inhabitants generally referred to as Alifuru lived in mountain villages (hena or aman).
Organized in tribal groups (uku) consisting of clans (lumah tau or soa), the most important
leaders were the chieftain or king (latu), the heads of the uku, and the mauwin, shaman, a
magical religious expert mediating between the people, nature and the world of ancestors
and spirits (von Benda-Beckmann et al. 1995). Each village was occupied by a number of
clans. The descent system was patrilineal. The village-based clusters of clans (rumahtua) related
by geographical proximity or kinship, were grouped together as soa under a leader called the
kepala soa (also see Holleman 1923). The soa were in turn organized into small kingdoms
(negeri lama) led by a great leader (tamaela umi haha).
In Maluku, the periods between the 15th and 17th century was full of turmoil and dramatic political,
economic and religious change (von Benda-Beckmann et al. 1995). Around 1500, the traditional
economy of Maluku was based on subsistence agriculture and fishing. Sago was important both
as food and as a trade item (Knaap 1981). The clove trade in Maluku was mainly in hands of the
Javanese Majapahit kingdom, but soon, Maluku was to be the battlefield where foreign powers
struggled for control over the region’s natural resources, particularly spices (Knaap 1981).
At this time, Muslim Arab traders arrived in north Maluku. Their influence led to the
establishment of Islamic kingdoms in the 15th century. Islamic laws were incorporated into
adat law and Arabic words were incorporated into the local language. As the Majapahit
hegemony declined, four powerful Islamic kingdoms emerged in north Maluku. Islam moved
south into central Maluku, in particular to Hitu, a seaport on the north of Ambon Island. On
Ambon, a union of nine negeri (patasiwa) dominated the Leitimur peninsula, while a union of
five negeri (patalima) was established in the Leihitu section of the island. On Haruku Island,
Saparua and Nusa Laut, powerful negeri also emerged to dominate island life and establish
kingdoms that competed with one another.
Figure 3.2. Cloves drying on the
streets of Haruku.
In the course of the expansion of clove production from
Ternate, via Hoamoal on Seram to the central Maluku
islands in the early 16th century, immigrant groups, coming
from the northern Maluku islands and Java settled along
the coast (von Benda-Beckmann et al. 1995), (Figure 3.2).
The 16th century saw Portuguese traders entering Maluku
and engaging in the political rivalries of the native
kingdoms. They built a fortress at Hitu on Ambon in 1515.
During this period, Catholic missionaries made Ambon
the center of Catholic evangelical activity. The Portuguese
were followed by the Dutch, who dominated and
eventually defeated the Ambonese kingdoms.
By the 17th century, the Dutch were firmly established as
a trading power in Maluku, with their Dutch East Indies
Company (VOC) backed by naval fleets. After the Dutch
defeated the Portuguese, a period followed of warfare
among Dutch, British and the Maluku population,
wherein the Dutch ultimately prevailed. Yet, the “spice
wars” punctuated by local uprisings continued off and
on into the 20th century. With the defeat of the Portuguese,
Roman Catholicism disappeared and the settlements and
villages in the central Moluccas eventually became either
Islamic or Protestant (von Benda-Beckmann et al. 1995).
28 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia