Culture and history info
There are now 2 prehistoric relicts in Sumba: In Melolo was found a skeleton of an exceptionally large man and a large clay jug. The items can be seen today in Jakarta. At the finding place near the police station of Melolo is a plaque on it. In Lambanapu on the outskirts of Waingapu were found 5 skeletons and various clay jugs in 2017. Both finds date from the Palaeolithic period between 2800-3500 years ago.
The knowledge of the early history of Sumba is based on stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Only from the 15th century are occasional written records.
According to tradition, the name of Sumba derives from Humba. Rambu or misses Humba was the wife of Umbu or mister Walu Mandoku one of the chiefs among the first tribes who settled in Sumba. He wanted to perpetuate the name of his beloved wife, by naming the island so. They came with ships, landed at the northern tip Tanjung Sasar and founded the village Wunga. The name Humba was applied up do the colonial era. The Dutch named it in their language Soemba.
According to the local religion Marapu, the first human beings came not with ships but via a ladder from heaven to the northern tip Tanjung Sasar and founded the village Wunga.
Anyway, Sumba had always been an isolated island. It was inhabited by several small ethnolinguistic groups. Sumba had its own civilization. There were small clans or kingdoms with their own customs, own social structures and ceremonies during the cycle of life such as birth, marriage and death.
In the fourteenth century, Sumba was part of the Javanese Majapahit dynasty. After this dynasty had collapsed, Sumba came under the rule of Bima in Sumbawa and later Gowa in Sulawesi. These political changes had little impact on daily life in Sumba. Life was more influenced by internal wars between clans and small kingdoms concerning land and trading rights. In these clan wars warriors brought the heads of the killed enemies to their villages and speared them up on so-called skull-trees (Andung) in the middle of the village. They believed that the heads would bring a good harvest and wealth for the village. There were also kidnapping and slavery between villages. Sometimes slaves were sold to neighbouring islands. Because of these wars and attacks, villages were built on hills or mountains and surrounded by stone walls for protection. Despite their hostility, they were economically dependent on each other: the inland villagers grew wood, betel nut, rice, and fruit, while coastal residents made Ikat, wove textiles, produced salt, and operated fishing and trading with other islands. Islands around Sumba regarded Sumba as a very violent island.
Today you can still see skull-trees and sculls near the Rumah Adat in some villages. Today it still happens that Sumbanese burn houses or villages of other ethnic clans or tribes. Within the last years at least 3 traditional Marapu villages have been partly destroyed that way. I heard the story that recently someone cut out someone's liver in order to cut out his soul (which is located there) and ate it.
Colonization
In 1522 the first ships of the Portuguese people came here. The Netherlands, later the colonialists of Indonesia, initially gave little attention to Sumba because they saw no significant commercial interests in Sumba. Also the large number of small kingdoms made it hard to install a significant impact. The Netherlands did not discover the value of sandalwood until the 18th century, but then started interfering in Sumba. In 1756 a treaty was made between the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) and some of the Sumbanese nobles. Sandalwood was cut to a considerable extent and exported. Sumba was known as Sandalwood Island. This created vast, arid grasslands or savannas.
From 1866 Sumba or in Dutch language Soemba belonged formal legally to the Dutch East Indies. In 1906 Dutch troops invaded Sumba because clan wars disturbed the colonial trade. In 1913 the Netherlands set up a loose civil administration in Sumba. However this changed the social structures of Sumba only very slowly. Actions of the Dutch to gain more power and influence, ended often in bloody conflicts.
