Tourism in Raja Ampat just started at the beginning of the 21st century. So, most people were fishermen, farmers and hunters before that. In Misool in particular there is a pearl farming Industry that is currently giving jobs for most people in South East Misool. But if you’re interested to go further back in history, most Raja Ampat people were proud swashbuckling buccaneers for centuries! (No, seriously)
History
According to most local knowledge, the first people of Raja Ampat came from either (or both) from Biak and Seram Islands. Like today’s conflicts for mining, the spice trade boom in the 15-16th century brought intercultural and international power struggles. The kings of Raja Ampat and their men, were at that time valued for their bravery, fierceness, and ability of navigating the sea. Most notably, the Sultanate of Tidore has had a long relationship with Raja Ampat. These activities have mixed more genes as marriages or alliance marriages happen often. Especially in Misool, the Tidore culture is very strong, and their adoption of Islamic religion became intertwined heavily with their previous animistic beliefs.
Later in the 19th century the Dutch Indies government made a lot of expeditions to subdue any naval activity all across the Archipelago that today we know as Indonesia. These efforts and expeditions systematically eradicated piracy, so people looked for more benign professions such as, of course, fishing. This period also gave way for Protestant Missions to enter the Eastern Indonesian Islands. Since many of the coastal people already adopted Islam, these missionaries tend to target the Inland people who still held traditional beliefs. The German Missionaries convinced the Inland people to abandon their villages in the jungle and the small savannas on the inner Misool and move to the coast after the second world war.
People
When piracy was eradicated, many boating traditions were also reduced, for example the fast dragon boat-like boats that they used for raids, similar to the ones still celebrated in Banda Island, Moluccas. But smaller boats that are very practical for fishing and even living on, called Semang boats are still used even today. They can use sails, but nowadays they use small motors. When we are kayaking closer to the Island we can see these Semangs gliding along, with small Matbat families inside them, complete with their kitchens and beds.
Now, talking specifically about our paddling haven in Misool, these brief histories can explain the people that we will meet on our kayak journey. Basically we will meet two groups of people, The Matlau or the Coastal People, and the Matbat, or the Inland People. The Matbat people are counted as the first people of Misool and still today they are hunters and collectors in the jungle even though they now also are doing fishing in the sea.
Matlau are the majority of the population, the majority of them are Muslims. They speak mostly a variant of Ma’ya language, and are genetically related to the people in Maluku and Seram. And then there are the Christian Matbat people who speak the Papuan influenced Matbat language. But both these ethnicities speak a common language which is Indonesian with Papuan dialect.
