The Butonese (sometimes Butuni, Butung) people is a collective term that embraces a number of ethnic groups of
Buton
Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an island in Indonesia located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of Madura; it is the 129th largest island in the world and ...
and neighbouring islands in
Southeast Sulawesi. Like many other ethnic groups in Sulawesi, the Butonese are seafarers and traders. Butonese have long since migrated to many parts of the Malay archipelago using smaller vessels ranging from those that can only accommodate five people to large boats that can hold up to about 150 tons of goods. In general, the Butonese are a community that inhabits the region of the historical
Buton Sultanate. When the ''swapraja'' (self-governance, created by the Dutch colonial government) domain was abolished, so did the Buton Sultanate which ended in 1951. The area of the former Sultanate is now distributed over several regencies and cities of
Southeast Sulawesi. Among them are
Baubau,
Buton Regency,
South Buton Regency,
Central Buton Regency,
North Buton Regency,
Wakatobi Regency and
Bombana Regency.
Occasionally, the
Bajau people
The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exony ...
are mislabeled as Butonese people.
Culture
Apart from being a community of seafarers, the Butonese people are also familiar with agriculture in earlier times. Commodities that are planted include paddy, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, cotton, coconut, betel, pineapple, banana, and all other common needs of their everyday lives. Butonese people are well known for their culture and until today it can still be seen in regions of the Buton Sultanate. Such as the fortress of the Butonese palace which is the largest fortress in the world, the Malige Palace which is a traditional Butonese house that stands firmly as high as four stories without using a single nail, the currency of the Buton Sultanate called ''kampua'' or ''bida'', and many more.
Most Butonese adhere to Islam. The Butonese adopted the religion around the mid-sixteenth century via
Ternate
Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...
influence.
References
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
Sulawesi
{{SESulawesi-geo-stub
Muslim communities of Indonesia