Kangeanese people
Kangeanese or Kangeans (kUH-ngEE-yuhN) are one of the Javan ethnic groups native to the Sunda island of Kangean in northern Bali Sea, who speak the Kangeanic and share common history and culture.

Nomenclature

Terminology
The ‘’ (also spelt as ‘’ in Central Kangean) is an endonym term designated by the locals as ethnonym to identified themselves as a unified ethnic society bound by a common history; the term itself literally means "scion" (the descendant of notable family) in Kangean. It is likely that the ‘’ term might etymologically derived from the Makasar word ‘’, which means "empire" or "kingdom". Meanwhile, on the other hand, the term of ’‘ commonly linked to the Old Javanese word ’‘ (also spelt as Kahyaṅan diacritically) which literally means "visited or overpowered by  (divinity of Bali–Java peoples)" or "hermitage" colloquially.

In Kangeanese literature, the word ‘’ itself was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Kangean island in general, it is still continued to be used to describe the ancentral homeland region of Kangean people in the central to eastern hemisphere of Kangean island, which known as the Kangayan district.

During the era of Dutch colonization over Indonesia, the Kangean Island identified either as ‘’, ‘’, or ‘’; meanwhile its inhabitants and their spoken language are called  (absorbed in English as ‘Kangeanese’, but ‘Kangean’ also used interchangeably; with ‘Kangeanese’ being the plural form, and ‘Kangean’ as the singular form). Due to the  terminology appearance in Dutch historical records, some also believed that the ethnonym of Kangeanese might have relation with the history of the Chinese-descendants people in western Kangean.

History

Genealogy

Toa — Prehistory 
According to the Kangeanese oral tradition, their ancestor are referred as either  or , which in modern Kangean language can be roughly translated as "elders". Dates back to the 4,000 to 9,000 BC, archaeological researches shows that the Kangean people are one of the earliest inhabitants of the Kangean Archipelago, it can be observes through the ancient archaeological discoveries found within the Arca Cave complex which located in the northwestern region of Kangean Island. Excavation discoveries also indicates that it is likely the Kangean people were once cavemens who practiced the hunter-gatherer culture, and most probably has strong cognate relationship to the natives of the Lesser Sunda Islands.

Royals of Java and Sulawesi
Although the pure native Kangeanese people are attested (through archaelogical studies) related to the natives of Lesser Sunda Islands, however, it is worth to note that the present-day population are the admixture of native and non-native people. 

According to the oral history and inscriptions, the modern Kangeanese are descendants of royals who came from the islands of Java and Sulawesi, the noblemans were intermarried to the native Kangeanese and resulted a new aristocracy called Kangean itself. It is believed that the ancestor of the modern Kangeanese (who came from the Java via Madura) shared similar genealogy with the modern Balinese people (as opposed to Bali Aga people), whose also descended from the same Javanese dynasty, most probably through the line of Aria Wirarajasa; as his name appeared in the inscription found in western Kangean, which also became the name of a capital town of Kangean Island itself, namely Arjasa. In Bali, Aria Wiraraja is better known by his caste nickname,  (ᬩᬜᬓ᭄ᬯᬶᬤᭂ), which literally means "[the one who blessed with] plenty knowledges" . 

On the other hand (probably started during the 1300s era), the eastern and northcentral coasts of Kangean were also under the influence of Sulawesi-based empire. The well-known local chicken breed of Kangean, known as the , was thought as the result of crossbreeding between the Kangean's forest chicken with the local chicken variety brought from Sulawesi Island. The name of these Sulawesi-based empire is unknown to the locals due to the lack of survived historical records, yet the name  is suggested that the empire was based in the southern Sulawesi region of Makassar. Through the comparative studies, it is very likely that these historical empire could probably linked to Gowa (which also based in Makassar), its influences is still observable in the regions adjacents of Kangean, namely in Pangkep Islands, Lesser Sunda Islands (mainly at Bima in Sumbawa Island and Pante Macassar in Timor Island), and as far as Australia. The royal titles such as  or  that can be found in Kangean also implies a strong signal that the well-known empire in local Kangeanese oral history was indeed from the southern Sulawesi regions. The ethnonym of Kangeanese as well as the name of the island of Kangean was also thought derived from the Makasar word of , which literally means "the empire" or "[subject of] empire". 

In pre-1950s, the island of Kangean was under the control of Kadipaten Sumenep, a Madurese duchy based in Sumenep. Their influence still remarked as the last influence that still play its dominance in the region. In 1950, the Kangeanese was altogether with Kadipaten Sumenep declared its independence from the Dutch and voluntarily joined the United States of Indonesia as part of the State of Madura.

Mongol invasion and the foreign traders arrival

Kangean Island used to be the vital region that connects the islands of Sulawesi with the islands of Bali and Java (as well as Madura). During the invasion effort of the Mongols to Java, the Mongol naval army troops who passed through Makassar Strait will crossing important ports such as the port of Makasar, the port of Kalianget in Kangean, and the port of Bâtugulok in Sumenep before heading to the port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya to continue their attacks on Mojokerto (the capital of the Singhasari kingdom, which was the strongest kingdom who took control over Maritime Southeast Asian region at that time). After the Javanese defeated the Mongols troops and also killed the king, the Kingdom of Singhasari evolved as an empire, which was later known as the Majapahit empire and spread its power to a wider scale. After getting the news of the Mongol defeated by the Javanese, many traders from all over the world came to the Java Sea to set their sail to Java Island to develop their business because the Javanese royals at that time were very open to business opportunities for foreigners. Among the well-known traders are from the Chinese (the neighbouring dynasty of Mongol), Persians and Arabs stocks. 

The Chinese use the same route as the Mongols who passed through Makassar Strait, and they settled in respective important ports, that is one of the reasons why the Chinese-descent people could still be easily found in the regions of Makassar, western Kangean (around the port of Kalianget, mainly in Arjasa), eastern Madura (around the port of Bâtugulok, namely in Dungkek), as well as eastern Java (around the port of Tanjung Perak, in North Surabaya). In modern days, the Kangeanese people who intermarried to foreigners tend to move (either abroad or to another more-developed islands like Java, Bali, and Madura), the historical sites of the Arab traders used to be located around the Celgung region in northwestern Kangean, and the Chinese used to settled around the Arjasa capital. 

The traders of Indonesia-origin also exist in Kangean, namely the Madurese people (probably due to the historical influence of Kadipaten Sumenep). They dominated the markets in modern-day Kangean and their spoken language used to be mistaken as the native language of Kangean.

Culture

Tradition

is a form of mixed performing arts that usually consist of traditional Kangeanese dances, folk songs and music, as well as attractions. This performing art is usually performed in traditional Kangeanese wedding celebrations and ceremonies. These form of performing art are uniquely native to the Kangean Islands and generally unknown outside of these region.

The  is related to another islanders culture of indigenous peoples of Lesser Sunda Islands, namely the  of Sumbawan, the  of Bimanese, the  of Madurese, to the  of Balinese. It is a form of traditional sport undeniably native to Lesser Sunda Islands, but instead of using horses (as in Sumbawan and Bimanese culture) and bulls (like in Madurese culture), the Kangeanese  tend to use buffalos as their racing animal similar like the Balinese .

The  (also spelt as  in Eastern Kangean) is probably one of the most common traditions held annually by the Kangeanese people to celebrate the harvest time. These kind of tradition usually held in a form of festival which enlivened with another artistic performances as well; such as the  martial art performance and Gamelan (a Javanese-influenced musical percussion performance), which typically characterized by the prominent usage of  (small-size , an eastern Javanese-influenced percussion instrument). Not only  serve as intricate harvest festival form that has been mixed with the cultural influence of Javanese, these performing art also refers to the traditional native acappella-like way of chanting the rhythmic folk Kangeanese ritualistic song which usually chanted by the Kangeanese males who wear the traditional clothing as well as carrying a piece of cultural cloth.

Language and literature

Kangeanic language 

Kangeanic is the main native spoken language of the Kangeanese. Although the Kangeanese people were originally Austromelanesian, the Kangeanic language nowadays closely related and categorized as part of the Austronesian linguistic group, most probably due to the Old Javanese influence brought by the Javanese royals to the region.

Classification and influences
Derived from the same Javanic ancestral source, the Kangeanic commonly considered by most linguists as the sister language of Madurese, Osing, Balinese, and Sasak, as well as Sumbawan, with considerable Southern Sulawesi influences.

Historically, the Classical Kangeanic were heavily influenced by the Indic languages (most prominent is Sanskrit), and in its earlier era, the linguistic form of Old Kangeanic were thought to bore more Papuan (as well as Celebic) influences similar way to the languages spoken by the Proto-Kangeans of Austromelanesians. The Classical Kangeanic words are still recognisable within the Modern Kangeanic, such as the words of  (cf. Sanskrit , , ),  or  (cf. Hindi , , ),  (cf. Sanskrit , , ), etc. The Modern Kangeanic vocabulary has absorbed more influences from the Indo-European due to colonialism, the words like  (cf. Afrikaans kantoor, ),  (cf. Afrikaans handdoek, ),  (cf. Afrikaans beton, ),  (cf. Indonesian kulkas, ),  (cf. Afrikaans kardoes, ), and so forth were derived from the Dutch (probably via Javindo).

Varieties
The Kangeanic varies distinctively across the Kangean Archipelago; based on lexical studies, in terms of dialectology, the Kangeanic language can generally be divided into three main dialects, namely Western Kangeanic, Central Kangeanic and Eastern Kangeanic. The Standard Kangeanic is commonly associated with the Western Kangeanic, spoken in the capital region and its vicinity. Here are some comparison sample of words between each Kangeanic varieties:

Sample text

Kangeanese literature 
Kangeanese literature covers all verbal and non-verbal literature in Kangean language; as well as literary works of Kangean origin but recorded in another languages (but usually not considered as canon). Kangean literature usually tells about topics related to folklores, tales, myths, as well as real historical records; such as the genealogy of kings, historical wars, and so on.

Folklore

The Kangeanese folklore generally encompasses various practices, representations, expressions, knowledges, or skills of Kangeanese that could be divided into two types; namely verbal and non-verbal folklores.

Influence
The folklore of Kangean has been influenced by another predominant ethnic groups who lived around the Bali Sea region; such as the Balinese originally from the Bali Island in southern Kangean, Madurese originally from the Madura Island in western Kangean, Javanese originally from the eastern region of Java Island in southwestern Kangean, Bugis and Makassar originally from the southern regions of Sulawesi Island in northeastern Kangean, as well as Tobelo originally from northern Maluku Islands. 
However, due to long progressive historical social contact with one another, the Kangeanese folklore also introduced back and brought some significant influences on another folklores; such as to the Javanese folklore found in eastern Java region, as far as to the folklore of the Betawi ethnic group in the northern coastal region of western Java (formerly known as Sunda Kalapa in pre-colonial era).

Religion and beliefs 
In modern era, the majority of Kangean people are Muslims (predominantly adhered to Sunni of Nahdlatul Ulama). Islamism was probably introduced to Kangean by the Javanese missionary group of . Before the adoption of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam in general, the indigenous Kangean people had a belief in invisible spiritual power entities that can be both benevolent or malevolent (these kind of belief somehow related to the Kapitayan, which is a monotheistic religion of Javanese people in Java). Ancient indigenous peoples also believed that deceased ancestors did not really disappear from the world, but rather the ancestral spirits could metamorphose and acquire spiritual powers such as gods (or goddess) and remain involved in their descendants worldly affairs. That is one of the reasons why worship and reverence to honor ancestors is an important element in the belief system of indigenous Kangean people. Some Kangean tribal communities still preserve those kind of ancient belief and also assimilate it into the religion that is now commonly practiced in Kangean (mainly Islam), which resulted in a new belief known as Islam Nusantara, which is a form of folk-based religion that practiced throughout the Indonesian Archipelago.

Sub-groups and diaspora 
Kangeanese people are generally unified under the same historical background; there are sociocultural group divisions (indigenously) which can be seen within its community based on the ancestry lineage of each group (division grouping started massively during the colonial era).

The  refers to the Kangeanese people who natively originated from the central region of Kangean Island, sometimes these group of people are also known as the  colloquially which referred to their mountainous origin place region.



Nomenclature 
The  nowadays in modern Kangean might refers to any foreigners who settled in Kangean generally. But historically the  terminology initially referred to the Kangeanese people of Javanese-descent; the term  itself is derived from their island's name origin, known natively as  (ꦗꦮ) in Java Island. Interestingly, those term introduced back to Java via Madurese word of , which resulted the existence of the word ‘’ (ꦗꦧ,  "outside") in Javanese.

Legacy  
The  group is probably the most influential group amongst all, it can be examined through the cultural perspective of Kangeanese that exhibit clear Javanese-derived elements. Some of the Javanese-origin cultural elements that incorporated into Kangeanese culture might include the  that derived from Gamelan (specifically the ), the musical instrument of  derived from the  (in Java also used for the Gamelan performance), the martial art of  derived from Pencak–Silat, the theatrical performance of  derived from , etc. In terms of linguistics, the Kangean language and literatures practiced by the majority of Kangeanese are indeed heavily influenced by Javanese (through liturgical Old Javanese form).



Nomenclature and overview 
The  mainly and originally refers to the Kangeanese people of Chinese-descent. The terminology of  itself historically means "[the descendants] of ", but nowadays might understood as "the settlement of Chinese" in modern Kangean, initially used in western Kangean region; it bears similar meaning with "Chinatown" in English.

Nowadays, the majority of Kangeanese people of Chinese-descent experiencing difficulties to trace their history (e.g. the ancestral origin place in mainland China, etc.) due to lack of survived historical records; however, analyzing from the common archaic surnames used by the Kangeanese, these  group could possibly linked to the Qin dynasty, which is a dynasty of Imperial China dates back to 221–206 BC era. The Tang dynasty could possibly play significant role as well in shaping the western Kangean society (started in 7th century AD era), some of the Dutch historical records also shows that some Kangeanese people identified themselved as  which could possibly means "Tang sprout [descendants]" (probably related to the Chinese 唐秧, ).

Their Chinese cultural elements however might have almost disappeared but tend to merge into local Kangeanese culture, the physical appearance of the  group also did not really shows ‘the Chinese characteristics’ (e.g. monolid, etc.) like any other Chinese Indonesians' appearance in general probably due to the high rate of intermarriage within the Kangean society itself.

Legacy 
According to the local Kangeanese people, some of their traditional Kangean houses' styles are basically Chinese-derived, thus sometimes the ‘’ also used by the locals to refers the decorative style of their house. In terms of foods, some of traditional Kangeanese snacks or desserts are also exhibits Chinese-derived elements, such as the red-coloured mung beans-stuffed , the bite-sized white , etc.

Kangeanese diaspora 
The Kangeanese diaspora is the demographic group of descendants of ethnic Kangenese who emigrated from the Kangean Archipelago to other regions in Indonesia or other parts of the world in general.

See also 
 Kangeanese folklore – the folklore of Kangeanese people
 Kangean Archipelago – the archipelago located in northern Bali Sea
 Kangean Island – the main island of Kangean Archipelago
 Kangean language – the spoken language of Kangeanese people 
  – the ceremonial tradition of Kangeanese people

References

Notes

Bibliography 

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External links 

Indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia
Ethnic groups in Indonesia