The Natuna and Anambas islands lie in the open sea on the track from the strait to Borneo and Champa.
The sources of the age do not name them and we found no excavation for the twelfth century: this is an inference from the sea road, not a record. The sea peoples who work these waters would belong to the same world as the Orang Laut, but no text links them. Natuna, Anambas and Belitung are the sheet's ground (Ranai and Belitung test as isa); Borneo and the Karimata strait to the east belong to the island sheet to the east.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headmen of the island fishing communities, not named
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names a holder for any date near 1 January 1200.
Overlord
None named.
What it holds
- The islands' fishing grounds and watering places
How things stand that morning
Not recorded. Island fishing communities; no state, no port.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Thin: later ethnography, the campaign board and geography; nothing dated near 1 January 1200 describes the people.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Drawn on the modern regencies (kabupaten) that match the people's later homeland; the boundaries of 1200 are not known.
Sources and studies
- Island histories and archaeology of Nias, Simeulue, the Mentawai islands and Enggano, as the OMNIA board states them; no medieval text names them, and we found none to cite
- Wikipedia (English): Orang Laut
- Nineteenth and twentieth century ethnography of the Batak, Minangkabau, Rejang and Lampung peoples (Dutch and later writers), read back to 1200 as a caution only, from memory, not rechecked
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.