Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast Asiafrom the sea. The total surface area of all six islands was no more than
about 180 km^2 , which is one quarter of the size of Singapore.^12
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the number of Banda’s
population was estimated to be over 10,000. Compared to the areas
discussed above this was quite a small number. Population density, on
the other hand, was quite high, i.e. about 55 persons per km^2. The
earlier-mentioned areas together had densities of less than ten per km^2.
Banda was home to about 30 settlements, most of them hamlets, under
the leadership of orangkaya. Seven settlements were considered to be
bigger, i.e. real villages. An average settlement must have had about
300 inhabitants. The political situation in late sixteenth-century Banda
Islands had not progressed very far on the path of state formation: its
settlements were grouped in a few village federations, at least two, which
often proved hostile to one another. Consequently, the tiny Banda
Archipelago continued to have a highly fragmented political landscape.
From an organizational viewpoint, it is clear that it was mainly a matter
of chiefdoms. Based on information from early Dutch sources, we might
presume that an undivided Banda could have mustered between ten and
15 kora-kora, each capable of carrying 60 or more oarsmen and warriors
and one or two bronze swivel guns. These kora-kora were the “offensive”
weapons, the “defensive” being the strongholds on land, mostly located
on sloped terrain. The sources mention a handful of such strongholds,
all of them probably within a one-hour climb from landing places on the
beach. Like their Ambonese neighbours, the Bandanese did not possess
a professional soldiery. In principle, every free adult male was a warrior.
Unfortunately, we do not know what proportion of the population was
non-free, “slaves” so to speak. If we consider this to have been 20 to
25 percent of the population, the number of warriors must have been
around 2,000, distributed over a few separate polities. Most of the war-
riors carried shields, swords and javelins; a few had matchlocks. Among
the Bandanese, cannon were very scarce.^13
- Donkin, Between East and West, 87, 109, 159.
- J. Keuning, De tweede schipvaart der Nederlanders naar Oost-Indië onder Jacob
Cornelisz van Neck en Wybrant Warwijck 1598–1600, Volume 4 (’s-Gravenhage:
Martinus Nijhoff, 1944): xxx–xxxv [Werken Linschoten Vereeniging 48]; J.
Villiers, “Trade and Society in the Banda Islands in the Sixteenth Century”, Modern
Asian Studies 15 (1981): 725–28, 732; Van Fraassen, Ternate, De Molukken en de
Indonesische Archipel 2.460–62.