CANNIBALS AND PEDLARS
2010; Routledge; Volume: 38; Issue: 111 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13639811.2010.489356
ISSN1469-8382
Autores Tópico(s)Island Studies and Pacific Affairs
ResumoThe Alor islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur, comprising mainly Alor and Pantar, have been studied more extensively by anthropologists than historians. Conventional historical sources are comparatively rare and difficult to interpret. This article contextualises the neglected group of islands by establishing its place in the political and economic networks of early modern insular Southeast Asia in the period c.1600–1850. By comparing Dutch and Portuguese original sources, and taking into account oral tradition and extant anthropological research, the article argues that Alor society, while it may have appeared unchanging and undeveloped to the external observer, was affected by processes in the larger region, partly but not solely connected to early colonial European activity. These processes included migration, politics, trade, and religion. Foreign pedlars had a degree of intercourse with the islanders. A reputation for savagery and cannibalism followed the Alor, particularly those living in the mountains. A loose connection between the VOC and the five Muslim coastal domains of the group, Galiyao, emerged from the 17th century, primarily via Dutch allies on nearby Solor. Portuguese attempts at political influence in the 19th century underpinned a diplomatic process which eventually led to a division of colonial spheres of interest in the 1850s.
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