, the word Banda in the name of Banda Aceh city is also a word of Persian language in origin (Banda means "port").
People of Portuguese descent are found mainly in the Aceh Jaya Regency (northwest section of Aceh). Portuguese sailors under the lieutenant leadership of Captain Pinto, were sailing towards Malacca, stopped by and traded there; where some of them remained and settled there. History records that this event occurred between 1492 and 1511; of which at that time the area was under the rule of a small kingdom called Lamno, with King Meureuhom Daya as their ruler. Until this day, some of their descendants can still be seen with European features.
Acehnese belongs to the Chamic languages, a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages from the Austronesian languages. [39] Languages that are closely related with Acehnese are Cham, Roglai, Jarai, Rade, Chru, Tsat, as well as other Chamic languages that are spoken in Cambodia, Vietnam and Hainan. [39] There are also loanwords from Mon-Khmer languages, many of which are shared with other Chamic languages and had already been borrowed in the Proto-Chamic, the ancestral proto-language of all Chamic languages. Other Mon-Khmer loanwords are only found in Acehnese, which suggests that after the split from the Chamic core area, the forebears of the Acehnese people might have lived in the Malay peninsula or Southern Thailand where they picked up these loanwords from neighboring Mon-Khmer speakers before migrating to Sumatra. [40] Vocabulary of the Acehnese language have been enriched by absorption from Sanskrit and Arabic language, especially in the field of religion, laws, governance, warfare, arts and knowledge. [41] For centuries, the Acehnese language have also absorbed a lot from the Malay language. [41]
Initially, a group of Chamic languages migrant speakers controlled a small region only, namely Banda Aceh in Aceh Besar Regency. [42] Marco Polo (1292) states that Aceh at that time consists of 8 smaller kingdoms, with each of them possessing their own language. [42] The expansion of power on other coastal kingdoms, especially Pidie, Pasai and Daya, and absorption of their population over time in a period of 400 years, eventually made the language of the Banda Aceh population became dominant in the coastal region of Aceh. [42] Other native languages speakers were then forced into the interior by the expansion of land for farming by the Acehnese language speakers. [42]
Dialects of the Acehnese language that are found in the Aceh Besar Regency valley are divided into two major groups, namely the Tunong dialect for dialects in the highlands and Baroh dialect for dialects in the lowlands. [41] Most of the dialects that are used in Aceh Besar Regency and Daya, shows that settlements in that region have existed longer than any other regions. [41] There are also many dialects in Pidie Regency, although not as much as in Aceh Besar Regency and Daya. [41] Dialects on the east coast of Pidie Regency and in southern Daya tend to be more homogeneous, so much so that it is co-related with the migration that came along with the expansion of power of the Aceh Sultanate after the 1500s. [41]
Local government of Aceh, among others through Governor's Decree No. 430/543/1986 and Perda No. 2 of 1990 established the Institute of Acehnese Customary and Culture (Lembaga Adat dan Kebudayaan Aceh, LAKA), with the mandate to develop the customs and norms of the communities and customary institutions in Aceh. [43] Indirectly, this institution protects the preservation of the Acehnese language because in every cultural and customary activity, the delivery of such activities is carried out in the Acehnese language. [43] Likewise, the Acehnese language is also commonly used in everyday affairs that are organized by government agencies in Aceh. [43]
Traditional Acehnese dance portrays the heritage culture, religion and folklore of the common folk. [44] Acehnese dance are generally performed in groups, either in a standing or sitting position, and the group of dancers are of the same gender. [45] If seen from the musical standpoint, the dance can be grouped into two types. One is accompanied with vocals and physical percussive movements of the dancers themselves, and the other is simply accompanied by an assemble of musical instruments. [45]
Acehnese cuisine is known for its combination of spices just as are commonly found in Indian and Arabic cuisine, such as ginger, pepper, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and fennel. [46] A variety of Acehnese food is cooked with curry or curry and coconut milk, which is generally combined with meat such as buffalo, beef, mutton, fish, or chicken. [47] Several types of traditional recipe use a blend of cannabis as a flavoring spice; such cases are also found in the cuisine of some other Southeast Asian countries, such as Laos. [48] However today, those substances are no longer used. [49]
Due to conflict since Dutch invasion to Aceh to Martial Law in Aceh and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, many Acehnese fled abroad. The most significant number of Acehnese can be found in Malaysia [50] [51] and Scandinavian [52] countries. Acehnese immigrants also can be found significantly in Australia, [53] United States [54] and Canada. [55]
Aceh, officially the Province of Aceh, is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west, Strait of Malacca to the northeast, as well bordering the province of North Sumatra to the east, and shares maritime borders with Malaysia and Thailand to the east, Maldives, British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka to the west, Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India and Myanmar to the north. Granted a special autonomous status, Aceh is a religiously conservative territory and the only Indonesian province practicing the Sharia law officially. There are ten indigenous ethnic groups in this region, the largest being the Acehnese people, accounting for approximately 70% of the region's population.
Minangkabau is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau. The language is also a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is even used in parts of Aceh, where the language is called Aneuk Jamee.
The Aceh War, also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War (1873–1904), was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between representatives of Aceh and the United States in Singapore during early 1873. The war was part of a series of conflicts in the late 19th century that consolidated Dutch rule over modern-day Indonesia.
Banda Aceh is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of 35 meters. The city covers an area of 61.36 square kilometers (23.69 sq mi) and had a population of 223,446 people at the 2010 Census, rising to 252,899 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 257,635.
Great Aceh Regency is a regency of the Indonesian province of Aceh. The regency covers an area of 2,903.49 square kilometres and had a population of 351,418 at the 2010 Census, 391,870 at the 2015 census and 405,535 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 414,490. The Regency is located at the northwest tip of Sumatra island and surrounds the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, many suburbs of which lie within the Regency. It also includes a number of islands off the northern tip of Sumatra, which comprise Pulo Aceh District within the regency. The seat of the Regency government is the town of Jantho.
The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Acehnese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in Aceh and in parts of Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan, China. The Chamic languages are a subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian languages in the Austronesian family. The ancestor of this subfamily, proto-Chamic, is associated with the Sa Huỳnh culture, its speakers arriving in what is now Vietnam from Formosa.
Ali Mughayat Syah was the first Sultan of Aceh Darussalam in Northern Sumatra, reigning from about 1514 until his death. His reign not only saw the foundation of the Aceh Sultanate, but also the conquest of neighboring Daya (1520), Pidie (1521), and Pasai (1524). Despite his accomplishments, Ali Mughayat's life is poorly documented and must be pieced together from various Acehnese, Malay and European accounts.
Iskandar Muda was the twelfth Sulṭān of Acèh Darussalam, under whom the sultanate achieved its greatest territorial extent, holding sway as the strongest power and wealthiest state in the western Indonesian archipelago and the Strait of Malacca. "Iskandar Muda" literally means "young Alexander," and his conquests were often compared to those of Alexander the Great. In addition to his notable conquests, during his reign, Aceh became known as an international centre of Islamic learning and trade. He was the last Sultan of Aceh who was a direct lineal male descendant of Ali Mughayat Syah, the founder of the Aceh Sultanate. Iskandar Muda's death meant that the founding dynasty of the Aceh Sultanate, the House of Meukuta Alam died out and was replaced by another dynasty.
Muhammad Hasan ibni Saiful Rijal Nurul Alam, also known as Marhum di Tanjung, was the tenth Sultan of Brunei from 1582 to 1598. Under him, the Bruneian Empire had apparently full control of the island of Borneo and Northern Philippines, including Sulu.
Acehnese or Achinese is an Austronesian language natively spoken by the Acehnese people in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. This language is also spoken by Acehnese descendants in some parts of Malaysia like Yan, in Kedah. Acehnese is used as the co-official language in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. Besides Indonesian used as the official language.
Sayyid ʿAbdullāh bin Shaykh al-ʿAydarūs was a Hadhrami religious leader who lived in the 16th century and a descendant of Abu Bakr al-ʿAydarūs, a prominent saint who started the al-ʿAydarūs branch of the Bā ʿAlawiyyah clan.
The Gayo people are an ethnic group living in the highlands of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. The Gayo tribe has a population of 336,856 and they live predominantly in the mountains. Most Gayo live in three regencies in Aceh namely Bener Meriah, Central Aceh, and Gayo Lues. Some of them live in several districts in other regencies, such as Serbejadi District, Simpang Jernih District, and Peunaron District in East Aceh Regency and Beutong District in Nagan Raya Regency. Other than that, the Gayo population also covers Southeast Aceh Regency and Aceh Tamiang Regency. Their homeland lies in the Barisan Mountains which has elevations of over 12,000 feet and extends more than one thousand miles. The Gayonese language has four dialects: Lut, Serbejadi-Lukup, Lut and Luwes. Their language does not have a writing system, but folk tales, stories and poetry are passed down in oral tradition. The traditional house of the Gayo is called Umah.
Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje was a Dutch scholar of Oriental cultures and languages and advisor on native affairs to the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies.
Muhammad Saman, better known as Teungku Chik di Tiro, was an Acehnese guerrilla fighter. On 6 November 1973 he was declared a National Hero of Indonesia.
Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah II was the thirty-fifth and last sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra. He reigned from 1874 to 1903. Despite long lasting resistance his rule ended up being conquered by the Dutch colonial state.
The Aneuk Jamee or Ughang Jamu people are a Minangic-speaking ethnic group spread along the west and south coast of Aceh, starting from Singkil, South Aceh Regency, Southwest Aceh Regency and Simeulue Regency. The Aneuk Jamee people are originally Minangkabau people who have migrated to Aceh in the 19th century, and intermarried with the Acehnese people, Kluet people, Singkil people and Devayan people. In terms of language, the Anuek Jamee language is considered as a dialect of the Minangkabau language that has a mixture of Aceh's native languages.
The Indonesian Malaysians are Malaysian citizens of Indonesian ancestry. Today, there are many Malaysian Malays who have lineage from the Indonesian archipelago and have played an important role in the history and contributed to the development of Malaysia, they have been assimilated with other Malay communities and are grouped as part of the foreign Malays or anak dagang in terms of race. The Malaysian census does not categorize ethnic groups from the Indonesian archipelago as a separate ethnic group, but rather as Malay or Bumiputera.
Mante people or also spelled as Mantir, are one of the earliest ethnic group frequently mentioned in legendary folklore to have inhabited Aceh, Indonesia. This ethnic group along with other indigenous people such as the Illanun people, Sakai people, Jakun people, Senoi and Semang, are the ethnic groups that formed the existing Acehnese people today. The Mante people are regarded as part of the Proto-Malay people group that initially settled around the region of Aceh Besar Regency and in the interior jungle. These indigenous people were thought to have migrated to Aceh through the Malay peninsula. In the Acehnese legend, the Batak and Mante people were mentioned as the descendants of Kawom Lhèë Reutōïh ; which were also one of the indigenous peoples in Aceh, Indonesia. Today, this people are extinct or have disappeared as a result of intermarriage with other non-indigenous people groups that arrived later. To date, there are still no strong scientific evidence for the existence of this people.
Teuku Iskandar was an Indonesian scholar, literary critic, lexicographer, historian, and nobleman. He was one of the native Indonesians of Acehnese who were eager to revivify the historical records of the indigenous civilizations of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In the modern days, Teuku Iskandar considered as the linguistic father of Standard Malay, a standardized form of Malay which heavily based on the Standard Indonesian linguistic elements.
Inderapura, also known as Ujung Pagaruyung, was a kingdom located in the Pesisir Selatan Regency, present-day West Sumatra, bordering Bengkulu Province and Jambi. Officially, the kingdom was a vassal of the Pagaruyung Kingdom, although in practice it was independent and free to manage its internal and external affairs. The kingdom in its heyday covered the west coast of Sumatra from Padang in the north to Sungai Hurai in the south. Inderapura's most important products were pepper and gold.