Lombok

Abstract

About 4,600 square kilometers in area, Lombok is a volcanic island with mountain ranges in the north and south. In consequence of this topography, Lombok's population, since time immemorial, has been concentrated in the valley in the center of the island, which runs from west to east. Lombok's indigenous people are the Sasaks, a Malay subgroup that has been under the influence of Islam since the sixteenth century. Islam penetrated the island unevenly, so by the nineteenth century, some of the Sasaks professed an orthodox version of the faith (Waktulima), whereas others, especially in West Lombok, practiced a form of Islam infused with animistic beliefs and rituals (Waktu-telu). Apart from the Sasaks, Lombok has long had minorities of Balinese and Buginese. The Balinese in particular have played an important role in the island's history. Having settled in West Lombok in the early seventeenth century, the Balinese community remained politically fragmented until well into the nineteenth century, divided as it was into a number of descent-groups that were frequently at war with each other. In 1839, however, these conflicts came to an end when one of the descent groups, the Mataram group, asserted its power over all its rivals, whereupon it brought the entire island, including its majority Sasak population, under its dominion. Around the same time, Lombok entered into the network of international trade as an exporter of rice, most of which was marketed in China via Singapore.