Close up of firing mechanism (snap matchlock) and detail of an istinggar. This specimen is likely manufactured in Padang, Indonesia, or by the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia.
Istinggar is a type of matchlockfirearm built by the various ethnic groups of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The firearm is a result of Portuguese influence on local weaponry after the capture of Malacca (1511).[1] Before this type of gun, in the archipelago already existed early long gun called bedil, or Java arquebus as the Chinese call it. Most of the specimens in the Malay Peninsula are actually Malaysian in origin, manufactured in the Langkasuka lands of Kedah. The states of the Malay Peninsula imported this firearm as it was widely used in their wars.[2]:57[3]
The name istinggar comes from the Portuguese word espingarda meaning arquebus or firearm. This term then corrupted into estingarda, eventually to setinggar or istinggar.[4][2]:53[5]:64 The word has many variations in the archipelago, such as satinggar, satenggar, istenggara, astengger, altanggar, astinggal, ispinggar, and tinggar.[6][7][8][9][10][11]:209[12]
History
A 151 cm long satinggar, likely from Central Sumatra.
The predecessor of firearms, the pole gun (bedil tombak), was recorded as being used by Java in 1413.[13][14]:245 However, the knowledge of making "true" firearms in the archipelago came after the middle of the 15th century. It was brought by the Islamic nations of West Asia, most probably the Arabs. The precise year of introduction is unknown, but it may be safely concluded to be no earlier than 1460.[15]:23 Before the arrival of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia, the Malays already possessed early firearms, the Java arquebus.[16] This firearm has a very long barrel (up to 2.2m (7ft 3in) in length), and during the Portuguese conquest of Malacca (1511), it is proven to be able to penetrate a ship's hull to the other side.[17][15]:22 However the lock mechanism and the barrel of the gun are very crude.[16][18]:53
The Portuguese in Goa independently produced their own matchlock firearms. Starting in 1513, the tradition of German-Bohemian gun-making was merged with Turkish gun-making traditions.[19]:39–41 This resulted in the Indo-Portuguese tradition of matchlocks. Indian craftsmen modified the design by introducing a very short, almost pistol-like buttstock held against the cheek, not the shoulder, when aiming. They also reduced the caliber and made the gun lighter and more balanced. This was a hit with the Portuguese who did a lot of fighting aboard ship and on river craft, and valued a more compact gun.[19]:41[20]
Javanese snap matchlock mechanism, made of cast brass.
Afonso de Albuquerque compared Malaccan gun founders as being on the same level as those of Germany. However, he did not state what ethnicity the Malaccan gun founder was.[21]:128[22]:221[23]:4 Duarte Barbosa stated that the arquebus-maker of Malacca was Javanese.[24]:69 The Javanese also manufactured their own cannon in Malacca.[25] Anthony Reid argued that the Javanese handled much of the productive work in Malacca before 1511 and in 17th century Pattani.[24]:69
Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan Hasbullah explained several facts about the existence of gunpowder weapons in Malacca before its fall in 1511:[26]:97–98
No evidence showed that guns, cannons, and gunpowder are made in Malay states.
No evidence showed that guns were ever used by the Malacca Sultanate before the Portuguese attack, even from Malay sources themselves.
Based on the majority of cannons reported by the Portuguese, the Malays preferred small artillery.
There were 2 different lock mechanisms used in Indo-Portuguese guns. One has a single leaf mainspring of the Lusitanian gun prototypes, which can be found in Ceylon, Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and Vietnam, and the other has a V-shaped mainspring, which can be found in Java, Bali, China, Japan, and Korea.[19]:103–104[27] The lock mechanism of istinggar is usually made of brass.[28]:99 The Malays used bamboo covers in their matchlock arquebus barrel and bound them with rattan, to keep them dry in wet weather.[28]:100[29]:53 Istinggar is typically longer than Japanese guns. The absence of a channel for the ramrod indicated that they were used resting on a wall or used from a ship's railing like the lela or rentaka. In this case, the ramrod did not need a compartment.[30] The Malays also made small mallets to drive the musket balls down the barrel.[28]:99–100
A Japanese arquebus (135cm (53in) long) and a Balinese istinggar (190.5cm (75.0in) long).
Minangkabau people of interior Sumatra are renowned for their manufacture of gunpowder-based weapons. Contemporary records of João de Barros (1496–1570) indicated that before the arrival of European people, the Sumatrans had not used firearms.[23]:3 Iron and steel were produced in their forges, but by the 19th century, they became more reliant on the Europeans.[31]:347 The matchlock arquebus of Minangkabau was dubbed "Istenggara Menangkabowe" (or istinggar Minangkabau, or simply satingga).[11]:209[5]:64[32]:277 The production was enough to fulfill local needs, the Minangkabau also exported their firearms to other areas, such as Aceh, Malacca, and Siak Sultanate.[31]:347[33] The barrels are made by rolling a flatted bar of iron of proportionate dimensions spirally around a circular rod, and beating it till the parts of the former unite, and the art of boring is probably unknown to them.[31]:347–348 This manufacture continued even into the 19th century when matchlock has already been obsolete.[2]:54[33] A manuscript called Ilmu Bedil (means "knowledge of firearm") is a treatise about this type of istinggar. The Minangkabau also produced other firearms, the terakul (dragoon pistol).[5]:61 The Batak people used matchlock guns with locks made of copper and were regarded by Marsden as expert marksmen. However, the guns of Batak were supplied by Minangkabau traders.[31]:377–378
The Makassar people of the Kingdom of Gowa, which maintained friendly relationships with the Portuguese since 1528,[34]:372 benefitted considerably from Portuguese assistance in building up its military strength. Converted to Islam in the early 1600s, they made holy war (jihad) on its nonbeliever neighbor, the Bugis.[35]:431 The Makassan were already manufacturing muskets, probably from Portuguese espingarda, sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century. By the 18th century, European people praised the guns produced by their Bugis neighbor, which has a straight bore and fine inlay work.[35]:384 During years of warfare, Bugis and Makassarese soldiers, dressed in waju rante (chain mail) and muskets which they made themselves.[35]:384 Between 1603 and 1606, the Iberian Union troops attacked Ternate twice and reported muskets and arquebuses were used by the "Moros" (i.e. Moors, or Muslims).[36] Nicolas Gervaise notes that in Makassar "There are no people in East Indies more nimble in getting on horseback, to draw a bow, to discharge a fuzil (musket), or to point a cannon (than the Makassarese)".[37]
Detail of matchlock mechanism from Indonesian gun, probably from Bali, engraved with Javanese inscriptions, of which the inlaid gold in the barrel has the Chinese key pattern, silver-gilt mounts of South Indian character. The lock is formed of grotesque monsters of Malay or Burmese tradition.
Eventually, the Istinggar spread to the Muslim-controlled areas of the Philippine archipelago, where it was known as "astinggal". The 1613 San Buenaventura Tagalog dictionary defines "astingal" as "arquebus, of the kind they used to use in olden times in their wars and which came from Borneo". This appears to be the first reference to them in northern Luzon.[38] Despite this, the Spaniards never faced any in their encounters in Luzon as they did in Mindanao.[39] In 1609, the Spaniards reported that in Zambales many of the natives handle the arquebuses and muskets quite skilfully, since they have seen the Spaniards use their weapons.[36]
The Hindu inhabitants of Bali and Lombok, being the remnant of Majapahit hindus,[40] are famous for their manufacture of the matchlock. In the 1800s Alfred Wallace saw two guns of their manufacture, 6–7ft (1.8–2.1m) long, with a proportionately large bore. The wooden stock is well made, extended to the front end of the barrel. The barrels were twisted and finished, with silver and gold ornament.[20]:98 For making the long barrel, the natives use 18in (460mm) pieces of barrel which are first bored small, and then welded together upon a straight iron rod. The whole barrel is then worked with borers of gradually increasing size, and in three days the boring is finished.[41]:170
For firearms using flintlock mechanism, the inhabitants of the Nusantara archipelago are reliant on Western powers, as no local smith could produce such complex components.[42]:cxli[20]:98[43]:42 and 50 These flintlock firearms are completely different weapons and were known by another name, senapan or senapang, from the Dutch word snappaan.[15]:22 The gun-making areas of Nusantara could make these senapan; the barrel and the wooden part is made locally, but the mechanism is imported from the European traders.[43]:42 and 50[5]:65[20]:98 The Javanese was among the earliest to modernize: After the VOC began replacing matchlocks with flintlocks in the 1680s, the Javanese already requested them by 1690s. Flintlock senapan began to appear in the Javanese arsenal in early 1700 AD.[18]:55–56
Gallery
Weapons of Central Sumatra, including an istinggar.
Snap matchlock mechanism parts of an istinggar.
Snap matchlock mechanism parts of an istinggar.
Javanese weapons, including a Balinese istinggar (1.9 m long) at the left.
Javanese weapons including lances, istinggar (left), and senapan (right).
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism itself, also known as the true flintlock, that was introduced in the early 17th century, and gradually replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the matchlock, the wheellock, and the earlier flintlock mechanisms such as the snaplock and snaphaunce.
An arquebus is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually disappeared as the use of heavy armour declined, but musket continued as the generic term for smoothbore long guns until the mid-19th century. In turn, this style of musket was retired in the 19th century when rifled muskets using the Minié ball became common. The development of breech-loading firearms using self-contained cartridges and the first reliable repeating rifles produced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1860 also led to their demise. By the time that repeating rifles became common, they were known as simply "rifles", ending the era of the musket.
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of flammable cord or twine that is in contact with the gunpowder through a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with their finger. This firing mechanism was an improvement over the hand cannon, which lacked a trigger and required the musketeer or an assistant to apply a match directly to the gunpowder by hand. The matchlock mechanism allowed the musketeer to apply the match himself without losing his concentration.
The Javanese are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the central and eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java. With more than 100 million people, Javanese people are the largest ethnic group in both Indonesia and in Southeast Asia as a whole. Their native language is Javanese, it is the largest of the Austronesian languages in number of native speakers and also the largest regional language in Southeast Asia. As the largest ethnic group in the region, the Javanese have historically dominated the social, political, and cultural landscape of both Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
The Lantaka also known as rentaka was a type of bronze portable cannon or swivel gun, sometimes mounted on merchant vessels and warships in Maritime Southeast Asia. It was commonly equipped by native seafaring vessels from the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. Lela and rentaka are known by the Malays as meriam kecil, the difference is that rentaka is smaller in length and bore than a lela. and Lantakas are often called Kanyon in Filipino.
The history of the firearm begins in 10th-century China, when tubes containing gunpowder projectiles were mounted on spears to make portable fire lances. Over the following centuries, the design evolved into various types, including portable firearms such as flintlocks and blunderbusses, and fixed cannons, and by the 15th century the technology had spread through all of Eurasia. Firearms were instrumental in the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of European colonization in the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. The 19th and 20th centuries saw an acceleration in this evolution, with the introduction of the magazine, belt-fed weapons, metal cartridges, rifled barrels, and automatic firearms, including machine guns.
Malay Indonesians are ethnic Malays living throughout Indonesia. They are one of the indigenous peoples of the country. Indonesian, the national language of Indonesia, is a standardized form of Riau Malay. There were numerous kingdoms associated with the Indonesian Malays along with other ethnicities in what is now Indonesia, mainly on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These included Srivijaya, the Melayu Kingdom, Dharmasraya, the Sultanate of Deli, the Sultanate of Siak Sri Indrapura, the Riau-Lingga Sultanate, the Sultanate of Bulungan, Pontianak Sultanate, and the Sultanate of Sambas. The 2010 census states that there are 8 million Malays in Indonesia; this number comes from the classification of Malays in East Sumatra and the coast of Kalimantan which is recognized by the Indonesian government. This classification is different from the Malaysia and Singapore census which includes all ethnic Muslims from the Indonesian archipelago as Malays.
The Capture of Malacca in 1511 occurred when the governor of Portuguese India Afonso de Albuquerque conquered the city of Malacca in 1511.
Tanegashima, most often called in Japanese and sometimes in English hinawajū, was a type of matchlock-configured arquebus firearm introduced to Japan through the Portuguese Empire in 1543. It was used by the samurai class and their ashigaru "foot soldiers", and within a few years its introduction in battle changed the way war was fought in Japan forever. It, however, could not completely replace the yumi (longbow). Although the Japanese developed various techniques to improve the gun's shortcomings, specifically its slow rate of fire and inability to fire in the rain, it remained inferior to the yumi in these respects, and the latter continued to be an important weapon on the battlefield. After Tokugawa Ieyasu destroyed the Toyotomi clan in the siege of Osaka and established the Tokugawa shogunate, the relatively peaceful Edo period arrived, and the use of tanegashima declined.
Cetbang were cannons produced and used by the Majapahit Empire (1293–1527) and other kingdoms in the Indonesian archipelago. There are 2 main types of cetbang: the eastern-style cetbang which looks like a Chinese cannon and is loaded from the front, and the western-style cetbang which is shaped like a Turkish and Portuguese cannon, loaded from the back.
Ghali, gali, or gale are a type of galley-like ships from the Nusantara archipelago. This type of ship only appeared after the 1530s. Before the appearance of this type of ship, several native galley-like ships already existed in the archipelago, some with outriggers. The design of ghali is the result of the impact made by Mediterranean shipbuilding techniques on native shipbuilding, introduced particularly by Arabs, Persians, Ottoman Turks, and Portuguese. The terms may also refer to Mediterranean vessels built by local people, or native vessels with Mediterranean influence.
A Java arquebus is a long-barreled early firearm from the Nusantara archipelago, dating back to the early 16th century. The weapon was used by Javanese armies, albeit in low number compared to total fighting men, before the arrival of Iberian explorers in the 16th century. In historical records, the weapon may be classified as arquebus or musket.
The baju lamina is a mail and plate armor from the Nusantara archipelago.
A dragon is a shortened version of blunderbuss, a firearm with a short, large caliber barrel which is flared at the muzzle and frequently throughout the entire bore. Dragons were typically issued to dragoon cavalry, who needed a lightweight, easily handled firearm to use while mounted.
Bedil is a term from Maritime Southeast Asia which refers to various types of firearms and gunpowder weapons, from small pistols to large siege guns. The term bedil comes from wedil and wediluppu in the Tamil language. In their original form, these words refer to gunpowder blast and saltpeter, respectively. But after being absorbed into bedil in the Malay language, and in a number of other cultures in the archipelago, Tamil vocabulary is used to refer to all types of weapons that use gunpowder. The terms bedil and bedhil are known in Javanese and Balinese. In Sundanese the term is bedil, in Batak it is known as bodil, in Makasarese baddilik, in Buginese, balili, in Dayak language, badil, in Tagalog, baril, in Bisayan, bádil, in Bikol languages, badil, and in Malay it is badel or bedil.
Lela or lila is a type of Malay cannon, used widely in the Nusantara archipelago. They are similar to a lantaka but longer and had larger bore. Lela can be configured as swivel gun, fixed gun, or mounted in a gun carriage. It is the equivalent of European falcon and falconet.
Bedil tombak or bedil tumbak is a type of early firearm from the Indonesian archipelago. The weapon consists of a gun or small cannon mounted on a wooden pole, forming a type of weapon known as "pole gun".
Jiaozhi arquebus refers to several types of gunpowder firearms produced historically in Vietnam. This page also includes Vietnamese muskets — since the early definition of a musket is a "heavy arquebus". The term Jiaozhi arquebus comes from Chinese word Jiao Chong, a generalization of firearms originating from Dai Viet.
Mendam Berahi was a legendary royal galley said to have been used by the Malacca Sultanate in the early 16th century. This ship is fictional, recorded in the epic Hikayat Hang Tuah, and that type of ship, the ghali, did not exist until after the 1530s.
References
↑ Andaya, L. Y. 1999, interaction with the outside world and adaptation in Southeast Asian society 1500–1800. In The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia. ed. Nicholas Tarling. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 345–401 [380, 388–389]
1 2 3 Hasbullah, Wan Mohd Dasuki Wan (September 2013). "Teknologi Istinggar Beberapa Ciri Fizikal dalam Aplikasi Teknikalnya". International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation (IMAN). 1: 51–59.
↑ Gibson-Hill, C. A. (July 1953). "Notes on the old Cannon found in Malaya, and known to be of Dutch origin". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 26: 145–174.
↑ Wilkinson, Richard James (1961). An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary (Romanised). Рипол Классик. ISBN9785878813563.
↑ Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2016). Tagalog Borrowings and Cognates.
↑ Iskandar, Teuku (1958). De Hikajat Atjeh. Gravenhage: KITLV. p.175.
1 2 Newbold, Thomas John (1971). Political and statistical account of the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca volume 2. Singapore: Oxford University Press.
1 2 3 Crawfurd, John (1856). A Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries. Bradbury and Evans.
1 2 Tiaoyuan, Li (1969). South Vietnamese Notes. Guangju Book Office.
↑ de Barros, João (1552). Primeira decada da Asia. Lisboa.
1 2 Charney, Michael (2004). Southeast Asian Warfare, 1300–1900. Brill. ISBN9789047406921.
1 2 3 Daehnhardt, Rainer (1994). The Bewitched Gun: The Introduction of the Firearm in the Far East by the Portuguese; Espingarda Feiticeira: A Introducao Da Arma De Fogo Pelos Portugueses No Extremo-Oriente. Texto Editora.
1 2 3 4 Egerton, W. (1880). An Illustrated Handbook of Indian Arms. W.H. Allen.
↑ Reid, Anthony (1993). Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680. Volume Two: Expansion and Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
1 2 Charney, Michael (2012). Iberians and Southeast Asians at War: the Violent First Encounter at Melaka in 1511 and After. In Waffen Wissen Wandel: Anpassung und Lernen in transkulturellen Erstkonflikten. Hamburger Edition.
1 2 3 Tarling, Nicholas, ed. (1992). The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: Volume One, From Early Times to c. 1800. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0521355052.
↑ Scott, William Henry (1994). "12 – Tagalog Society and Religion". Barangay: Sixteenth-century Philippine Culture and Society. Ateneo University Press. p.232. ISBN9789715501354. The Bornean arquebus (astingal) was also known, but the Spaniards seem never to have faced any in Luzon encounters as they did in Mindanao.
↑ Schoppert, Peter; Damais, Soedarmadji (2012). Java Style. With photographs by Tara Sosrowardoyo. Editions Didier Millet. pp.33–34. ISBN9789814260602.
↑ Wallace, Alfred Russel (1872). The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise: a Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature (4thed.). Macmillan.
↑ Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford (1830). The History of Java. Vol.2. Java: J. Murray.
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