Bacan
Encyclopedia
Bacan refers to a group of islands in the Maluku Islands
of Indonesia
and to that group's largest island. The islands are mountainous and forested. The islands lie south of Ternate
and west of Halmahera
's southernmost arm. Bacan itself is the largest; the second and third largest islands are Kasiruta and Mandioli. There are dozens of smaller islands in the group.
Part of North Maluku
province, the Bacan kecamatan (sub-district) includes abut 56,000 people of which about 8,000 live in the capital Labuha.
set up a trading post on Bacan which at the time was subservient to the Sultan of Ternate. The fleet's commander, Captain Antonio de Miranda Azevedo, left seven men on Bacan to buy cloves for the following year's expedition. Their arrogant behaviour and reported bad treatment of Bacan women led to their murder. As Ternate did not have enough stock, the ship for which the men had stayed to prepare was used by the Sultan of Ternate to fill Ferdinand Magellan
's last ship, which was the first ship to circumnavigate the world. A slave and two birds of paradise were given to the ship by Bacan. Bacan became a place of refuge for rebellious Ternateans. The Portuguese sent a punitive expedition against Bacan but it failed, and instead the Portuguese Governor Galvão challenged Bacan's sultan to a duel to determine who was to be subservient to whom. The challenge was accepted but the duel never took place.
In 1557, Father Antonio Vaz converted Bacan's sultan and court members to Catholicism. The king subsequently married Sultan Hairun of Ternate who had also become a Catholic. Ternate invaded in 1578 and the king apostatized. A community of Christians remained and were later joined by correligionists from Tobelo
and Ambon
. A small Roman Catholic hospital was built by an elderly Dutch nun. Today, Protestants significantly outnumber Catholics. During the mid-19th century Maluku travels of British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, Christians in Maluku were called "Orang Sirani" and were thought to have been descended from the Portuguese. They had dressed in white and black and Wallace reports they dance "quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas with great vigour and much skill".
Following the 1578 Ternatean invasion, Bacan appears to have become subservient to Ternate. The wife of Sultan Said of Ternate was provided by Bacan. A Spanish fort was built in 1606. Once the Dutch established hegemony in the 17th century, the Netherlands' power on Bacan was based in Fort Barnaveld.
In 1705, the sergeant in charge of the fort and the sultan captured the English explorer William Dampier
, seized his ship, looted its cargo, and threatened all aboard with execution. It is thought that this was in response to Dampier violating the trade monopoly. When the sergeant's Dutch superiors heard of the incident, Dampier was released, his ship restored and the English provided with sumptuous hospitality in Ternate.
Ternate and Bacan were the only places in late nineteenth century North Maluku that had a Dutch curriculum school and a Protestant Minister. The majority of Bacan's Roman Catholics became Protestants during the Dutch colonial period. In the late 1990s, 193 of Bacan's 7,700 Christians were Protestants.
Bacan's sultan lost much of his power with the arrival of European colonialists, and what remained was lost with Indonesian independence
after World War II.
Economic
Colonial interest in Bacan was primarily driven by the spice
trade, which was flourishing in Ternate, Tidore, and Halmahera. The island of Bacan was not particularly sought after for its own resources, but rather, to assist control of the more valuable islands nearby. The Dutch East India Company
paid a stipend to the Bacan sultan as compensation for the destruction of Bacan's clove trees
that was higher than the salary of the Dutch Governor on Ternate
and about 1/9 of that paid to the Sultan of Ternate.
It is thought that gold was washed on Bacan since at least 1774; in the mid-nineteenth century, 20 skilled Chinese gold workers were brought from west Borneo but a gold rush did not eventuate. An attempt was made to establish mining on the island, whereby the Dutch brought in Japanese convicts to extract coal. However, following the delivery of several tons the grade of coal was deemed poor and the mining was discontinued.
From 1882, an Amsterdam merchant created plantations of vanilla, coffee, tobacco and potatoes, however, his land was unsuitable and the crops succumbed to floods, drought, rot, insects and rodents. Despite over ten years of large investments of capital, creditors forced him out of business in 1900 although they also did not succeed with the plantations. The indigenous economy included the gathering of pearl
and mother-of-pearl, and the gathering the resin from dammar.
Recent history
Bacan has more recently been in the news due to violence between Christian
and Muslim
inhabitants of the island.
descendants of the Portuguese
), of Malays, Papuans, and immigrants from other islands. The total number of inhabitants is about 13,000. The most significant town on the island is the Bacan sub-district capital Labuha, situated on the west side of the island. Nearby is the town of Amasing (or Amasingkota), once a significant settlement on the island.
and non-Austronesian languages are spoken on Bacan, including Tobelo
, Galela
, Ternate
, Bajau, and Tukang Besi
. However, the indigenous language of Bacan is Bacanese, also known as Bacan Malay (ISO 639-3 btj. There is some debate as to whether Bacanese is a Malay variety or a Malay-based creole
.
Some Bacan words occurs in Wiltens & Danckaerts' 1623 vocabulary. Bacan is also reviewed in Adriani & Kruijt's 1914 monograph. The most detailed studies are by James T. Collins, who concludes that Bacan is indeed a Malay variety, descended from the Malay used in the Bacan Sultanate.
, which a slight subsidence would submerge. The total land area is around 1,900 km². The island is in part of volcanic
formation, and the existence of hot spring
s points to volcanic activity. There are, however, especially in the southern portion, ancient and non-volcanic rocks. The highest elevation occurs at the south of the island, the mountain of Labua reaching 6,950 ft. Coal
and other minerals have been discovered. A large portion of the island is richly wooded, and sago
, coconut
s and clove
s (which are indigenous) are abundantly produced.
as the most eastern point on the globe inhabited by any of the Quadrumana
, a black ape
occurring here as in the Moluccas. The island is very rich in birds and insects. Bacan (along with Halmahera)is home for the world's largest bee, the giant mason bee, Chalicodoma pluto
.
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and to that group's largest island. The islands are mountainous and forested. The islands lie south of Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and west of Halmahera
Halmahera
Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...
's southernmost arm. Bacan itself is the largest; the second and third largest islands are Kasiruta and Mandioli. There are dozens of smaller islands in the group.
Part of North Maluku
North Maluku
North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...
province, the Bacan kecamatan (sub-district) includes abut 56,000 people of which about 8,000 live in the capital Labuha.
History
In 1513, the first Portuguese trading fleet to reach MalukuMaluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
set up a trading post on Bacan which at the time was subservient to the Sultan of Ternate. The fleet's commander, Captain Antonio de Miranda Azevedo, left seven men on Bacan to buy cloves for the following year's expedition. Their arrogant behaviour and reported bad treatment of Bacan women led to their murder. As Ternate did not have enough stock, the ship for which the men had stayed to prepare was used by the Sultan of Ternate to fill Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....
's last ship, which was the first ship to circumnavigate the world. A slave and two birds of paradise were given to the ship by Bacan. Bacan became a place of refuge for rebellious Ternateans. The Portuguese sent a punitive expedition against Bacan but it failed, and instead the Portuguese Governor Galvão challenged Bacan's sultan to a duel to determine who was to be subservient to whom. The challenge was accepted but the duel never took place.
In 1557, Father Antonio Vaz converted Bacan's sultan and court members to Catholicism. The king subsequently married Sultan Hairun of Ternate who had also become a Catholic. Ternate invaded in 1578 and the king apostatized. A community of Christians remained and were later joined by correligionists from Tobelo
Tobelo
Tobelo is a town and also a district on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera. It is the capital of the regency of North Halmahera, part of the province of North Maluku. The city was formalised as the capital of North Halmahera in the district elections held in 2004...
and Ambon
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of , and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of 2 territories: The main city and seaport is Ambon , which is also the capital of Maluku province and Maluku Tengah Ambon Island is part of the...
. A small Roman Catholic hospital was built by an elderly Dutch nun. Today, Protestants significantly outnumber Catholics. During the mid-19th century Maluku travels of British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, Christians in Maluku were called "Orang Sirani" and were thought to have been descended from the Portuguese. They had dressed in white and black and Wallace reports they dance "quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas with great vigour and much skill".
Following the 1578 Ternatean invasion, Bacan appears to have become subservient to Ternate. The wife of Sultan Said of Ternate was provided by Bacan. A Spanish fort was built in 1606. Once the Dutch established hegemony in the 17th century, the Netherlands' power on Bacan was based in Fort Barnaveld.
In 1705, the sergeant in charge of the fort and the sultan captured the English explorer William Dampier
William Dampier
William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
, seized his ship, looted its cargo, and threatened all aboard with execution. It is thought that this was in response to Dampier violating the trade monopoly. When the sergeant's Dutch superiors heard of the incident, Dampier was released, his ship restored and the English provided with sumptuous hospitality in Ternate.
Ternate and Bacan were the only places in late nineteenth century North Maluku that had a Dutch curriculum school and a Protestant Minister. The majority of Bacan's Roman Catholics became Protestants during the Dutch colonial period. In the late 1990s, 193 of Bacan's 7,700 Christians were Protestants.
Bacan's sultan lost much of his power with the arrival of European colonialists, and what remained was lost with Indonesian independence
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire, and an internal social revolution...
after World War II.
Economic
Colonial interest in Bacan was primarily driven by the spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
trade, which was flourishing in Ternate, Tidore, and Halmahera. The island of Bacan was not particularly sought after for its own resources, but rather, to assist control of the more valuable islands nearby. The Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
paid a stipend to the Bacan sultan as compensation for the destruction of Bacan's clove trees
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
that was higher than the salary of the Dutch Governor on Ternate
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It is located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate....
and about 1/9 of that paid to the Sultan of Ternate.
It is thought that gold was washed on Bacan since at least 1774; in the mid-nineteenth century, 20 skilled Chinese gold workers were brought from west Borneo but a gold rush did not eventuate. An attempt was made to establish mining on the island, whereby the Dutch brought in Japanese convicts to extract coal. However, following the delivery of several tons the grade of coal was deemed poor and the mining was discontinued.
From 1882, an Amsterdam merchant created plantations of vanilla, coffee, tobacco and potatoes, however, his land was unsuitable and the crops succumbed to floods, drought, rot, insects and rodents. Despite over ten years of large investments of capital, creditors forced him out of business in 1900 although they also did not succeed with the plantations. The indigenous economy included the gathering of pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
and mother-of-pearl, and the gathering the resin from dammar.
Recent history
Bacan has more recently been in the news due to violence between Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Muslim
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
inhabitants of the island.
Population
The interior of the island is relatively uninhabited and none of the dwellers on the coast are indigenous. They consist of the Sirani (ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
descendants of the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), of Malays, Papuans, and immigrants from other islands. The total number of inhabitants is about 13,000. The most significant town on the island is the Bacan sub-district capital Labuha, situated on the west side of the island. Nearby is the town of Amasing (or Amasingkota), once a significant settlement on the island.
Language
Several AustronesianAustronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
and non-Austronesian languages are spoken on Bacan, including Tobelo
Tobelo language
Tobelo is a West Papuan language spoken on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera and on parts of several neighboring islands. The Tobelo-speaking heartland is in the district of Tobelo, located on the western shore of Kao Bay...
, Galela
Galela language
Galela is the most populous Papuan language spoken west of New Guinea, with some 80,000 speakers, or 95,000 if Loloda is counted as a dialect...
, Ternate
Ternate language
Ternate of eastern Indonesia is a language centered on the island of Ternate but also spoken in neighboring areas such as Kayoa, Bacan, Halmahera and other areas in North Maluku. It is used by Sultanate of Ternate, famous for its role in spice trade....
, Bajau, and Tukang Besi
Tukang Besi language
Tukang Besi is an Austronesian language spoken in the Tukangbesi Islands in south-east Sulawesi in Indonesia by some 200,000 speakers.-Sounds:...
. However, the indigenous language of Bacan is Bacanese, also known as Bacan Malay (ISO 639-3 btj. There is some debate as to whether Bacanese is a Malay variety or a Malay-based creole
Malay-based creole languages
The Malay language, through its history has experienced both pidginization and creolization. This occurred mostly through inter-island trading and interaction where people from various ethnic groups, languages and backgrounds met....
.
Some Bacan words occurs in Wiltens & Danckaerts' 1623 vocabulary. Bacan is also reviewed in Adriani & Kruijt's 1914 monograph. The most detailed studies are by James T. Collins, who concludes that Bacan is indeed a Malay variety, descended from the Malay used in the Bacan Sultanate.
Geography
The island is of irregular form, consisting of two distinct mountainous parts, united by a low isthmusIsthmus
An isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas usually with waterforms on either side.Canals are often built through isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to create a shortcut for marine transportation...
, which a slight subsidence would submerge. The total land area is around 1,900 km². The island is in part of volcanic
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
formation, and the existence of hot spring
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
s points to volcanic activity. There are, however, especially in the southern portion, ancient and non-volcanic rocks. The highest elevation occurs at the south of the island, the mountain of Labua reaching 6,950 ft. Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and other minerals have been discovered. A large portion of the island is richly wooded, and sago
Sago
Sago is a starch extracted in the spongy center or pith, of various tropical palm stems, Metroxylon sagu. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Moluccas, where it is called saksak and sagu. A type of flour, called sago flour, is made from sago. The largest supply...
, coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
s and clove
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
s (which are indigenous) are abundantly produced.
Natural life
Bacan is of interest to zoologistsZoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
as the most eastern point on the globe inhabited by any of the Quadrumana
Quadrumana
Quadrumana and Bimana form an obsolete division of the primates: the Quadrumana are primates with four hands , and the Bimana being those with two hands and two feet...
, a black ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
occurring here as in the Moluccas. The island is very rich in birds and insects. Bacan (along with Halmahera)is home for the world's largest bee, the giant mason bee, Chalicodoma pluto
Megachile pluto
Megachile pluto is a very large Indonesian resin bee . As females can be as large as 39 mm long with a wingspan of 63 mm , Megachile pluto is regarded as the largest bee in the world, and has been referred to as Wallace's Giant Bee...
.
Further reading
- Andaya, Leonard Y. 1993. The World of Maluku: Eastern Indonesia in the Early Modern Period. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
- Collins, James T. 1983. Penggolongan bahasa Bacan. Nusantara 10.86–125.
- Wiltens, Caspar & Sebastiaen Danckaerts. 1623. Vocabularium, ofte Woort-boek naer orare vanden alphabet in 't Duytsch-Maleysch ende Maleysch-Duytsch. 's-Gravenhage.