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The Political Communities of Timor in the Pre-Colonial Period

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The Political System of the Atoni of Timor

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Abstract

A large part of Timor was at one time covered by the realm which had its centre in Belu, in the Tetun language-area. A story recorded by Jonker in Amabi,1 in West Timor, begins as follows: “A long, long time ago there was one ruler of this island in Babiko-Babali” (i.e. Waiwiku-Wehale). The ritual ruler of this realm had three subordinate rulers (liurcvi) immediately under him, each of whom exercised the executive power in his own territory. The first liurai was the liurai of South Belu itself, the second was Sonba’i, and the third was the liurai of Suai-Kamanasa, the Belu area in Portuguese Timor. Sonba’i was the “younger brother” of the ruler of South Belu and was himself the ritual ruler of a realm comprising the major part of the Atoni area. Even until well into the 19th century his title was liurai,2 a Tetun word, this being a further indication that South Belu was the political centre.

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References

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  2. Müller, 1857, II, p. 145. He speaks of Liurai Nai Sobe, the emperor of Sonba’i.

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  22. These had incited the great rebellion against the Portuguese in Solor, Adonare and Flores in 1598, as a result of which a portion of the population turned Muslim and has remained so ever since.

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  35. Daghregister 1653, p. 153.

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  36. Pieter van Dam, II, 1, p. 256.

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  37. Published in Delft, 1663.

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  38. Pieter van Dam, II, 1, p. 257, note 1 by the editor, Dr. F. W. Stapel.

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  39. Bor, 1663, pp. 350–363.

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  40. “Man after man, wilde men onverlet gaen, hadden wij ons te voegen; nadeel, dat den vijand tot sijn voordeel nam, en, na’t uitwerpen van menichte Hasagajen, ons schichtich op het lijf viel, ook eenige op den rug stiet. Dit verweckte groot geroep, getter en gewemel, d’een d’ander van verbaesdheid onder de voeten lopende. Den Kapitain Lieutenant, door de sine te neergestoten, had ‘er het leven na bij gelaeten, maer een seker Soldaat schoot de swart, die hem reeds op het lijf sat, en sijn Hasagaij ten doodsteek vaerdich had, in den voeten tred, dat Keler het leven bate. De vijand siende d’onse het gebruik van ‘er geweer ten besten niet machtich waren, sijn tot die koenheid, en op haer, met geen hoger afschrik, uitgebarsten, dan of de roers maer hennipstokken waren, nemende nu dees dan gene, deselve van het lijff, en uit de handen, hun doer aen, met Hasagaijen als onweerbare lammeren, doorpriemende, ja, dat meer is, sij ruhten den vaenvoerder Gerrit Gerritsen, met vaendel en al, uit den troep, ontweldichden ook een trommelslager de trom, dat niet geweerd kon worden. Maer de verbaesdheid, onder d’onse, weinich bedaerd, wierd den bespringer genoodrukt de vlucht te nemen”.

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  41. Haga, 1882, p. 207. He must have taken this information from Valentijn, 1726, III, p. 125.

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  42. Boxer, 1967, p. 19.

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  43. Op. cit., pp. 19, 20.

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  44. Daghregister 1656–1657, 14th November, 1656, p. 11.

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  45. Fort Henricus is located in Solor, and Concordia near Kupang.

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  49. Realia, 21st February, 1659.

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  50. Larantuka lies in Flores, but with Timor is meant the entire area, just as formerly, in the time when there was still a fort in Solor, it was customary to speak of “the localities of Solor”.

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  51. Daghregister 15th February, 1659, p. 31. The resolution to “seize a small fortress in the Bay of Amaby” (i.e. the Bay of Kupang, hence in Timor) (Realia 10th February, 1659) can have been no more than an empty promise to the allies, therefore.

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  53. See Boxer, 1947, p. 7. After the fall of Macassar, where he had lived for 25 years, he had to leave this town in 1664 and settle in Goa (Daghregister, 1664, p. 240). He went to Larantuka instead (Daghregister, 1665, p. 160). After the capture of Macassar the Dutch omitted to occupy Larantuka as well, although they sailed past it on their return journey, when it was not fortified. Two years later, when the Hague Peace Treaty for the East carne into force, it was impossible to do so (Boxer, 1947, p. 7). The treaties of 1661 and 1669 put an end once and for all to the conflict between Portugal and the Netherlands (Boxer, 1958, p. 41). Boxer devoted a monograph to this remarkable man in 1967 (Boxer, 1967).

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  54. Felgas, 1956, p. 228. Luis fought against De Vlaming van Oudshoorn, however, and must therefore have been in Timor as early as 1656. He died in Lifao in 1663 (Boxer, 1967, p. 39).

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  55. Biermann, 1924, p. 38.

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  56. Letter by Van Cuylenburg, Opperhoofd of Kupang. Daghregister 29th August, 1664, p. 347. Boxer, 1967, p. 39, says that Vieira had or claimed to have the title of Captain-General over all the Portuguese establishments east of Malacca with the exception of Macao.

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  57. Daghregister, 1664, p. 457.

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  58. According to Felgas (1956, p. 228) Mateos da Costa was “a native chief of Oikusi”. This is not in itself impossible, as the Portuguese frequently endowed chiefs with Portuguese names as well as titles. In 1939 the name of the ruler of Larantuka, for instance, was Don Lorenzo Diaz Vieira de Godinho. It is more unlikely that they should have given a native head a typically Jewish-Portuguese name, however. It is more probable that he was the son of a Portuguese father and a Timorese mother. The Da Costas of Noimuti claim descent from a Portuguese and a princess of Ambenu.

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  59. Daghregister 1665, p. 160. It is small wonder that the people of Amanuban objected to Simâo Luis’ lawful successor, as Luis had failed to take any action against a Portuguese who had seduced the wife of the ruler of Amanuban (Boxer, 1967, p. 40), and hence took sides with Da Costa.

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  61. Boxer, 1947, p. 8.

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  62. Daghregister 1673, 24th June, p. 167.

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  63. Boxer, 1947, p. 8. Xerafim or xeraphine from Arabic ashrati (= golden Moor); for centuries the standard unit of currency of Hindustan; equivalent to approx. 10 to 14 rupees (P. van Dam II, III, vocabulary). The silver xerafim or xeraphine was current in Goa and a large number of Eastern ports. It was worth 300 to 360 reis, or slightly less than l/6d., according to Hobson-Jobson.

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  64. Leitâo, 1948, p. 246. A pardáo was a coin originally minted in Goa, to the value of 300 reis (P. van Dam II, p. 1, Glossary). The word petaca is not included in Van Dam’s Glossary. According to Hobson-Jobson it is “A term formerly much diffused, for a dollar or piece of eight”. From Arabic abutaka, “father of the window (or niche)”; this referred to the coat of arms on the reverse side. In the 1930s the petaca was still an official unit of currency in Portuguese Timor. At that time they were old Mexican dollars.

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  75. Leitâo, 1948, list of governors, appendix.

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  76. MS. Visscher, 12th March, 1731.

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  78. MS. Visscher, February/March 1735.

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  79. Haga, 1882, b., pp. 390–408. He made use of the report of Opperhoofd D. van der Burgh.

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  80. Corpus Diplomaticum VI, p. 98.

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  81. That is, of the Province of Amanuban.

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  82. The executive authority at SonbaTs side, who was probably appointed emperor by the Portuguese elfter SonbaTs flight to Kupang.

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  83. Mardijkers, from Indon. merdeka (= free). They were descendants of emancipated slaves. See Haga, 1882, a.

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  84. Haga, 1882, b, p. 219.

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  85. Heymering, 1847, p. 152.

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  87. Biermann, 1924, p. 41.

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  88. Haga, 1882, b, p. 400, cf. c.o. V, p. 508.

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  89. Haga, 1882, a, p. 219.

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  90. Heymering, 1847, pp. 162 ff.

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  92. Corpus Diplomaticum VI, pp. 87–107.

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  93. Unknown.

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  94. Now part of Miomafo, see p. 287 below.

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  95. Now part of Beboki, see p. 250 below.

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  96. This is the present-day Bikomi, see p. 291 below.

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  97. De Roo van Alderwerelt, 1904, p. 205.

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  98. Daghregister 13th October, 1677, p. 353.

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  101. De Castro, 1867, p. 87. Veth, 1855, 1, p. 704, note 1, did not know when the Portuguese transferred their administration to Dilly. He writes: “Probably shortly before 1787”. Even so, Veth was writing about Timor in connection with its relationship to Portugal.

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  104. Veth, 1855, I, p. 708. D.B. 1852, p. 219, reports that Van Este negotiated with the executive prince to have him “done away with”.

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  105. MS. Visscher, 9th March, 1731.

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  106. MS. Visscher, 3rd February, 1735.

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  108. P. 278 below.

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  110. Heymering, 1847, p. 225, even says that Amakono (Miomafo) was no longer paying tribute.

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  111. Weyerman, 1939, p. 88, Memorandum De Rooy, 1908.

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  112. Report 1912.

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  113. In 1816 the ruler of Ambenu even concluded a treaty with the Resident of Kupang, Hazaart. Heymering, 1847, p. 219.

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  1. H. G. Schulte Nordholt
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Nordholt, H.G.S. (1971). The Political Communities of Timor in the Pre-Colonial Period. In: The Political System of the Atoni of Timor. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, vol 60. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1013-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1013-4_6

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