Amungme
Encyclopedia
The Amungme are a group of about 13,000 people living in the highlands of the Papua province of Indonesia
. Their language is called Damal.
They practice shifting agriculture, supplementing their livelihood by hunting and gathering
. The Amungme are very tied to their ancestral land and consider the surrounding mountains to be sacred.
This has led to friction with the Indonesian government, which is eager to exploit the vast mineral
deposits contained there. Major changes in the Amungme lifestyle have been brought about by the Grasberg mine
, situated in the heart of Amungme territory and owned by Freeport-McMoRan
, the region's largest single employer. Extensive gold
and copper
mining have altered the landscape, and the presence of the mine and its infrastructure has attracted numerous other economic migrants from western Indonesia as well as other Papuans, some of whom have tried to settle on traditional Amungme lands. All these factors have created in complex social and political stresses, and led to somewhat frequent protests and/or social conflicts, some of which have been violently suppressed by the Indonesian police or military.
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Their language is called Damal.
They practice shifting agriculture, supplementing their livelihood by hunting and gathering
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
. The Amungme are very tied to their ancestral land and consider the surrounding mountains to be sacred.
This has led to friction with the Indonesian government, which is eager to exploit the vast mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
deposits contained there. Major changes in the Amungme lifestyle have been brought about by the Grasberg mine
Grasberg mine
The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua, and it has 19,500 employees...
, situated in the heart of Amungme territory and owned by Freeport-McMoRan
Freeport-McMoRan
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., often called simply Freeport, is the world's lowest-cost copper producer and one of the world's largest producers of gold...
, the region's largest single employer. Extensive gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
mining have altered the landscape, and the presence of the mine and its infrastructure has attracted numerous other economic migrants from western Indonesia as well as other Papuans, some of whom have tried to settle on traditional Amungme lands. All these factors have created in complex social and political stresses, and led to somewhat frequent protests and/or social conflicts, some of which have been violently suppressed by the Indonesian police or military.