Buton is a limestone island at the corner where the Flores Sea, the Gulf of Bone and the Banda Sea meet, with a good harbour on the strait it makes with Muna.
Anyone going east to Banda and Maluku passes it, so a stage with water, sago and cargo is needed here for as long as the eastern trade runs. 'Butun' is named in the Nagarakretagama list of eastern places (1365). The Butonese tradition, as we recall it, begins with four leaders from the Malay side who land, then a queen, Wa Kaa Kaa, about 1332, with the walled hill town of Wolio and the sultanate (sixteenth century) later still; none of it can be placed in 1200.
For 1 January 1200 the safe reading is a harbour and a strait with village chiefs and no king.
Who he is
- Title
- Harbour and village chiefs of Buton and Muna (no king shown; the later tradition begins after 1200)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names a chief of this place for 1200. Every title in this record (datu, to manurung, kolano, momole, orang kaya) comes from traditions or reports written down centuries after 1200. No source names any chief of this place for 1 January 1200.
What it holds
- The harbour at Baubau on the strait
- The sheltered channel between Buton and Muna (timed for the tide)
- Water, sago and cargo for ships bound east
Allies and rivals
Ships of Java, Makassar's shore and the east; the Tukangbesi sea-gatherers to the southeast.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200.
Wealth
Port dues in kind and the sale of provisions; no figures.
Military
Not known; boats, spears and shields in the later record. No numbers.
Threats
- Raiders from the next coast
- Volcanic eruption, earthquake or storm
- A change in the trade that comes by sea
Places of note
- Baubau: Harbour on the strait.
- Buton strait: North end of the sheltered channel.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry id buton-strait is folded in as a point (the sheltered channel). The campaign board's own text already says Wolio and the sultanate are later.
Evidence: A 1365 name, later tradition and the geography. The campaign board marks Buton 'likely'.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Near land of the villages, drawn as seeded blocks.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Nagarakretagama' (read in this pass): the cantos 13 and 14 lists of Borneo and the eastern islands, written 1365
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.