Pusaka Collection of Indonesian Ikat Textiles * Curator Peter ten Hoopen

Timor Barat and Timor Timur

The name 'Timor', which means 'East' in Malay and related languages ('timur' being the modern spelling), is derived from its location at the eastern extremity of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Politically the island is split in two roughly equal parts, West Timor (bahasa Timor Barat), which is part of the Republic of Indonesia, and East Timur (bahasa Timor Timur), which forms the independent republic of Timor Leste. The two parts of the island had a different colonial past, and a distinct recent history, and have diverged culturally to a fair degree, reasons why we look at the two parts separately. Please refer to our articles on:

Timor Barat, West Timor, long part of the Dutch East Indies, in 1949 became integrated into the Republic of Indonesia.
Timor Timur, East Timor, a Portuguese colony until 1975, after struggle with Indonesia in 2002 became independent nation of Timor-Leste.

For a cursory trip across the island you can use the interactive map below to go directly to a page with an ikat textile from a specific region on Timor.

Timor - a world of diversity

Timor is markedly different from the rest of Nusa Tenggara. The range of volcanoes, many of them active, that runs through the Indonesian archipelago from Sumatra on eastwards, after Flores veers north to continue in the Moluccas. Timor is by no means flat though. It has a mountainous interior with seven peaks reaching 2500 - 3000 m, and is geologically an extension of Australia of which it once was a part. Its semi-arid climate is also strongly influenced by Australia, marked by an extremely wet rainy season and a very long dry season know to cause lapar biasa, 'common hunger' - one of the few things that the Timorese can truly be said to have in common, as in many respects they show great diversity, which manifests itself in their textiles.
Only one other island in the Indonesian archipelago (namely Flores) shows more diversity in ikat patterning than Timor, a mountainous island about 500 km long with over twenty different languages. Archaeological finds suggest that Timor was settled by Homo erectus, an early hominoid related to Java Man as early as a million years ago. It received waves of immigration for thousands of years, first by Austro-Melanesians and in the period of 3000 to 1000 BC by Austronesians from Taiwan, who brought with them emblematic practices such as animist beliefs, headhunting, tattooing, the use of barkcloth, agriculture and domestication of animals - mainly pigs and dogs, both of which were on the menu.



	Atoni warriors wearing ikat waistcloths, that appear to indicate Ambenu provenance. [Note the similarity with our PC 169] Early 20th C. Photographer unknown. Collection Tropenmuseum, GPL.

Highland dwellers

Whereas on most islands in the Indonesian archipelago the population is concentrated in coast towns and villages, remarkably, most of the Timorese, especially those of the dominant Atoni stock, prefer the highlands of the interior. Villages were traditionally small to very small, most Timorese preferring to live well away from others who might compete for land use. Many hamlets were built on precarious, hardly accessible locations, that offered protection from slave traders and other enemies.
     Shortly before and after the influx of the Austronesians the island appears to have received waves of Papuan speaking groups. In the period between 1500 and 100 BC There may also have been cultural influences from the Lapita culture of Melanesia and Western Polynesia. A millennium later, between 500 and 100 BC, the North Vietnamese Dong-Son bronze making culture dominated large swaths of the Indonesian archipelago, bringing social stratification, rice cultivation and handicrafts. Many authors mention weaving with the backstrap loom as a Dong-Son legacy, but it is well established by now that weaving came to the Indonesian archipelago thousands of years before. Though the Dongsong culture left many traces on nearby Alor, including finely decorated bronze kettle drums or moko, it is likely to have influenced Timorese only to a limited extent, due to both its peripheral position and its climate, with its long dry period, which allows only one rice crop per year.
     In the first seven centuries AD the Indianized Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms on Sumatra and Java must have made a cultural impact, though again, only to a limited extent due to Timor's remote position. The same applies to the Islamic influences exerted from the 13th C. onwards by the sultanates of the nearby Moluccas, which were attenuated not just by geography, but from 1520 onwards also by the Portuguese and Dutch colonial masters who fought over the island for centuries, but agreed on one thing: they preferred their subjects Christian, and encouraged migration to Timor of converted peoples whom they considered loyal subjects. These included so-called Topasses, people of mixed Portuguese and Asian blood, many from Eastern Flores.
     The Dutch, who took control of the western portion of Timor in 1613, also shipped over Rotinese, from the small island just west of the western tip of Timor, and Savunese from a tiny island in the Savu Sea further west. The Rotinese and Savunese had been Christianized by the Dutch early in the 17th C., and due to competition between the local nobles as to who could build the better schools, received a solid education that made them ideal civil servants. For several centuries they were the de facto shapers of Timorese society.

Identity remains locally rooted

Timor has long been on the trading map, originally because of its fabled sandalwood (which diminished sharply in the 1920s due to over-harvesting) and beeswax, later also because of its indigo which the Dutch forced the islanders to cultivate for export to India and other Asian lands. As a result, the ports of Kupang in West Timor and Dili in East Timor have always received an influx of foreign traders, such as Arabs, Chinese, Buginese and Macassans, who further enriched the cultural mix that is Timor. There is also a strong Papuan influence, especially in East Timor.
Most of the Timorese still speak their local language, but are also fluent in Bahasa Indonesia (in the West) or Portuguese (in the East). Due to the cultural diversity and the rough terrain which has always limited communication, there has never existed a 'Timorese' identity. Most Timorese still identify themselves by historical origin: the old kingdom they hail from, and their clan background - which even today are immediately identifiable by the textiles they wear. Unfortunately nearly all ikat made on Timor today relies heavily on the chemical industry. Traders who scour the island for 'full asli' ikat, nagging the old people to surrender their last remaining adat pieces, report coming up dry on most of their trips and may soon give up.

IKAT FROM TIMOR, INDONESIA

Timor Barat and Timor Timur

Timor - a world of diversity

Highland dwellers

Identity remains locally rooted

Literature

Map of Timor - Interactive (number of active links to be extended)


ONLINE MUSEUM OF INDONESIAN IKAT TEXTILES CURATOR: Dr PETER TEN HOOPEN BROWSE FROM: [RANDOM] [001] [050] [100] [150] [200] [250] [300] [350] [375]