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Orang laut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Orang laut are a group of Malay people living in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. More broadly, the term encompasses the numerous tribes and status groups inhabiting the islands and estuaries in the Riau-Lingga Archipelagos, the Pulau Tujuh Islands, the Batam Archipelago, and the coasts and offshore islands of eastern Sumatra and southern Malay Peninsula."[1]
The Malay term orang laut literally means the sea people. They wander in their boats upon the sea.[2] Other Malay terms for the orang laut were Lanun, Celates or Orang Selat (straits people).
Historically, the orang laut were principally pirates, but they also played important roles in Srivijaya, the Sultanate of Malacca, and the Johor. They patrolled the adjacent sea areas, repelling real pirates, directing traders to their employers' ports, and maintaining those ports' dominance in the area.[3]
- ^ "The Malay Peninsula and Archipelago 1511–1722" The Encyclopedia of World History 2001;
- ^ Adriaan J. Barnouw (1946). "Cross Currents of Culture in Indonesia". The Far Eastern Quarterly 5 (2): 143–151.
- ^ Mary Somers Heidhues. Southeast Asia: A Concise History. London: Hudson and Thames, 2000. Page 27