The Aneuk Jamee or Ughang Jamu people are a group of people spread along the west and south coast of

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a ...

, starting from Singkil, South Aceh Regency,

Southwest Aceh Regency Southwest Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Barat Daya) is a regency in the Aceh special region of Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The regency covers an area of 1,882.05 square kilometres and according to the 2010 census had a ...

and

Simeulue Regency Simeulue Regency ( id, Kabupaten Simeulue) is a regency in the Aceh special region of Indonesia. It occupies the whole island of Simeulue (Pulau Simeulue), 150 km off the west coast of Sumatra, with an area of . It had a population of 80,674 ...

. The Aneuk Jamee people are originally

Minangkabau people Minangkabau people ( min, Urang Minang; Indonesian language, Indonesian or Malay language, Malay: ''Orang Minangkabau'' or ''Minangkabo''; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: منڠكبو), also known as Minang, are an Austronesian people, Austronesian eth ...

who have migrated to

in the 19th century, and intermarried with the Acehnese people,

Kluet people Kluet or Kluwat people dwell in a number of districts in South Aceh Regency, Aceh, Indonesia namely North Kluet, South Kluet, Central Kluet and East Kluet. The Kluet people are regarded as part of the Batak people sub-ethnicity. The Kluet regions ...

, Singkil people and Devayan people. In terms of language, the Anuek Jamee language is considered as a dialect of the

Minangkabau language Minangkabau (Minangkabau: , Pegon script: ; id, Bahasa Minangkabau; ms, Bahasa Minangkabau or , Jawi: ) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part ...

that has a mixture of

's native languages.

Etymology

The name "Aneuk Jamee" comes from the

Acehnese language Acehnese or Achinese ( Jawi: بهسا اچيه) is an Austronesian language natively spoken by the Acehnese people in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. This language is also spoken by Acehnese descendants in some parts of Malaysia like Yan, in Keda ...

which literally means "children" (''aneuk'') and "guest" (''jamee'') or "children of guests".

History

Story has it that during the Padri War, the vicar fighters were cornered by the attacks of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

. The coast line of the Minangkabaus at that time were a part of the Aceh kingdom, sent military aid. When the situation became critical, the people were forced to leave. Thus at that time, the

started to spread towards the southwest coast of

. It is also said that South Aceh Regency was a stop-by for pilgrimers from

West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5,534,472 at the 2020 cen ...

sailing for

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...

Diaspora

The Aneuk Jamee people can be found especially in South Aceh Regency (approximately 50% of the population) and to a certain extent in

West Aceh Regency West Aceh Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Barat) is a regency in the Aceh special region of Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. The regency currently covers an area of 2,927.95 square kilometres and had a population of 173,558 at the 20 ...

Aceh Singkil Regency Aceh Singkil Regency ( id, Kabupaten Aceh Singkil) is a regency in the Aceh province of Indonesia. It is situated largely on the island of Sumatra, but also includes the offshore Banyak Islands, the largest of which is Tuangku (Great Banyak), wit ...

and

. Regions that are inhabited by the Aneuk Jamee people:-

Language

The

is still used by the Aneuk Jamee people but the language is assimilated with the

, thus making it ''Jamee'' (guest) language. There are not much changes made to the language except for a few consonants, vocals and changes in the dialect. In terms of linguistic classification, the Jamee language still belongs to the

as a dialect. However, due to the influence of cultural assimilation for a long time, most of the Aneuk Jamee people, especially of those who occupy regions that are dominated by the Acehnese people for example

, the Aneuk Jamee language is only used among the older generations. Today the

is much widely used as the lingua franca.

List of Aneuk Jamee people

* Abuya Muda Waly, Acehnese great ulama * Ismail Suny, diplomat

References

{{Portal, Indonesia Ethnic groups in Indonesia Ethnic groups in Aceh Minangkabau Muslim communities of Indonesia