203-466: North Sumatra ( Indonesian : Sumatera Utara ), also called North Sumatra Province , is a province of Indonesia located in the northern part of the island of Sumatra , just south of Aceh . Its capital and largest city is Medan on the east coast of the island. It is bordered by Aceh on the northwest and Riau and West Sumatra on the southeast, by coastlines located on the Indian Ocean to
406-737: A lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for half a millennium. It might be attributed to its ancestor , the Old Malay language (which can be traced back to the 7th century). The Kedukan Bukit Inscription is the oldest surviving specimen of Old Malay, the language used by Srivijayan empire. Since the 7th century, the Old Malay language has been used in Nusantara (archipelago) (Indonesian archipelago), evidenced by Srivijaya inscriptions and by other inscriptions from coastal areas of
609-747: A lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. With over 280 million inhabitants, Indonesia ranks as the fourth most populous nation globally. According to the 2020 census, over 97% of Indonesians are fluent in Indonesian, making it the largest language by number of speakers in Southeast Asia and one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Indonesian vocabulary has been influenced by various regional languages such as Javanese , Sundanese , Minangkabau , Balinese , Banjarese , and Buginese , as well as by foreign languages such as Arabic , Dutch , Portuguese , and English . Many borrowed words have been adapted to fit
812-585: A prehistoric seaborne migration , known as the Austronesian expansion, from Taiwan , circa 3000 to 1500 BCE. Austronesians reached the northernmost Philippines, specifically the Batanes Islands , by around 2200 BCE. They used sails some time before 2000 BCE. In conjunction with their use of other maritime technologies (notably catamarans , outrigger boats , lashed-lug boats , and the crab claw sail ), this enabled phases of rapid dispersal into
1015-476: A "subrace" of the "Malay" race) were also now being treated as a separate "Ethiopian" race by authors like Georges Cuvier , Conrad Malte-Brun (who first coined the term " Oceania " as Océanique ), Julien-Joseph Virey , and René Lesson . The British naturalist James Cowles Prichard originally followed Blumenbach by treating Papuans and Indigenous Australians as being descendants of the same stock as Austronesians. But by his third edition of Researches into
1218-643: A Voyage round the World (1778), he posited that the ultimate origins of the Polynesians might have been the lowland regions of the Philippines and proposed that they arrived to the islands via long-distance voyaging. The Spanish philologist Lorenzo Hervás later devoted a large part of his Idea dell'universo (1778–1787) to the establishment of a language family linking the Malay Peninsula ,
1421-454: A few cases, however, coinings permanently replaced earlier Dutch terms, including pajak (earlier meaning 'monopoly') instead of belasting (tax) and senam (meaning 'exercise') instead of gimnastik (gymnastics). The Komisi Bahasa is said to have coined more than 7000 terms, although few of these gained common acceptance. The adoption of Indonesian as the country's national language was in contrast to most other post-colonial states. Neither
1624-773: A large group of peoples in Taiwan , Maritime Southeast Asia , parts of Mainland Southeast Asia , Micronesia , coastal New Guinea , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar that speak Austronesian languages . They also include indigenous ethnic minorities in Vietnam , Cambodia , Myanmar , Thailand , Hainan , the Comoros , and the Torres Strait Islands . The nations and territories predominantly populated by Austronesian-speaking peoples are sometimes known collectively as Austronesia. They originated from
1827-502: A large proportion of Indonesian, at least, use two language daily, those are Indonesian and local languages. When two languages are used by the same people in this way, they are likely to influence each other. Aside from local languages, Dutch made the highest contribution to the Indonesian vocabulary, due to the Dutch colonization over three centuries, from the 16th century until the mid-20th century. Asian languages also influenced
2030-470: A lingua franca between vernacular Malay dialects, Malay creoles, and regional languages. The Indonesian name for the language ( bahasa Indonesia ) is also occasionally used in English and other languages. Bahasa Indonesia is sometimes improperly reduced to Bahasa , which refers to the Indonesian subject ( Bahasa Indonesia ) taught in schools, on the assumption that this is the name of the language. But
2233-427: A looser sense, it also encompasses the various local varieties spoken throughout the Indonesian archipelago. Standard Indonesian is confined mostly to formal situations, existing in a diglossic relationship with vernacular Malay varieties, which are commonly used for daily communication, coexisting with the aforementioned regional languages and with Malay creoles ; standard Indonesian is spoken in informal speech as
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#17327838909882436-712: A member of the Asahan royal family, was selected as head of state for the NST. While the Dutch wanted the NST to be seen as an orderly and progressive alternative to the republic, western-educated aristocrats saw it as a bastion for their own ethnic interests. Following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference in late 1949, the Dutch withdrew military support for the State of East Sumatra and its local authority began to collapse. The short-lived state
2639-725: A minority of authors. Notable proponents include William Meacham , Stephen Oppenheimer , and Wilhelm Solheim . For various reasons, they have proposed that the homelands of Austronesians were within Island Southeast Asia (ISEA), particularly in the Sundaland landmass drowned during the end of the Last Glacial Period by rising sea levels. Proponents of these hypotheses point to the ancient origins of mtDNA in Southeast Asian populations, pre-dating
2842-434: A monophthong followed by an approximant, so ⟨ai⟩ represents /aj/ , ⟨au⟩ represents /aw/ , and ⟨oi⟩ represents /oj/ . On this basis, there are no phonological diphthongs in Indonesian. Diphthongs are differentiated from two vowels in two syllables, such as: Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples , sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples , are
3045-616: A result of the southward expansion of Austronesian peoples into Maritime Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan . Indonesian, which originated from Malay, is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, which includes languages from Southeast Asia , the Pacific Ocean and Madagascar , with a smaller number in continental Asia . It has a degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malaysian standard of Malay, which
3248-613: A rift between the two standardized varieties. This has been based more upon political nuance and the history of their standardization than cultural reasons, and as a result, there are asymmetrical views regarding each other's variety among Malaysians and Indonesians. Malaysians tend to assert that Malaysian and Indonesian are merely different normative varieties of the same language, while Indonesians tend to treat them as separate, albeit closely related, languages. Consequently, Indonesians feel little need to harmonise their language with Malaysia and Brunei, whereas Malaysians are keener to coordinate
3451-461: A significant influence on the development of Malay in the colony: during the colonial era, the language that would be standardized as Indonesian absorbed a large amount of Dutch vocabulary in the form of loanwords . The nationalist movement that ultimately brought Indonesian to its national language status rejected Dutch from the outset. However, the rapid disappearance of Dutch was a very unusual case compared with other colonized countries, where
3654-633: A subsequent Dutch victory. Meanwhile, particularly after 1869, Dutch tobacco plantation activities expanded on the east coast, including the estab;ishment of Deli Maatschappij and London Sumatra , using land leased from the Malay sultans. As there was a worker shortage, the Dutch began importing labourers from Java , Southern China and Southern India . This first big wave of migration established substantial Javanese , Chinese , and Indian populations in North Sumatra that remain to this day. By 1874,
3857-560: A system which treats the open-mid vowels / ɛ / and / ɔ / as distinct phonemes. Poedjosoedarmo argued the split of the front mid vowels in Indonesian is due to Javanese influence which exhibits a difference between ⟨i⟩ [ i ], ⟨é⟩ [ e ] and è [ ɛ ]. Another example of Javanese influence in Indonesian is the split of back mid vowels into two allophones of [ o ] and [ ɔ ]. These splits (and loanwords) increase instances of doublets in Indonesian, such as ⟨ satai ⟩ and ⟨ saté ⟩. Javanese words adopted into Indonesian have greatly increased
4060-472: A total number of speakers in Indonesia of 248.5 million. It is common as a first language in urban areas, and as a second language by those residing in more rural parts of Indonesia. The VOA and BBC use Indonesian as their standard for broadcasting in Malay. In Australia , Indonesian is one of three Asian target languages, together with Japanese and Mandarin , taught in some schools as part of
4263-828: Is a standard language of "Riau Malay", which despite its common name is not based on the vernacular Malay dialects of the Riau Islands , but rather represents a form of Classical Malay as used in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Riau-Lingga Sultanate . Classical Malay had emerged as a literary language in the royal courts along both shores of the Strait of Malacca , including the Johor Sultanate and Malacca Sultanate . Originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra , Malay has been used as
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#17327838909884466-650: Is also another explanation for the correspondences that do not require a genetic relationship. In relation to Sino-Austronesian models and the Longshan interaction sphere, Roger Blench (2014) suggests that the single migration model for the spread of the Neolithic into Taiwan is problematic, pointing out the genetic and linguistic inconsistencies between different Taiwanese Austronesian groups. The surviving Austronesian populations in Taiwan should rather be considered as
4669-512: Is also popularly used for the Indonesian islands. Austronesian regions are almost exclusively islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, with predominantly tropical or subtropical climates with considerable seasonal rainfall. Inhabitants of these regions include Taiwanese indigenous peoples , most ethnic groups in Brunei , East Timor , Indonesia , Madagascar , Malaysia , Micronesia ,
4872-403: Is also problematic, particularly erroneous reconstructions among some Chinese archaeologists of non-Sinitic sites as Han . Some authors, favoring the "Out of Sundaland" model, like William Meacham , reject the southern Chinese mainland origin of pre-Austronesians entirely. Nevertheless, based on linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence, Austronesians are most strongly associated with
5075-565: Is amplified by the use of Indonesian slang , particularly in the cities. Unlike the relatively uniform standard variety, Vernacular Indonesian exhibits a high degree of geographical variation, though Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian functions as the de facto norm of informal language and is a popular source of influence throughout the archipelago. There is language shift of first language among Indonesian into Indonesian from other language in Indonesia caused by ethnic diversity than urbanicity. The most common and widely used colloquial Indonesian
5278-494: Is based on sound correspondences in basic vocabulary and morphological parallels. Sagart places special significance in shared vocabulary on cereal crops, citing them as evidence of shared linguistic origin. However, this has largely been rejected by other linguists. The sound correspondences between Old Chinese and Proto-Austronesian can also be explained as a result of the Longshan interaction sphere , when pre-Austronesians from
5481-667: Is derived from a composite protoform *Cau ma-qata, combining "Tau" and "Qata" and indicative of the mixing of the two ancestral population types in these regions. The broad consensus on the Urheimat (homeland) of Austronesian languages as well as the Neolithic early Austronesian peoples is accepted to be Taiwan , as well as the Penghu Islands . They are believed to have descended from ancestral populations in coastal mainland southern China, which are generally referred to as
5684-635: Is genetic evidence that at least in western Island Southeast Asia , there had been earlier Neolithic overland migrations (pre-4,000 BP) by Austroasiatic-speaking peoples into what is now the Greater Sunda Islands when the sea levels were lower, in the early Holocene . These peoples were assimilated linguistically and culturally by incoming Austronesian peoples in what is now modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia. Several authors have also proposed that Kra-Dai speakers may actually be an ancient daughter subgroup of Austronesians that migrated back to
5887-551: Is heavily influenced by the Betawi language , a Malay-based creole of Jakarta , amplified by its popularity in Indonesian popular culture in mass media and Jakarta's status as the national capital. In informal spoken Indonesian, various words are replaced with those of a less formal nature. For example, tidak (no) is often replaced with the Betawi form nggak or the even simpler gak/ga , while seperti (like, similar to)
6090-455: Is in fact no "apical" ancestor of Austronesian in the sense that there was no true single Proto-Austronesian language that gave rise to present-day Austronesian languages. Instead, multiple migrations of various pre-Austronesian peoples and languages from the Chinese mainland that were related but distinct came together to form what we now know as Austronesian in Taiwan. Hence, Blench considers
6293-433: Is located in the city of Medan , governed by a governor . Earlier governments ruled all of Sumatra (1945-1950); and a North Sumatra Province that included Aceh (1950-1956). In 1956, Aceh split off to form a separate Aceh Province. North Sumatra is currently subdivided into 25 regencies ( kabupaten ) and 8 autonomous cities (formerly municipalities). When originally created as a province with its current boundaries, it
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6496-563: Is located on a high plateau that runs along the Bukit Barisan mountains, from central North Sumatra to the western coast. The tallest mountain in the province is Mount Sinabung in Karo Regency , at elevation around 2,460 metres (8,070 ft), the most active volcano in the region. Volcanic activities (cracks where steam, gas, and lava are emitted) were observed at the summit in 1912; recent documented events include an eruption in
6699-419: Is named as 'Indonesian language' is a true Malay language derived from 'Riau Malay' but which had been added, modified or subscribed according to the requirements of the new age and nature, until it was then used easily by people across Indonesia; the renewal of Malay language until it became Indonesian it had to be done by the experts of the new nature, the national nature of Indonesia" — Ki Hajar Dewantara in
6902-466: Is now Lake Toba , which erupted 74,000–75,000 years ago , wiping out nearly all of humanity. The supereruption resulted in the creation of Lake Toba and was rated a VEI-8 eruption . During Dutch rule, North Sumatra was administered under the Gouvernement van Sumatra , which governed the entire island of Sumatra out of Medan. In 1948, after Indonesian independence was proclaimed, Sumatra Province
7105-470: Is officially known there as bahasa Malaysia , despite the numerous lexical differences. However, vernacular varieties spoken in Indonesia and Malaysia share limited intelligibility, which is evidenced by the fact that Malaysians have difficulties understanding Indonesian sinetron (soap opera) aired on Malaysia TV stations, and vice versa. Malagasy , a geographic outlier spoken in Madagascar in
7308-636: Is often replaced with kayak [kajaʔ] . Sangat or amat (very), the term to express intensity, is often replaced with the Javanese-influenced banget . As for pronunciation, the diphthongs ai and au on the end of base words are typically pronounced as /e/ and /o/ . In informal writing, the spelling of words is modified to reflect the actual pronunciation in a way that can be produced with less effort. For example, capai becomes cape or capek , pakai becomes pake , kalau becomes kalo . In verbs,
7511-498: Is perhaps the only language that has achieved the status of a national language in its true sense" since it truly dominates in all spheres of Indonesian society . The ease with which Indonesia eliminated the language of its former colonial power can perhaps be explained as much by Dutch policy as by Indonesian nationalism. In marked contrast to the French , Spanish and Portuguese, who pursued an assimilation colonial policy, or even
7714-558: Is predominantly inhabited by other Batak groups ( Toba , Simalungun and Karo ). The Nias people are indigenous to Nias Island and its surrounding islets. With the opening of tobacco plantations in East Sumatra during the colonial era, the colonial government employed many contract labourers for plantations, they were mainly Chinese, Javanese and Indian migrants, who were majority does not returned after end contract and decided to stay in North Sumatra. The rapid urbanisation in
7917-449: Is sometimes referred to as "Austronesia". Other geographic names for various subregions include Malay Peninsula , Greater Sunda Islands , Lesser Sunda Islands , Island Melanesia , Island Southeast Asia , Malay Archipelago , Maritime Southeast Asia , Melanesia , Micronesia , Near Oceania , Oceania , Pacific Islands , Remote Oceania , Polynesia , and Wallacea . In Indonesia, the nationalistic term Nusantara , from Old Javanese ,
8120-435: Is the "Out of Taiwan" model first proposed by Peter Bellwood . But there are multiple rival models that create a sort of "pseudo-competition" among their supporters due to narrow focus on data from limited geographic areas or disciplines. The most notable of which is the "Out of Sundaland" (or "Out of Island Southeast Asia") model. Austronesians were the first humans with seafaring vessels that could cross large distances on
8323-812: Is the site of a supervolcanic eruption that occurred 69,000 to 77,000 years ago, estimated at VEI 8, that formed a climate-changing event. Recent advances in dating methods suggest more precise dating at 74,000 years ago. It is the largest-known explosive eruption on Earth in the last 25 million years. It has been accepted that the eruption of the Toba Caldera led to a volcanic winter with a worldwide decrease in temperatures between 3 and 5 °C (5.4 and 9.0 °F), and up to 15 °C (27 °F) in higher latitudes. Additional studies in Lake Malawi in East Africa show significant amounts of ash deposited by
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8526-662: The Batu Islands . There are 419 islands in North Sumatra. The outer islands include the island of Simuk (the most westerly of the Batu Islands) and the island of Berhala in the Strait of Malacca. The Nias archipelago, located off the coast of western Sumatra in the Indian Ocean, consists of Nias Island and other much smaller islands in its vicinity. Its administrative centre is located at the city of Gunungsitoli on
8729-564: The British , the Dutch did not attempt to spread their language among the indigenous population. In fact, they consciously prevented the language from being spread by refusing to provide education, especially in Dutch, to the native Indonesians so they would not come to see themselves as equals. Moreover, the Dutch wished to prevent the Indonesians from elevating their perceived social status by taking on elements of Dutch culture. Thus, until
8932-656: The Cham areas in Vietnam , Cambodia , and Hainan ; and the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar. Additionally, modern-era migration has brought Austronesian-speaking people to the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, mainland Europe , Cocos (Keeling) Islands , South Africa, Sri Lanka , Suriname , Hong Kong , Macau , and West Asian countries . Some authors also propose further settlements and contacts in
9135-760: The Dutch East India Company (the VOC) in 1641. Coastal areas of North Sumatra felt economic impacts as the VOC subsequently reduced the presence of trade in Malacca and shifted resources towards Batavia . Still, North Sumatra also saw an increase in Arab, Chinese and Indian traders. After Britain gained a position on the nearby island of Penang , the British traded heavily with the east coast of Sumatra. Prior to
9338-645: The Gunung Leuser National Park and Batang Gadis National Park . According to the Ministerial Decree No. 44 of 2005, forest area in North Sumatra today covers 3,742,120 hectares (9,247,000 acres), consisting of a 477,070-hectare (ha) Natural Reserve Area/Natural Conservation Area, 1,297,330 ha of protected forest, 879,270 ha of limited production forest, 1,035,690 ha of permanent production forest, and 52,7600 ha of production forest that can be converted to another status. However,
9541-563: The Hayato people , the Kumaso , and the Azumi were of Austronesian origin. Until today, local traditions and festivals show similarities to Malayo-Polynesian culture. The Sino-Austronesian hypothesis , on the other hand, is a relatively new hypothesis by Laurent Sagart , first proposed in 1990. It argues for a north–south linguistic genetic relationship between Chinese and Austronesian. This
9744-633: The Indian Ocean , also in some parts of the Sulu area of the southern Philippines and traces of it are to be found among people of Malay descent in Sri Lanka , South Africa , and other places. Indonesian is taught as a foreign language in schools, universities and institutions around the world, especially in Australia , the Netherlands , Japan , South Korea , Timor-Leste , Vietnam , Taiwan ,
9947-441: The Indian Ocean ; the Philippines national language, Filipino ; Formosan in Taiwan's aboriginal population; and the native Māori language of New Zealand are also members of this language family. Although each language of the family is mutually unintelligible, their similarities are rather striking. Many roots have come virtually unchanged from their common ancestor, Proto-Austronesian language . There are many cognates found in
10150-597: The Languages Other Than English programme. Indonesian has been taught in Australian schools and universities since the 1950s. In East Timor , which was occupied by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999, Indonesian is recognized by the constitution as one of the two working languages (the other being English ), alongside the official languages of Tetum and Portuguese . It is understood by the Malay people of Australia's Cocos Keeling Islands in
10353-704: The Maldives , Madagascar, Indonesia ( Sunda Islands and Moluccas ), the Philippines , and the Pacific Islands eastward to Easter Island . Multiple other authors corroborated this classification (except for the erroneous inclusion of Maldivian ), and the language family came to be known as "Malayo-Polynesian", first coined by the German linguist Franz Bopp in 1841 ( German : malayisch-polynesisch ). The connections between Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and
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#173278389098810556-524: The Mesolithic era (Middle Stone Age). They spread to the eastern part of Indonesia to the island of Papua , and to the west to North Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula . Early peoples in North Sumatra consumed mostly snails and clams, leaving large shell deposits sometimes referred to as kjokkenmoddinger (kitchen waste), some of which are still found as hills in Saentis, Hinai, Tanjung Beringin, along
10759-606: The Nias people also came from the Austronesian peoples , though their initial ancestors may have arrived earlier: ancestors of the Nias people are thought to have come from Taiwan through the Philippines 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Ten years of research involving blood samples of 440 Nias people in 11 villages on Nias island show similarities between their Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA and that of Taiwanese and Filipino peoples . The eastern coastal area of North Sumatra, located on
10962-993: The Pacific coast of the Americas, Japan, the Yaeyama Islands , the Australian coast, Sri Lanka and coastal South Asia , the Persian Gulf , some Indian Ocean islands, East Africa , South Africa, and West Africa . Austronesian peoples include the following groupings by name and geographic location (incomplete): The broad consensus on Austronesian origins is the "two-layer model", where an original Paleolithic indigenous population in Island Southeast Asia were assimilated to varying degrees by incoming migrations of Neolithic Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan and Fujian , in southern China, from around 4,000 BP . Austronesians also mixed with other preexisting populations as well as later migrant populations among
11165-527: The Pearl River Delta from Taiwan and/or Luzon , shortly after the Austronesian expansion, later migrating further westwards to Hainan, Mainland Southeast Asia , and Northeast India . They propose that the distinctiveness of Kra-Dai (it is tonal and monosyllabic ) was the result of linguistic restructuring due to contact with Hmong-Mien and Sinitic cultures. Aside from linguistic evidence, Roger Blench has also noted cultural similarities between
11368-413: The People's Representative Council . Each of the three districts elects 10 members to the People's Representative Council (for a total of 30 members from the province). North Sumatra recorded a population of 12,985,075 in the 2010 national census, making the 4th most populous province in Indonesia, with a sex ratio of 99.59 men per 100 women. The 2015 Intermediate census gave a total of 13,923,262, while
11571-416: The Philippines , and Polynesia . Also included are the Malays of Singapore ; the Polynesians of New Zealand , Hawaii , and Chile ; the Torres Strait Islanders of Australia; the non- Papuan peoples of Melanesia and coastal New Guinea ; the Shibushi speakers of the Comoros , and the Malagasy and Shibushi speakers of Réunion . Austronesians are also found in the regions of Southern Thailand ;
11774-707: The Pitcairns , the Kermadec Islands , and the Norfolk Islands were also formerly settled by Austronesians but later abandoned. There is also putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato , that Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia, where they might have traded with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas . In the Indian Ocean, Austronesians in Maritime Southeast Asia established trade links with South Asia . They also established early long-distance contacts with Africa, possibly as early as before 500 BCE, based on archaeological evidence like banana phytoliths in Cameroon and Uganda and remains of Neolithic chicken bones in Zanzibar . By
11977-431: The Pleistocene made some of the modern-day islands of Sundaland accessible via land bridges. However, the spread of humans across the Wallace line and into Sahul necessitated crossing bodies of water. Remains of stone tools and marine shells in Liang Sarru, Salibabu Island , North Sulawesi, dated to 32,000–35,000 years ago, is possible evidence for the longest sea voyage by Paleolithic humans ever recorded. The island
12180-402: The State of East Sumatra ( Indonesian : Negara Sumatra Timur (NST) ) as part of the planned United States of Indonesia . The state lasted from December 1947 to August 1950. In addition to the Dutch, the NST state was supported by Malay aristocrats, most of the Simalungun rajas, some Karo chieftains, and Chinese groups who felt that the revolution threatened their interests. Dr Tengku Mansu,
12383-421: The United States , and the United Kingdom . Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia , and its use is encouraged throughout the Indonesian archipelago. It is regulated in Chapter XV, 1945 Constitution of Indonesia about the flag, official language, coat of arms, and national anthem of Indonesia. Also, in Chapter III, Section 25 to 45, Government regulation No. 24/ 2009 mentions explicitly
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#173278389098812586-529: The Wallacea obsidian network ( Timor , Atauro , Kisar , Alor , ca.22,000 BP). However, the method of crossing remains unknown and could have ranged from simple rafts to dugout canoes by the terminal Pleistocene. These early settlers are generally historically referred to as " Australo-Melanesians ", though the terminology is problematic, as they are genetically diverse, and most groups within Austronesia have significant Austronesian admixture and culture. The unmixed descendants of these groups today include
12789-423: The city of Gunungsitoli , were split off from the remainder of Nias Regency. Notes: (a) UU is an abbreviation from Undang-Undang (the Indonesia statute of law). (b) South Nias Regency includes the Batu Islands . The region include 124 smaller offshore islands - 87 in South Nias Regency (primarily the Batu Islands), 11 in West Nias Regency, 19 in North Nias Regency and 7 in Nias Regency. This region comprises
12992-466: The foxtail millet -cultivating Longshan culture of Shandong (with Longshan-type cultures found in southern Taiwan), the fishing-based Dapenkeng culture of coastal Fujian, and the Yuanshan culture of northernmost Taiwan, which Blench suggests may have originated from the coast of Guangdong . Based on geography and cultural vocabulary, Blench believes that the Yuanshan people may have spoken Northeast Formosan languages . Thus, Blench believes that there
13195-406: The "people from the southern world". In the third edition, published in 1795, he named Austronesians the " Malay race ", or the " brown race ", after correspondence with Joseph Banks , who was part of the first voyage of James Cook . Blumenbach used the term "Malay" due to his belief that most Austronesians spoke the "Malay idiom" (i.e., the Austronesian languages ), though he inadvertently caused
13398-547: The "pre‑Austronesians". Through these pre-Austronesians, Austronesians may also share a common ancestry with neighboring groups in Neolithic southern China. These Neolithic pre-Austronesians from the coast of southeastern China are believed to have migrated to Taiwan between approximately 10,000 and 6000 BCE. Other research has suggested that, according to radiocarbon dates, Austronesians may have migrated from mainland China to Taiwan as late as 4000 BCE ( Dapenkeng culture ). They continued to maintain regular contact with
13601-428: The 15th century, also refers to the "Kingdom of Bata" between Pasai and the Aru kingdom. The Batak mainly practiced animism and cannibalism and remained isolated from foreign culture and kingdoms like Srivijaya and Majapahit. The Toba people divided the Batak Lands into several independent kingdoms, which often entered into defensive alliances. Of the many kingdoms, Bakkara and their king or Sisingamangaraja held
13804-493: The 1930s, they maintained a minimalist regime and allowed Malay to spread quickly throughout the archipelago. Dutch dominance at that time covered nearly all aspects, with official forums requiring the use of Dutch, although since the Second Youth Congress (1928) the use of Indonesian as the national language was agreed on as one of the tools in the independence struggle. As of it, Mohammad Hoesni Thamrin inveighed actions underestimating Indonesian. After some criticism and protests,
14007-447: The 2010 census showing only 19.94% of over-five-year-olds speak mainly Indonesian at home. Standard Indonesian is used in books and newspapers and on television/radio news broadcasts. The standard dialect, however, is rarely used in daily conversations, being confined mostly to formal settings. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to its written standards),
14210-472: The 2020 census gave a total of 14,799,361, and the official estimate for mid-2023 was 15,386,640. The mid-2023 total comprised 7,721,314 males and 7,665,326 females, giving a sex ratio of 100.73 men per 100 women. It was reported in January 2024 that a group of 140 Rohingya people, consisting mostly of women and children had landed in Indonesia and been directed by the military to the North Sumatra region. This has been one of several groups that have arrived in
14413-422: The 5th to 7th centuries CE. It is likely that the Austronesians that settled Madagascar followed a coastal route through South Asia and East Africa, rather than directly across the Indian Ocean. Genetic evidence suggests that some individuals of Austronesian descent reached Africa and the Arabian Peninsula . A competing hypothesis to the "Out of Taiwan" model is the "Out of Sundaland " hypothesis, favored by
14616-553: The Austronesian expansion (estimated to have started at around 500 BCE) also resulted in gradual population turnover. These secondary migrations were incremental and happened gradually enough that the culture and language of these groups remained Austronesian, even though in modern times, they are genetically more Papuan. In the vast majority of cases, the language and material culture of Austronesian-speaking groups descend directly through generational continuity, especially in islands that were previously uninhabited. Serious research into
14819-546: The Austronesian expansion was largely peaceful. Rather than violent displacement, the settlers and the indigenous groups absorbed each other. It is believed that in some cases, like in the Toalean culture of Sulawesi (c. 8,000–1,500 BP), it is even more accurate to say that the densely populated indigenous hunter-gatherer groups absorbed the incoming Austronesian farmers, rather than the other way around. Mahdi (2016) further asserts that Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *tau-mata ("person")
15022-550: The Austronesian languages and its speakers has been ongoing since the 19th century. Modern scholarship on Austronesian dispersion models is generally credited to two influential papers in the late 20th century: The Colonisation of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail ( Hill & Serjeantson , eds., 1989) and The Austronesian Dispersal and the Origin of Languages ( Bellwood , 1991). The topic is particularly interesting to scientists for
15225-496: The Congress of Indonesian Language I 1938, Solo Several years prior to the congress, Swiss linguist, Renward Brandstetter wrote An Introduction to Indonesian Linguistics in 4 essays from 1910 to 1915. The essays were translated into English in 1916. By "Indonesia", he meant the name of the geographical region , and by "Indonesian languages" he meant Malayo-Polynesian languages west of New Guinea, because by that time there
15428-563: The Deli-Langkat shore, and on river banks. In the second wave of migration from mainland Southeast Asia c. 1000 BC , the Young Malays or Deutero Malays settled on the coast. They mainly lived by fishing and by cultivating the marshy land for agriculture. Their villages were scattered along the big rivers that flow to the east coast of North Sumatra such as Besitang, Wampu , Asahan , and Barumun . Larger villages grew at
15631-516: The Indonesian language is still in debate. High Malay was the official language used in the court of the Johor Sultanate and continued by the Dutch-administered territory of Riau-Lingga , while Low Malay was commonly used in marketplaces and ports of the archipelago. Some linguists have argued that it was the more common Low Malay that formed the base of the Indonesian language. When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) first arrived in
15834-497: The Japanese occupation officially ended with Japan's surrender in the Pacific and two days later Sukarno declared Indonesian Independence , beginning the four-year Indonesian War of Independence against the Dutch. Beginning on 3 March 1946, there was a social revolution in East Sumatra . Across 25 "native states", many sultanates were overthrown. Armed pergerakan groups (Indonesian nationalists) conducted mass killings of
16037-729: The Malacca peninsula, as well as the Sandwich, the Society, and the Friendly Islanders, and also the Malambi of Madagascar down to the inhabitants of Easter Island, use the Malay idiom. By the 19th century, however, a classification of Austronesians as being a subset of the "Mongolian" race was favoured, as was polygenism . The Australo-Melanesian populations of Southeast Asia and Melanesia (whom Blumenbach initially classified as
16240-637: The Native Australians), and the "Pelagian or Oceanic Negroes" (the Melanesians and western Polynesians). Despite this, he acknowledges that "Malayo-Polynesians" and "Pelagian Negroes" had "remarkable characters in common", particularly in terms of language and craniometry . In linguistics, the Malayo-Polynesian language family also initially excluded Melanesia and Micronesia , due to the perceived physical differences between
16443-653: The Pacific Islands to successfully retain rice cultivation. Palau and Yap were settled by separate voyages by 1000 BCE. Another important migration branch was by the Lapita culture , which rapidly spread into the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea and into the Solomon Islands and other parts of coastal New Guinea and Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE. They reached the islands of Fiji , Samoa , and Tonga by around 900 to 800 BCE. This remained
16646-480: The Pacific Islands were also noted by other European explorers, including the Orientalist William Marsden and the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster . Johann Friedrich Blumenbach added Austronesians as the fifth category to his "varieties" of humans in the second edition of De Generis Humani Varietate Nativa (1781). He initially grouped them by geography and thus called Austronesians
16849-548: The Pacific Islands. Although Blumenbach's work was later used in scientific racism , Blumenbach was a monogenist and did not believe the human "varieties" were inherently inferior to each other. Rather, he believed that the Malay race was a combination of the "Ethiopian" and "Caucasian" varieties. Malay variety. Tawny-coloured; hair black, soft, curly, thick and plentiful; head moderately narrowed; forehead slightly swelling; nose full, rather wide, as it were diffuse, end thick; mouth large, upper jaw somewhat prominent with parts of
17052-528: The People's Representative Council ( Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR) to create three new provinces from parts of the present North Sumatra: Nias Islands, Tapanuli, and East Sumatra; however since 2013 the Indonesian Government have maintained a moratorium on the intended creation of new provinces, regencies and cities. The present regencies and cities are grouped for convenience below according to
17255-545: The Physical History of Man (1836–1847), his work had become more racialized due to the influence of polygenism. He classified the peoples of Austronesia into two groups: the "Malayo-Polynesians" (roughly equivalent to the Austronesian peoples) and the "Kelænonesians" (roughly equivalent to the Australo-Melanesians ). He further subdivided the latter into the "Alfourous" (also "Haraforas" or "Alfoërs",
17458-614: The Toba Caldera eruptions, despite a great distance from the area, but these studies offer little indication of a significant climatic effect in East Africa. According to the Toba catastrophe theory , the eruption killed most humans living at that time and is believed to have created a population bottleneck in central East Africa and India, affecting the human genome to the present day. More recent studies have cast doubt on this theory and found no evidence of substantial changes in population. In North Sumatra, there are currently two national parks:
17661-594: The UK maintained a presence in several places that were considered important for trade, including parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan. During the Padri War , in the years prior to 1860, Dutch forces arrived in South Tapanuki at the request of a local leader to provide protection. The Siak sultan subsequently signed a treaty with the Dutch East Indies government recognizing Dutch authority over it and
17864-605: The Yangtze region came into regular contact with Proto-Sinitic speakers in the Shandong Peninsula , around the 4th to 3rd millennia BCE. This corresponded with the widespread introduction of rice cultivation to Proto-Sinitic speakers and conversely, millet cultivation to Pre-Austronesians. An Austronesian substratum in formerly Austronesian territories that have been Sinicized after the Iron Age Han expansion
18067-614: The admixture is around 20 to 30% Papuan and 70 to 80% Austronesian. The Melanesians in Near Oceania are roughly around 20% Austronesian and 80% Papuan, while in the natives of the Lesser Sunda Islands , the admixture is around 50% Austronesian and 50% Papuan. Similarly, in the Philippines, the groups traditionally considered to be "Negrito" vary between 30 and 50% Austronesian. The high degree of assimilation among Austronesian, Negrito, and Papuan groups indicates that
18270-497: The anniversary of North Sumatra Province. Act R.I. No. 24 of 1956, promulgated on December 7, 1956, re-established an autonomous Aceh Province, independent of the Province of North Sumatra. The province of North Sumatra stretches across the island of Sumatra , between the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca , with an area of 72,460.74 km. It borders the province of Aceh to the northwest and Riau and West Sumatra to
18473-546: The archipelago at the start of the 1600s, the Malay language was a significant trading and political language due to the influence of the Malaccan Sultanate and later the Portuguese . However, the language had never been dominant among the population of the Indonesian archipelago as it was limited to mercantile activity. The VOC adopted the Malay language as the administrative language of their trading outpost in
18676-490: The archipelago of the Philippines, intermingling with the earlier Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about 23,000 years earlier. Over the next thousand years, Austronesian peoples migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands of the Celebes Sea and Borneo. From southwestern Borneo, Austronesians spread further west in a single migration event to both Sumatra and
18879-415: The archipelago, such as Sojomerto inscription . Trade contacts carried on by various ethnic peoples at the time were the main vehicle for spreading the Old Malay language, which was the main communications medium among the traders. Ultimately, the Old Malay language became a lingua franca and was spoken widely by most people in the archipelago. Indonesian (in its standard form) has essentially
19082-456: The area over the preceding months. Ethnic groups in North Sumatra (census 2010). North Sumatra is a multi-ethnic province. The Malay people are regarded as the majority people of the east coast of the province, while the west coast of the province is mainly inhabited by the Batak ( Pakpak , Angkola and Mandailing groups). The central region around Lake Toba to the northern Karo highland
19285-702: The coastal regions between the Yangtze River delta and the Min River delta. Based on linguistic evidence, there have been proposals linking Austronesians with other linguistic families into linguistic macrofamilies that are relevant to the identity of the pre-Austronesian populations. The most notable are the connections of Austronesians to the neighboring Austroasiatic , Kra-Dai , and Sinitic peoples (as Austric , Austro-Tai , and Sino-Austronesian , respectively). These are still not widely accepted, as evidence of these relationships are still tenuous, and
19488-553: The coastal regions of southern Vietnam, becoming the ancestors of the speakers of the Malayic and Chamic branches of the Austronesian language family. Soon after reaching the Philippines, Austronesians colonized the Northern Mariana Islands by 1500 BCE or even earlier, becoming the first humans to reach Remote Oceania . The Chamorro migration was also unique in that it was the only Austronesian migration to
19691-427: The colonial language generally has continued to function as the language of politics, bureaucracy , education, technology , and other fields of importance for a significant time after independence. The Indonesian scholar Soenjono Dardjowidjojo [ id ] even goes so far as to say that when compared to the situation in other Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, "Indonesian
19894-491: The development of national culture, science, technology, and mass media. It also serves as a vehicle of communication among the provinces and different regional cultures in the country. According to Indonesian law, the Indonesian language was proclaimed as the unifying language during the Youth Pledge on 28 October 1928 and developed further to accommodate the dynamics of Indonesian civilization. As mentioned previously,
20097-527: The early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. Indonesian also receives many English words as a result of globalization and modernization , especially since the 1990s, as far as the Internet's emergence and development until the present day. Some Indonesian words correspond to Malay loanwords in English, among them the common words orangutan , gong , bamboo , rattan , sarong , and
20300-610: The early farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin that domesticated rice from around 13,500 to 8,200 BP . They display typical Austronesian technological hallmarks, including tooth removal , teeth blackening , jade carving, tattooing, stilt houses , advanced boatbuilding, aquaculture , wetland agriculture , and the domestication of dogs, pigs, and chickens. These include the Kuahuqiao , Hemudu , Majiabang , Songze , Liangzhu , and Dapenkeng cultures that occupied
20503-556: The early hours of 29 August 2010 and eruptions in September and November 2013, January, February and October 2014. Another volcano nearby is Mount Sibayak , also located in the Karo highland, sitting at an elevation of 2,181 metres (7,156 ft). Crystalline sulfur deposits on Mount Sibayak have historically been mined on a small scale, and seepage of sulfurous gases has caused acidic discolouration of its small crater lake . Lake Toba
20706-519: The east. Following the bankruptcy of the VOC, the Batavian Republic took control of the colony in 1799, and it was only then that education in and promotion of Dutch began in the colony . Even then, Dutch administrators were remarkably reluctant to promote the use of Dutch compared to other colonial regimes. Dutch thus remained the language of a small elite: in 1940, only 2% of the total population could speak Dutch. Nevertheless, it did have
20909-734: The end of the first millennium BCE, Austronesians were already sailing maritime trade routes linking the Han dynasty of China with the western Indian Ocean trade in India, the Roman Empire , and Africa. An Austronesian group, originally from the Makassar Strait region around Kalimantan and Sulawesi , eventually settled Madagascar , either directly from Southeast Asia or from preexisting mixed Austronesian- Bantu populations from East Africa . Estimates for when this occurred vary, from
21112-635: The evolution of the language with Indonesians, although the 1972 Indonesian alphabet reform was seen mainly as a concession of Dutch-based Indonesian to the English-based spelling of Malaysian. In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognised as one of the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference. Currently there are 10 official languages of the UNESCO General Conference, consisting of
21315-489: The exclusion of Melanesian and Micronesian languages. This was adopted by Ray, who defined the "Oceanic" language family as encompassing the languages of Southeast Asia and Madagascar, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. In 1899, the Austrian linguist and ethnologist Wilhelm Schmidt coined the term "Austronesian" (German: austronesisch , from Latin auster , "south wind"; and Greek νῆσος , "island") to refer to
21518-813: The face when seen in profile, sufficiently prominent and distinct from each other. This last variety includes the islanders of the Pacific Ocean, together with the inhabitants of the Marianas, the Philippine, the Molucca and the Sunda Islands, and of the Malayan peninsula. I wish to call it the Malay, because the majority of the men of this variety, especially those who inhabit the Indian islands close to
21721-454: The figure above is only de jure . In reality, the forests are not as large as the figures suggest. A lot of the forests are damaged, due to encroachment and illegal logging . So far, over 206,000 ha of forests in Sumatra have experienced changes in function. As many as 163,000 ha were converted to plantations and 42,900 ha were transmigration areas. The administrative centre of North Sumatra
21924-1285: The five cities. The new regency of Serdang Bedagai was formed on 18 December 2003 from part of Deli Serdang Regency, and the new regency of Batubara was formed on 2 January 2007 from part of Asahan Regency. Two further regencies were formed on 24 June 2008 - North Labuhanbatu and South Labuhanbatu - both from parts of Labuhanbatu Regency. The region includes 38 offshore islands - 11 in Langkat Regency, 1 in Deli Serdang, 1 in Medan City, 2 in Serdang Bedagai, 1 in Simalungun, 2 in Batubara, 4 in Asahan, 8 (riverine islands) in Tanjungbalai City, 2 in North Labuhanbatu and 6 in Labuhanbatu Regency. The province comprises three of Indonesia's 84 national electoral districts to elect members to
22127-464: The frequency of Indonesian ⟨é⟩ and ⟨o⟩. In traditional Malay, high vowels (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) could not appear in a final syllable if a mid-vowel (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) appeared in the previous syllable, and conversely, mid-vowels (⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩) could not appear in the final syllable if a high vowel (⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩) appeared in the previous syllable. Traditional Malay does not allow the mid-central schwa vowel to occur in consonant open or closed word-final syllables. The schwa vowel
22330-687: The furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until around 700 CE, when there was another surge of island colonization. It reached the Cook Islands , Tahiti , and the Marquesas by 700 CE; Hawaii by 900 CE; Rapa Nui by 1000 CE; and New Zealand by 1200 CE. For a few centuries, the Polynesian islands were connected by bidirectional long-distance sailing, with the exception of Rapa Nui, which had limited further contact due to its isolated geographical location. Island groups like
22533-757: The future president and vice-president, Sukarno and Hatta. Journalists, beginning a practice that has continued to the present, did not wait for the Komisi Bahasa to provide new words, but actively participated themselves in coining terms. Many of the Komisi Bahasa's terms never found public acceptance and after the Japanese period were replaced by the original Dutch forms, including jantera (Sanskrit for 'wheel'), which temporarily replaced mesin (machine), ketua negara (literally 'chairman of state'), which had replaced presiden (president) and kilang (meaning 'mill'), which had replaced pabrik (factory). In
22736-516: The general consensus is that the archeological, cultural, genetic, and especially linguistic evidence all separately indicate varying degrees of shared ancestry among Austronesian-speaking peoples that justifies their treatment as a " phylogenetic unit". This has led to the use of the term "Austronesian" in academic literature to refer not only to the Austronesian languages but also the Austronesian-speaking peoples, their societies, and
22939-431: The geographic area of Austronesia . Some Austronesian-speaking groups are not direct descendants of Austronesians and acquired their languages through language shift , but this is believed to have happened only in a few instances, since the Austronesian expansion was too rapid for language shifts to have occurred fast enough. In parts of Island Melanesia , migrations and paternal admixture from Papuan groups after
23142-439: The global population), making it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay (around 250–270 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard, named Indonesian ), Javanese , and Filipino ( Tagalog ). The family contains 1,257 languages, the second-largest number of any language family. The geographic region that encompasses native Austronesian-speaking populations
23345-421: The indigenous Aslians still speak Austroasiatic languages. However, some of the languages in the region show signs of underlying Austroasiatic substrates. According to Juha Janhunen and Ann Kumar, Austronesians may have also settled parts of southern Japan, especially on the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku , and influenced or created the Japanese hierarchical society. It is suggested that Japanese tribes like
23548-476: The inhabitants of these regions from Malayo-Polynesian speakers. However, there was growing evidence of their linguistic relationship to Malayo-Polynesian languages, notably from studies on the Melanesian languages by Georg von der Gabelentz , Robert Henry Codrington , and Sidney Herbert Ray . Codrington coined and used the term "Ocean" language family rather than "Malayo-Polynesian" in 1891, in opposition to
23751-719: The interior Papuans and Indigenous Australians . In modern literature, descendants of these groups, located in Island Southeast Asia west of Halmahera , are usually collectively referred to as " Negritos ", while descendants of these groups east of Halmahera (excluding Indigenous Australians ) are referred to as " Papuans ". They can also be divided into two broad groups based on Denisovan admixture . Philippine Negritos , Papuans, Melanesians , and Indigenous Australians display Denisovan admixture, while Malaysian and western Indonesian Negritos ( Orang Asli ) and Andamanese islanders do not. Mahdi (2017) also uses
23954-550: The island of Sumatra behind South Sumatra and Riau . Major ethnic groups include the Malay , native to the east coast; several Batak groups, indigenous to the west coast and central highlands; the Nias people of Nias Island and its surrounding islets; and Chinese , Javanese , and Indian peoples, who first migrated to Sumatra during Dutch rule . North Sumatra is home to the Toba Supervolcano , located in what
24157-527: The islands of the Indo-Pacific , culminating in the settlement of New Zealand c. 1250 CE . During the initial part of the migrations, they encountered and assimilated (or were assimilated by) the Paleolithic populations that had migrated earlier into Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea . They reached as far as Easter Island to the east, Madagascar to the west, and New Zealand to
24360-525: The islands they settled, resulting in further genetic input. The most notable are the Austroasiatic -speaking peoples in western Island Southeast Asia ( peninsular Malaysia , Sumatra , Borneo , and Java ); the Bantu peoples in Madagascar and the Comoros ; as well as Japanese , Persian , Indian , Arab , and Han Chinese traders and migrants in more recent centuries. Island Southeast Asia
24563-638: The landlocked Lake Toba comprising 1 in North Tapanuli Regency ( Pulau Sibandang ), 5 in Samosir Regency and 1 in Humbang Hasundutan Regency. The region comprises the northeastern part of the province on the island of Sumatra, and equates to the former State of East Sumatra which existed at the time of independence. It now covers ten regencies and five cities, but originally there were just six regencies and
24766-1355: The language and established bahasa Indonesia as the national language of the new nation. The term bahasa Indonesia itself had been proposed by Mohammad Tabrani in 1926, and Tabrani had further proposed the term over calling the language Malay language during the First Youth Congress in 1926. Indonesian language (old VOS spelling): Jang dinamakan 'Bahasa Indonesia' jaitoe bahasa Melajoe jang soenggoehpoen pokoknja berasal dari 'Melajoe Riaoe' akan tetapi jang soedah ditambah, dioebah ataoe dikoerangi menoeroet keperloean zaman dan alam baharoe, hingga bahasa itoe laloe moedah dipakai oleh rakjat diseloeroeh Indonesia; pembaharoean bahasa Melajoe hingga menjadi bahasa Indonesia itoe haroes dilakoekan oleh kaoem ahli jang beralam baharoe, ialah alam kebangsaan Indonesia Indonesian (modern EYD spelling): Yang dinamakan 'Bahasa Indonesia' yaitu bahasa Melayu yang sungguhpun pokoknya berasal dari 'Melayu Riau' akan tetapi yang sudah ditambah, diubah atau dikurangi menurut keperluan zaman dan alam baru, hingga bahasa itu lalu mudah dipakai oleh rakyat di seluruh Indonesia; pembaharuan bahasa Melayu hingga menjadi bahasa Indonesia itu harus dilakukan oleh kaum ahli yang beralam baru, ialah alam kebangsaan Indonesia English : "What
24969-499: The language family. Schmidt had the same motivations as Codrington: he proposed the term as a replacement to "Malayo-Polynesian", because he also opposed the implied exclusion of the languages of Melanesia and Micronesia in the latter name. It became the accepted name for the language family, with Oceanic and Malayo-Polynesian languages being retained as names for subgroups. The term "Austronesian", or more accurately "Austronesian-speaking peoples", came to refer to people who speak
25172-412: The language of politics , education , and nation-building in general, Indonesian became one of the few success stories of an indigenous language effectively overtaking that of a country's colonisers to become the de jure and de facto official language. Today, Indonesian continues to function as the language of national identity as the Congress of Indonesian Youth envisioned, and also serves as
25375-432: The language of education, literacy , modernization , and social mobility . Despite still being a second language to most Indonesians, it is unquestionably the language of the Indonesian nation as a whole, as it has had unrivalled success as a factor in nation-building and the strengthening of Indonesian identity. Indonesian is spoken as a mother tongue and national language. Over 200 million people regularly make use of
25578-612: The language was based on Riau Malay, though linguists note that this is not the local dialect of Riau, but the Malaccan dialect that was used in the Riau court . Since its conception in 1928 and its official recognition in the 1945 Constitution, the Indonesian language has been loaded with a nationalist political agenda to unify Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies ). This status has made it relatively open to accommodate influences from other Indonesian ethnic languages, most notably Javanese as
25781-481: The language with the most native speakers (Javanese) nor the language of the former European colonial power (Dutch) was to be adopted. Instead, a local language with far fewer native speakers than the most widely spoken local language was chosen (nevertheless, Malay was the second most widely spoken language in the colony after Javanese, and had many L2 speakers using it for trade, administration, and education). In 1945, when Indonesia declared its independence, Indonesian
25984-470: The language's wordstock. The Japanese agreed to the establishment of the Komisi Bahasa (Language Commission) in October 1942, formally headed by three Japanese but with a number of prominent Indonesian intellectuals playing the major part in its activities. Soewandi, later to be Minister of Education and Culture, was appointed secretary, Alisjahbana was appointed an 'expert secretary' and other members included
26187-417: The language, with Chinese influencing Indonesian during the 15th and 16th centuries due to the spice trade ; Sanskrit , Tamil , Prakrit and Hindi contributing during the flourishing of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms from the 2nd to the 14th century; followed by Arabic after the spread of Islam in the archipelago in the 13th century. Loanwords from Portuguese were mainly connected with articles that
26390-549: The languages of the Austronesian language family. Some authors, however, object to the use of the term to refer to people, as they question whether there really is any biological or cultural shared ancestry between all Austronesian-speaking groups. This is especially true for authors who reject the prevailing "Out of Taiwan" hypothesis and instead offer scenarios where the Austronesian languages spread among preexisting static populations through borrowing or convergence, with little or no population movements. Despite these objections,
26593-627: The languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities. There are more than 700 local languages in Indonesian islands, such as Javanese , Sundanese , etc. While Malay as the source of Indonesian is the mother tongue of ethnic Malay who lives along the east coast of Sumatra, in the Riau Archipelago, and on the south and west coast of Kalimantan (Borneo). There are several areas, such as Jakarta, Manado, Lesser Sunda islands, and Mollucas which has Malay-based trade languages. Thus,
26796-419: The later confusion of his racial category with the Malay ethnic group . The other varieties Blumenbach identified were the "Caucasians" (white), "Mongolians" (yellow), "Ethiopians" (black), and "Americans" (red). Blumenbach's definition of the "Malay" race is largely identical to the modern distribution of the Austronesian peoples, including not only Islander Southeast Asians but also the people of Madagascar and
26999-410: The less common words such as paddy , sago and kapok , all of which were inherited in Indonesian from Malay but borrowed from Malay in English. The phrase "to run amok" comes from the Malay verb amuk (to run out of control, to rage). Indonesian is neither a pidgin nor a creole since its characteristics do not meet any of the criteria for either. It is believed that the Indonesian language
27202-589: The likelihood of the Malay homeland being in western Borneo stretching to the Bruneian coast. A form known as Proto-Malay language was spoken in Borneo at least by 1000 BCE and was, it has been argued, the ancestral language of all subsequent Malayan languages . Its ancestor, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian , a descendant of the Proto-Austronesian language , began to break up by at least 2000 BCE, possibly as
27405-444: The mainland until 1500 BCE. The identity of the Neolithic pre-Austronesian cultures in China is contentious. Tracing Austronesian prehistory in Fujian and Taiwan has been difficult due to the southward expansion of the Han dynasty (2nd century BCE) and the recent Qing dynasty annexation of Taiwan (1683 CE). Today, the only Austronesian language in southern China is Tsat , spoken in Hainan . The politicization of archaeology
27608-480: The majority ethnic group, and Dutch as the previous coloniser. Compared to the indigenous dialects of Malay spoken in Sumatra and Malay peninsula or the normative Malaysian standard, the Indonesian language differs profoundly by a large number of Javanese loanwords incorporated into its already-rich vocabulary. As a result, Indonesian has more extensive sources of loanwords , compared to Malaysian Malay. The disparate evolution of Indonesian and Malaysian has led to
27811-409: The majority of the population and that would not divide the nation by favouring one ethnic group, namely the Javanese, over the others. In 1945, Indonesian was already in widespread use; in fact, it had been for roughly a thousand years. Over that long period, Malay, which would later become standardized as Indonesian, was the primary language of commerce and travel . It was also the language used for
28014-463: The members of aristocratic families. To opportunistic pergerakan militants (including Communist Party of Indonesia members Xarim MS and Luat Siregar), the revolutionary movement was seen as a means for East Sumatra to be freed from colonial rule and to join the larger Indonesian National Revolution . Participants of the revolution were believed to be provoked by leaders to kill aristocrats and create violence with three prime objectives: to eliminate
28217-444: The methods used are highly contentious. In support of both the Austric and Austro-Tai hypothesis, Robert Blust connects the lower Yangtze Neolithic Austro-Tai entity with the rice-cultivating Austroasiatic cultures, assuming the center of East Asian rice domestication, and putative Austric homeland, to be located in the Yunnan/Burma border area, instead of the Yangtze River basin, as is currently accepted. Under that view, there
28420-458: The mid-front vowel /e/ is sometimes represented with a diacritic as ⟨é⟩ to distinguish it from the mid-central vowel ⟨ê⟩ /ə/. Since 2015, the auxiliary graphemes ⟨é⟩ and ⟨è⟩ are used respectively for phonetic [ e ] and [ ɛ ] in Indonesian, while Standard Malay has rendered both of them as ⟨é⟩. The phonetic realization of the mid vowels / e / and / o / ranges from close-mid ( [e] / [o] ) to open-mid ( [ɛ] / [ɔ] ) allophones . Some analyses set up
28623-434: The migrations, including rice , bananas, coconuts, breadfruit , Dioscorea yams , taro , paper mulberry , chickens, pigs, and dogs . The linguistic connections between Madagascar , Polynesia , and Southeast Asia , particularly the similarities between Malagasy , Malay , and Polynesian numerals , were recognized early in the colonial era by European authors. The first formal publication on these relationships
28826-414: The more classical School Malay and it was accused of publishing Dutch written with an Indonesian vocabulary. Alisjahbana would no doubt have taken the criticism as a demonstration of his success. To him the language of Pujangga Baru pointed the way to the future, to an elaborated, Westernised language able to express all the concepts of the modern world. As an example, among the many innovations they condemned
29029-426: The most sway due to customs and traditions which consider Bakkara the place of origin of the Batak people. The Nias people on Nias Island remained isolated during its early era. Its people practiced agriculture and cultivation, made art carvings, and adhered to shamanist and pagan practices. By c. 1500 , there were several kingdoms on the east coast of Sumatra, namely the larger Nagur and Aru kingdoms and
29232-465: The mouths of rivers and became centres of government. Relics of the Mesolithic era have been found in North Sumatra, including finely honed stone axes, bone tools, and painting materials. Linguistic and archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesian speakers reached Sumatra from Taiwan and the Philippines through Borneo or Java about 2,500 years ago, and the Batak probably descended from these settlers. New genetic research has found that
29435-421: The names of North Sumatran states he defeated in one expedition to conquer Srivijaya . States that he mentioned included Sriwijaya, Malayur, Kendara, and the Panai Kingdom . Furthermore, the Negarakertagama epic by Mpu Prapanca from the 14th century list countries found in North Sumatra, Pane, Haru, Mandailing, Tamiang, Lawas, and Barus, which were mainly defeated by the Majapahit . The earliest kingdom that
29638-430: The national language, with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation that is home to more than 700 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, it plays an important unifying and cross-archipelagic role for the country. Use of the national language is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools , universities , workplaces , among members of the upper-class or nobility and also in formal situations, despite
29841-451: The nearby tonal languages of Mainland Southeast Asia and Hainan. Although the populations of the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and neighboring islands are Austronesian-speaking, they have significantly high admixture from Mainland Southeast Asian populations. These areas were already populated (most probably by speakers of Austroasiatic languages) before they were reached by the Austronesian expansion, roughly 3,000 years ago. Currently, only
30044-408: The need to develop Indonesian so that it could take its place as a fully adequate national language, able to replace Dutch as a means of entry into modern international culture. In 1933, he began the magazine Pujangga Baru (New Writer — Poedjangga Baroe in the original spelling) with co-editors Amir Hamzah and Armijn Pane. The language of Pujangga Baru came in for criticism from those associated with
30247-412: The next day. The main force followed on bicycles. There was some resistance from the Dutch forces, particularly around Pematangsiantar , but the last major town, Sibolga , fell on 15 March. During the Japanese occupation of North Sumatra, the leader of the Japanese Armed Forces was centred in Bukittinggi , moving the de facto capital out of the Dutch centre of Medan. The occupation lasted 3 years. In 1945
30450-399: The nineteenth century, Dutch power was concentrated on the island of Java and parts of the Moluccas. In the nineteenth century, the Dutch began to focus more on to areas outside Java, including North Sumatra, driving out British influence. Dutch control was formalized with the handover of most of Indonesia in the 1814 Treaty of London , which was renewed in the 1824 Treaty of London . However,
30653-406: The northeast coast of Nias. The Batu Islands, just southeast of Nias, consist of 51 islands including three major islands: Pini, Tanahbala and Tanahmasa. Pulau Telo is their administrative centre on the small island of Situasi. Other islands in North Sumatra include Imanna, Pasu, Bawa, Hamutaia, Batu Makelele, Masa, Bau, Simaleh, Makole, Jake, and Wunga [ id ] . Half of the province
30856-434: The open ocean; this technology allowed them to colonize a large part of the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to the 16th-century colonial era , the Austronesian language family was the most widespread in the world, spanning half the planet from Easter Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean to Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean . Languages of the Austronesian family are today spoken by about 386 million people (4.9% of
31059-435: The past in areas that are not inhabited by Austronesian speakers today. These range from likely hypotheses to very controversial claims with minimal evidence. In 2009, Roger Blench compiled an expanded map of Austronesia that encompassed these claims based on a variety of evidence, such as historical accounts, loanwords, introduced plants and animals , genetics, archeological sites, and material culture. They include areas like
31262-616: The phonetic and grammatical rules of Indonesian, enriching the language and reflecting Indonesia's diverse linguistic heritage. Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are fluent in at least one of the more than 700 indigenous local languages ; examples include Javanese and Sundanese , which are commonly used at home and within the local community. However, most formal education and nearly all national mass media , governance , administration , and judiciary and other forms of communication are conducted in Indonesian. Under Indonesian rule from 1976 to 1999, Indonesian
31465-473: The prefix me- is often dropped, although an initial nasal consonant is often retained, as when mengangkat becomes ngangkat (the basic word is angkat ). The suffixes -kan and -i are often replaced by -in . For example, mencarikan becomes nyariin , menuruti becomes nurutin . The latter grammatical aspect is one often closely related to the Indonesian spoken in Jakarta and its surrounding areas. Malay historical linguists agree on
31668-505: The projected new provinces within which they are situated: . This region contains the substantial island of Nias and various small offshore islands, including the Batu Islands to the south. Originally it comprised a single Nias Regency (created on 7 November 1956), but on 25 February 2003 the southern part of the island (including the Batu Islands) was split off to form a separate South Nias Regency . On 29 October 2008 two new regencies - North Nias and West Nias - together with
31871-417: The propagation of Islam in the 13th to 17th centuries, as well as the language of instruction used by Portuguese and Dutch missionaries attempting to convert the indigenous people to Christianity . The combination of these factors meant that the language was already known to some degree by most of the population, and it could be more easily adopted as the national language than perhaps any other. Moreover, it
32074-491: The province also attract neighbouring people from Aceh, Riau and West Sumatra, which is the Aceh and Minangkabau people presents. Bataks make up 44.95% of the population, including the Batak Karo and Mandailing. The Javanese come second with 30.62%, the Malays add up to 5.92% and the ethnic Chinese comprise 5.75%. The Nias people make up around 4.10% and the rest are Minangkabau (2.66%), Acehnese (1.07%), ethnic Indian (1.00%) and other ethnic groups (1.15%) The distribution of
32277-436: The proximity of spoken Indonesian (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) to its normative form is noticeably low. This is mostly due to Indonesians combining aspects of their own local languages (e.g., Javanese , Sundanese , and Balinese ) with Indonesian. This results in various vernacular varieties of Indonesian, the very types that a foreigner is most likely to hear upon arriving in any Indonesian city or town. This phenomenon
32480-484: The region vulnerable to outside influences from Aceh , Melaka , Portugal , Siak , and Minangkabau . The Sultanate of Aceh worked to spread Islam across the eastern coast, and in the Padri War , succeeded in spreading Islam into the southern Tapanuli kingdom. As a result of this warfare and cultural shifts, the three big kingdoms split into several small kingdoms and sultanates, including Deli , Serdang , Asahan , Langkat Sultanate , Maropat, Lingga. Malacca fell to
32683-415: The remainder are Buddhists, Hindus, or follow folk religions such as Confucians, Parmalim, and Taoists. These are the recognized religions of North Sumatra: Indonesian language Indonesian ( Bahasa Indonesia ; [baˈhasa indoˈnesija] ) is the official and national language of Indonesia . It is a standardized variety of Malay , an Austronesian language that has been used as
32886-405: The remarkably unique characteristics of the Austronesian speakers: their extent, diversity, and rapid dispersal. Regardless, certain disagreements still exist among researchers with regards to chronology, origin, dispersal, adaptations to the island environments, interactions with preexisting populations in areas they settled, and cultural developments over time. The mainstream accepted hypothesis
33089-501: The result of various Neolithic migration waves from the mainland and back-migration from the Philippines. These incoming migrants almost certainly spoke languages related to Austronesian or pre-Austronesian, although their phonology and grammar would have been quite diverse. Blench considers the Austronesians in Taiwan to have been a melting pot of immigrants from various parts of the coast of East China that had been migrating to Taiwan by 4000 BP. These immigrants included people from
33292-446: The same material basis as the Malaysian standard of Malay and is therefore considered to be a variety of the pluricentric Malay language. However, it does differ from Malaysian Malay in several respects, with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. These differences are due mainly to the Dutch and Javanese influences on Indonesian. Indonesian was also influenced by the Melayu pasar ( lit. ' market Malay ' ), which
33495-420: The shores of the Straits of Malacca, has been widely visited by Hindus and by Chinese traders for centuries since the founding of early Situs Kota Cina or Chinatown sites in Hamparan Perak c. 11th–14th centuries CE . Barus , a trading port on the western coast of Tapanuli, attracted Middle Age era traders in search of camphor , which was popular in Ancient Egypt. In 1030, Rajendra Chola recorded
33698-410: The single-migration model into Taiwan by pre-Austronesians to be inconsistent with both the archaeological and linguistic (lexical) evidence. The Austronesian expansion (also called the "Out of Taiwan" model) is a large-scale migration of Austronesians from Taiwan, occurring around 3000 to 1500 BCE. Population growth primarily fueled this migration. These first settlers settled in northern Luzon , in
33901-820: The six United Nations languages, namely English , French , Arabic , Chinese , Russian , and Spanish , as well as four other languages of UNESCO member countries, namely Hindi , Italian , Portuguese , and Indonesian. As regulated by Indonesian state law UU No 24/2009, other than state official speeches and documents between or issued to Indonesian government, Indonesian language is required by law to be used in: However, other languages may be used in dual-language setting to accompany but not to replace Indonesian language in: agreements, information regarding goods / services, scientific papers, information through mass media, geographical names, public signs, road signs, public facilities, banners, and other information of public services in public area. While there are no sanctions of
34104-467: The smaller Panai and Batangiou kingdoms. To the west, in the hinterland of Tapanuli , another kingdom emerged: a Batak kingdom founded by descendants of Sisingamangaraja. This kingdom gradually expanded its influenced throughout Tapanuli to Angkola, Mandailing, and Dairi. The three largest kingdoms in North Sumatra in the sixteenth century were Nagur, the Batak kingdom under the rule of King Sisingamangaraja, and Aru. Wars between these three kingdoms made
34307-401: The south. At the furthest extent, they might have also reached the Americas . Aside from language, Austronesian peoples widely share cultural characteristics, including such traditions and traditional technologies as tattooing , stilt houses , jade carving, wetland agriculture , and various rock art motifs. They also share domesticated plants and animals that were carried along with
34510-484: The southeast. The province contains a broad, low plain along the Strait of Malacca on which the provincial capital, Medan, is located. In the south and west, the land rises to the Bukit Barisan mountain range that runs the length of Sumatra; the mountains here surround Lake Toba , which was formed from the caldera of an ancient volcano. Several large islands in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Sumatra are currently part of North Sumatra, most notably Nias Island and
34713-642: The southwestern part of the province on the island of Sumatra , and equates to the former Tapanoeli Residency which existed at the time of independence (except for Nias Island). When the province was created, the region comprised three regencies ( North Tapanuli , Central Tapanuli and South Tapanuli ) and the city of Sibolga . A fourth regency - Dairi - was created on 23 September 1964 from part of North Tapanuli Regency. Two more new regencies were formed on 23 November 1998 - Mandailing Natal from part of South Tapanuli Regency, and Toba Samosir from another part of North Tapanuli Regency. The city of Padang Sidempuan
34916-430: The status of the Indonesian language. The national language is Indonesian. Indonesian functions as a symbol of national identity and pride, and is a lingua franca among the diverse ethnic groups in Indonesia and the speakers of vernacular Malay dialects and Malay creoles. The Indonesian language serves as the national and official language, the language of education, communication, transaction and trade documentation,
35119-405: The sultanates had been formally included within the Dutch East Indies, and in Deli, the sultan of Deli granted the Dutch sole rights over taxation and leases, in exchange for an annual pension. That year, the East Coast Residency was established. On March 12, 1942, Japanese forces landed in Palubuhan Ruku on the east coast, and advanced on Medan. The advance force reported it had captured the town
35322-454: The sultanates of Asahan , Serdang , Deli and Langkat . The Dutch proceeded further into Batakland and North Sumatra, invading Toba, Karo Highland, Nias and Silindung with the help of Christian missionaries, such as Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen , who worked to Christianize the area. The Dutch invasion into Batakland met resistance by Sisingamangaraja XII , causing a guerilla war lasting 30 years until and Sisingmangaraja XII's death in battle and
35525-401: The sultans and aristocrats (who were seen as Dutch allies), to seize their wealth (to fund the Indonesian independence campaign), and to eliminate the region's feudal social structure. The Dutch authorities, working with the East Sumatra Union ( Persatuan Sumatra Timur ), which had been formed in 1938 by westernized Malay elites to reassert Malay and Simalungun ethnic interests, established
35728-609: The term "First Sundaland People" in place of "Negrito", as a more accurate name for the original population of Southeast Asia. These populations are genetically distinct from later Austronesians, but through fairly extensive population admixture, most modern Austronesians have varying levels of ancestry from these groups. The same is true for some populations historically considered "non-Austronesians", due to physical differences—like Philippine Negritos, Orang Asli, and Austronesian-speaking Melanesians, all of whom have Austronesian admixture. In Polynesians in Remote Oceania , for example,
35931-412: The term "Qata" (from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qata) to distinguish the indigenous populations of Southeast Asia, versus "Tau" (from Proto-Austronesian *Cau) for the later settlers from Taiwan and mainland China. Both are based on proto-forms for the word "person" in Malayo-Polynesian languages that referred to darker-skinned and lighter-skinned groups, respectively. Jinam et al. (2017) also proposed
36134-460: The tribes, clans, and ethnic groups in North Sumatra is as follows: As well as Indonesian , languages spoken in the province include various dialects of Batak languages (particularly around Lake Toba ), Javanese (various regions in the east of the province, especially around Medan ), Malay , Minangkabau and the Nias language (parts of Nias ). Religion in North Sumatra (2022) More than 95% of all residents are either Muslim or Christian;
36337-583: The two groups, like facial tattooing, tooth removal or ablation , teeth blackening, snake (or dragon) cults, and the multiple-tongued jaw harps shared by the indigenous Taiwanese and Kra-Dai-speakers. However, archaeological evidence for this is still sparse. This is believed to be similar to what happened to the Cham people , who were originally Austronesian settlers (likely from Borneo ) to southern Vietnam around 2100–1900 BP and had languages similar to Malay . Their languages underwent several restructuring events to syntax and phonology due to contact with
36540-430: The use of Indonesian was allowed since the Volksraad sessions held in July 1938. By the time they tried to counter the spread of Malay by teaching Dutch to the natives, it was too late, and in 1942, the Japanese conquered Indonesia. The Japanese mandated that all official business be conducted in Indonesian and quickly outlawed the use of the Dutch language. Three years later, the Indonesians themselves formally abolished
36743-478: The uses of other languages, in Indonesian court's point of view, any agreements made in Indonesia but not drafted in Indonesian language, is null and void. In any different interpretations in dual-language agreements setting, Indonesian language shall prevail. Indonesian has six vowel phonemes as shown in the table below. In standard Indonesian orthography, the Latin alphabet is used, and five vowels are distinguished: a, i, u, e, o . In materials for learners,
36946-420: The west, and by the Strait of Malacca (with a maritime border with Malaysia ) to the east. With a 2020 population around 14.8 million and mid-2023 estimate around 15.4 million, North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province and the most populous province outside of Java Island . At 72,460.74 square kilometres (27,977.25 sq mi), North Sumatra is also the third-largest province in area on
37149-422: The word bahasa only means language. For example, French language is translated as bahasa Prancis , and the same applies to other languages, such as bahasa Inggris (English), bahasa Jepang (Japanese), bahasa Arab (Arabic), bahasa Italia (Italian), and so on. Indonesians generally may not recognize the name Bahasa alone when it refers to their national language. Standard Indonesian
37352-566: Was settled by modern humans in the Paleolithic following coastal migration routes , presumably starting before 70,000 BP from Africa , long before the development of Austronesian cultures. These populations are typified by having dark skin, curly hair, and short statures, leading Europeans to believe, in the 19th century, that they were related to African Pygmies . However, despite these physical similarities, genetic studies have shown that they are more closely related to other Eurasian populations than to Africans. The lowered sea levels of
37555-446: Was an east–west genetic alignment, resulting from a rice-based population expansion, in the southern part of East Asia: Austroasiatic-Kra-Dai-Austronesian, with unrelated Sino-Tibetan occupying a more northerly tier. Depending on the author, other hypotheses have also included other language families like Hmong-Mien and even Japanese-Ryukyuan into the larger Austric hypothesis. While the Austric hypothesis remains contentious, there
37758-549: Was composed of 10 regencies and 6 cities, but an 11th regency ( Dairi Regency ) was created on 23 September 1964. Fourteen more new regencies and two new cities were created between 1998 and 2008. All these are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 census and the 2020 census, together with their official estimates for mid-2023. Regencies and cities are sub-divided into 455 districts , which in turn are further sub-divided into 6,110 villages (as of early 2024). Proposals have been under consideration since 2013 by
37961-403: Was designated as the official language of Timor Leste . It has the status of a working language under the country's constitution along with English . In November 2023, the Indonesian language was recognized as one of the official languages of the UNESCO General Conference. The term Indonesian is primarily associated with the national standard dialect ( bahasa baku ). However, in
38164-493: Was divided into three sub-provinces, each of which had the right to regulate and manage its own affairs. April 15, 1948 was later designated as the anniversary of the Province of North Sumatra. Archaeological understanding of early North Sumatran peoples is limited compared to that of other nearby regions. Prehistoric relics in North Sumatra show that the oldest population may have been Austronesian or Melanesian . Archaeological evidence indicates that their dispersal took place in
38367-473: Was divided into three sub-provinces: North Sumatra, Central Sumatra and South Sumatra . North Sumatra was an amalgamation of three administrative regions called Residencies: the Residency of Aceh, the East Sumatra Residency, and the Residency of Tapanuli. The publication of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia (R.I.) No. 10, Year 1948 on April 15, 1948, formalized the division of these three provinces. The date of 15 April 1948 has been subsequently celebrated as
38570-436: Was formally declared the national language, despite being the native language of only about 5% of the population. In contrast, Javanese and Sundanese were the mother tongues of 42–48% and 15% respectively. The combination of nationalistic , political , and practical concerns ultimately led to the successful adoption of Indonesian as a national language. In 1945, Javanese was easily the most prominent language in Indonesia. It
38773-506: Was in 1708 by Dutch Orientalist Adriaan Reland , who recognized a "common language" from Madagascar to western Polynesia, although Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman observed linguistic links between Madagascar and the Malay Archipelago a century earlier, in 1603. German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster , who traveled with James Cook on his second voyage , also recognized the similarities of Polynesian languages to those of Island Southeast Asia. In his book Observations Made during
38976-550: Was introduced in closed syllables under the influence of Javanese and Jakarta Malay, but Dutch borrowings made it more acceptable. Although Alisjahbana argued against it, insisting on writing ⟨a⟩ instead of an ⟨ê⟩ in final syllables such as koda (vs kodə 'code') and nasionalisma (vs nasionalismə 'nationalism'), he was unsuccessful. This spelling convention was instead survived in Balinese orthography. Indonesian has four diphthong phonemes only in open syllables. They are: Some analyses assume that these diphthongs are actually
39179-449: Was located close to present-day Medan and Deli Serdang . Its people are believed to have been descendants of the Karo people from the interior of North Sumatra. An area near Lake Toba called Batakland (or the Batak Lands ) housed kingdoms of Batak people. It was first mentioned in Zhao Rugua 's 13th-century Description of the Barbarous Peoples , which refers to a 'Ba-ta' dependency of Srivijaya . The Suma Oriental , written in
39382-456: Was one of the means to achieve independence, but it is opened to receive vocabulary from other foreign languages aside from Malay that it has made contact with since the colonialism era, such as Dutch, English and Arabic among others, as the loan words keep increasing each year. In 2020, Indonesian had 71.9 million native speakers and 176.5 million second-language speakers, who speak it alongside their local mother tongue , giving
39585-428: Was present on the eastern coast of North Sumatra was the Aru Kingdom , which existed from the 13th to the 16th century CE. In its height, the kingdom was a maritime power and controlled the northern part of the Malacca strait . The kingdom was initially established as a Karo polity . The indigenous population practiced native animism and Hinduism . Starting in 13th century, some also practiced Islam . Aru's capital
39788-470: Was previously uninhabited by humans or hominins and can only be reached from either Mindanao or the Sangihe Islands by crossing an expanse of water at least 100 km (62 mi) wide, even during the low sea levels of the Pleistocene. Other evidence of early maritime transport are the appearance of obsidian tools with the same source on neighboring islands. These include the Philippine obsidian network ( Mindoro and Palawan , ca.33,000-28,000 BP), and
39991-712: Was split off from South Tapanuli Regency on 21 June 2001. Two further regencies were formed on 25 February 2003 - Humbang Hasundutan from part of North Tapanuli Regency, and Pakpak Bharat from part of Dairi Regency. A new Samosir Regency was created from part of Toba Samosir Regency on 18 December 2003 (more recently, the remaining part of this regency was renamed Toba Regency). Another two regencies were created on 17 July 2007 - Padang Lawas and North Padang Lawas , both from parts of South Tapanuli Regency. The region includes 60 small offshore islands - 24 in Mandailing Natal, 31 in Central Tapanuli (the largest being Mursala Island off Sibolga) and 5 in Sibolga City, plus 7 islands in
40194-400: Was still no notion of Indonesian language. Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana was a great promoter of the use and development of Indonesian and he was greatly exaggerating the decline of Dutch. Higher education was still in Dutch and many educated Indonesians were writing and speaking in Dutch in many situations (and were still doing so well after independence was achieved). He believed passionately in
40397-440: Was the language of the sultanate of Brunei and of future Malaysia , on which some Indonesian nationalists had claims . Over the first 53 years of Indonesian independence , the country's first two presidents, Sukarno and Suharto constantly nurtured the sense of national unity embodied by Indonesian, and the language remains an essential component of Indonesian identity. Through a language planning program that made Indonesian
40600-407: Was the lingua franca of the archipelago in colonial times, and thus indirectly by other spoken languages of the islands. Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the classical Malay of earlier centuries, even though modern Malaysian has been heavily influenced, in lexicon as well as in syntax, by English. The question of whether High Malay (Court Malay) or Low Malay (Bazaar Malay) was the true parent of
40803-445: Was the native language of nearly half the population, the primary language of politics and economics , and the language of courtly , religious , and literary tradition. What it lacked, however, was the ability to unite the diverse Indonesian population as a whole. With thousands of islands and hundreds of different languages, the newly independent country of Indonesia had to find a national language that could realistically be spoken by
41006-649: Was use of the word bisa instead of dapat for 'can'. In Malay bisa meant only 'poison from an animal's bite' and the increasing use of Javanese bisa in the new meaning they regarded as one of the many threats to the language's purity. Unlike more traditional intellectuals, he did not look to Classical Malay and the past. For him, Indonesian was a new concept; a new beginning was needed and he looked to Western civilisation, with its dynamic society of individuals freed from traditional fetters, as his inspiration. The prohibition on use of Dutch led to an expansion of Indonesian language newspapers and pressure on them to increase
41209-412: Was viewed with suspicion, and Dr Tengku Mansur entered into negotiations with Mohammad Hatta to reunify East Sumatra with the Republic of Indonesia in May 1950. Mansur surrendered authority to the republic and East Sumatra merged with Tapanuli to become the province of North Sumatra on August 15, 1950. After Indonesian independence, at the first session of the National Committee of Regions (KND), Sumatra
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