An island of clan houses on the hills.
The modern pattern recorded by Dutch and later observers is a segmentary west, of clans and autonomous villages, and a stratified north and east, of clan confederations led by a raja, with megalithic tombs of the clan houses (en.wikipedia); an urn burial at Melolo is dated about 2,870 BC (en.wikipedia). The east has dry grassland and sandalwood scrub behind the bay of Waingapu and the plains round Melolo; the wetter west round Kodi has more people and food and trades north to Sumbawa (board). Nothing is recorded for 1200 except the island's place as a source of sandalwood in the trade; the Nagarakretagama lists Sumba in 1365.
The pattern is modern and cannot be projected onto 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- Rato (ritual leaders of clans) and maramba (nobles), later tradition
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The titles are recorded in the Dutch period and later (recalled). The Nagarakretagama (1365) lists Sumba among the lands east of Java.
What it holds
- Clan villages and their tombs
- The sandalwood plains of the east
- The landings of Waingapu (north) and the Kodi coast (west)
How things stand that morning
No state attested.
Wealth
Sandalwood, later horses and cloth; no figures.
Military
None attested.
Places of note
- Waingapu: Bay on the dry north coast.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Late titles and a Javanese list of 1365.
On the map: Whole island as one people.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia (en), Sumba (read in this pass): Melolo urn burial about 2,870 BC, megalithic tombs, clan villages in the west and stratified confederations in the north and east
- Wikipedia (en), Nagarakretagama (read in this pass): completed 1365; canto 14 list of Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Timor and the east
- General knowledge of Old Javanese and Old Balinese epigraphy and the archaeology of Java, recalled and not re-read in this pass (Boechari, Poerbatjaraka, Soekmono, Bernet Kempers)
- OMNIA board notes for the place (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.