North Sulawesi is a land of magnificent coral reefs protecting virginwhite beaches, mountains and active volcanos, reminding the islanders and the world of the potential power of one of the earth's most awesome forces. It is a land of vast coconut plantations fringed along the coastline, which is why the area is also known as "Bumi Nyiur Melambai" or "The Land of Waving Coconut Palms."
The origins of both the names
Sulawesi, which has only become common after the Indonesian Independence, and the island's original name
Celebes are not clear.
Celebes is said to come from the Portuguese, who landed as the first Europeans on the island. When they sailed around it they called it
Ponto dos Celebres which means
point of the notorious/ill-famed/ill-reputed. This might refer to the many pirates that were sailing in Sulawesi (and Indonesian) waters those days, or to the strong Monsoon winds which caused many ships to sink.
A local myth says that when the Portuguese first landed on the island, the captain of the ship met a man who was busy working as a blacksmith. The captain asked the man - in Portuguese - what the name of the island was. The blacksmith, not understanding, thought the captain had asked him what he was doing, and answered "sele besi", which means "heat iron" or "work with iron". The captain was satisfied with the answer and registered
Selebesi as name of the island in his logbook.
The modern name
Sulawesi is said to be derived from the two words
sula (island) and
besi (iron), referring to the rich sources of iron on the island.
North Sulawesi has an abundance and variety of accommodation and facilities available to meet the needs of travelers from backpackers and budget class to four-star resorts. The natural wonders of North Sulawesi make it well suited to both organized and adventure travel. The full spectrum of scuba diving activities is available in North Sulawesi. The diving ranges from the magnificent coral gardens of Bunaken Marine Park and Bangka Strait to the walls of fishes and underwater volcanoes of the Sangihe Islands to the unusual and rarely seen critters of Lembeh Strait. Land-based activities focus on rain forest hiking in Tangkoko Nature Reserve (home to the largest concentration of black crested macaques and the world's smallest primate, the tarsier) and Dumoga Bone National Park (home to the fabled babirusa pig deer), along with viewing scenic waterfalls, volcano climbing and river rafting and even golf. Exploring the Tomohon/Tondano highlands area, rice paddies, coconut plantations and flower gardens rounds out the activities.
First contacts with European traders came in the 16th century with the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese and with them they brought Christianity. It wasn't until the arrival of the Dutch, however, that Christianity became the predominant religion of the area with the western parts of the province of Bolaang Mongondow and Gorontalo remaining as small Muslim principalities until the turn of the century.The people of North Sulawesi can be classified into four groups; Minahasa, Bolaang Mongondow, Gorontalo and the SangirTalaud. The Minahasans are centered around the Provincial capital of Manado, but the entire province has a strong tradition of trade and contact with the outside world. The Sangir-Talaud islands, to the north of the mainland, form a natural bridge to the Philippines providing a convenient route for peoples and cultures to easily move between Indonesia and the Philippines, and many traces of Filipino culture can still be found here.
Magnificent coral gardens and a multitude of Tropical marine life defend coastlines of virgin-white beaches in the north of the or chid shaped island of Sulawesi. Mountains and volcanoes dominate the landscape with over 50 summits, some of which are still active, reminding the islanders and the world of the potential power of one of the earth's most awesome forces.
North Sulawesi and the Minahasa people there never developed any large empire. In 670 AD the leaders of the different tribes, who all spoke different languages, met by a stone known as Watu Pinabetengan. There they founded a community of independent states, who should stay together and fight any outside enemies if they were attacked.
In their search for spices, the Portuguese arrived in Indonesia in 1511, after their conquest of the Islamic Empire of Malacca. They were followed by the Spaniards. Both began to propagate Christianity and were most successful in Minahasa/North Sulawesi and Maluku, also known as the Moluccas. However, it wasn't until the arrival of the Dutch that Christianity became the predominant religion of North Sulawesi.
The abundance of natural resources in Minahasa made Manado a strategic port for European traders sailing to and from the spice island of Maluku. At the time of the first contact with Europeans the sultanate of Ternate held some sway over North Sulawesi, and the area was often visited by seafaring Bugis traders from South Sulawesi. The Spanish and the Portuguese, the first Europeans to arrive, came to North Sulawesi via the port of Makassar, but also landed at Sulu island (off the north coast of Borneo) and at the port of Manado. Spain established a fort at Manado. However, the Spanish and Portuguese influence was limited by the power of Ternate.
The Portuguese left reminders of their presence in the north in subtle ways. Portuguese surnames and various Portuguese words not found elsewhere in Indonesia, like
garrida for an enticing woman and
buraco for a bad man, can still be found in Minahasa. In the 1560's the Portuguese Franciscan missionaries made some converts in Minahasa.
By the early 17th century the Dutch had toppled the Ternate sultanate, and then set about eclipsing the Spanish and Portuguese. They colluded with Minahasan rulers to throw out their European competitors. In 1677 the Dutch occupied Pulau Sangir and, two years later, the Dutch governor of Maluku, Robert Padtbrugge, visited Manado. Out of this visit came a treaty with the local Minahasan chiefs, which led to domination by the Dutch for the next 300 years.
J.S.C. Dumont D'Urville: "Baie de Manado" The Dutch helped unite the linguistically diverse Minahasa confederacy, and in 1693 the Minahasa scored a decisive military victory against the Bolaang to the south, which by that time, like its neighbour Gorontalo, was a Moslem principality. The Dutch influence flourished as the Minahasans embraced the European goods and Christian religion. Portuguese activity apart, Christianity became a force in the early 1820s when a Calvinist group, the Netherlands Missionary Society, turned from an almost exclusive interest in Maluku to the Minahasa area. The wholesale conversion of the Minahasans was almost complete by 1860. With the missionaries came mission schools, which meant that, as in Ambon and Roti, Western education in Minahasa started much earlier than in other parts of Indonesia. The Dutch government eventually took over some of these schools and also set up others. Because the schools taught in Dutch, the Minahasans had an early advantage in the competition for government jobs and places in the colonial army.
The Minahasans fought alongside the Dutch to subdue rebellions in other parts of the archipelago, notably in the Java War of 1825-30. They seemed to gain a special role in the Dutch scheme of things and their loyalty to the Dutch as soldiers, their Christian religion and their geographic isolation from the rest of Indonesia all led to a sense of being 'different' from the other ethnic groups of the archipelago. Well-educated in mission and government schools, Minahasans were among the first colonists to seek employment and prestige abroad.
By the mid 1800s compulsory cultivation schemes were producing huge crops of cheap coffee for a Dutch-run monopoly. Minahasans suffered from this 'progress', yet economic, religious and social ties with the colonists continued to intensify.
The Japanese occupation of 1942-45 was a period of deprivation. It shattered the myth of Dutch superiority, as Batavia gave up its empire without a fight. Though initially welcomed as liberators in most parts of the archipelago, the Japanese gradually established themselves as harsh overlords.
In 1945 the allies bombed Manado heavily. During the war of independence against the returning Dutch that followed, there was bitter division between pro-Indonesian Unitarians and those favoring Dutch-sponsored federalism. The appointment of a Manadonese Christian, Sam Ratulangi, as the first republican governor of eastern Indonesia was decisive in winning Minahasan support for the republic.
With the conclusion of Indonesia's long and arduous struggle for independence most of its people believed there would be a rapid improvement of social and economic conditions. During the early years of independence some progress was made in this direction, most prominently in education, and for the time being at least Indonesian society did become somewhat more egalitarian than in the colonial period. But the degree of improvment fell far short of expectations, and disillusionment and frustration led increasingly to an understandable tendency to blame the central government in Jakarta for the inadequate measures taken to meet the expectations that had been aroused during the revolution.
As the young republic lurched from crisis to crisis, Jakarta's monopoly over the copra trade seriously weakened North Sulawesi's economy. Illegal exports flourished and in June 1956 Jakarta ordered the closure of Manado port, the busiest smuggling port in the republic. Local leaders refused and Jakarta backed down. As in Sumatra there was a general feeling that the central government was inefficient, development was stagnating and money was being plugged into Java.
In March 1957 the military leaders of both southern and northern Sulawesi launched a confrontation with the central government, with demands for greater regional autonomy. They demanded more local development, a fairer share of revenue, help in suppressing the Kahar Muzakar rebellion in Southern Sulawesi, and a cabinet of the central government led jointly by Soekarno and Hatta. At least initially the "Permesta" (Piagam Perjuangan Semesta Alam) rebellion was a reformist rather than a separatist movement.
Negotiations between the central government and the Sulawesi military leaders prevented violence in southern Sulawesi, but the North Sulawesi leaders were dissatisfied with the agreements and the movement split. Inspired, perhaps, by fears of domination by the south, the leaders declared their own autonomous state of North Sulawesi in June 1957. By this time the central government had the situation in southern Sulawesi pretty much under control but in the north they had no strong local figure to rely upon and there were rumors that the USA, suspected of supplying arms to rebels in Sumatra, was also in contact with the North Sulawesi leaders.
The possibility of foreign intervention finally drove the central government to seek military support from southern Sulawesi. Permesta forces were driven out of Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, the Sangihe Islands and from Morotai in Maluku (from whose airfield the rebels had hoped to fly bombing raids on Jakarta). The rebels' few planes (supplied by the USA and flown by Filipino, Taiwanese and US pilots) were destroyed. US policy shifted, favoring Jakarta, and in June 1958 central government troops landed in North Sulawesi. The Permesta rebellion was finally put down in mid-1961.
The effect of both the Sumatran and Sulawesi rebellions was to strengthen exactly those trends the rebels had hoped to weaken. Central authority was enhanced at the expense of local autonomy, radical nationalism gained over pragmatic moderation, the power of the communists and Soekarno increased while that of Hatta waned, and Soekarno was able to establish his "Guided Democracy" in 1959.
North Sulawesi prospered under the New Order Government of President Soeharto, which took office in 1967. Many of the economic reports (but few of the political reforms) sought by the Permesta rebels were implemented. The province has a tolerant, outward-looking culture and it will be interesting to see what the future holds after the recent implementation of Regional Autonomy, the very idea that Permesta fought for.
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