Savu is the largest of a group of three islands, situated midway between Sumba

Sumba

Sumba is an island in eastern Indonesia, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005...

 and Rote

Rote Island

right|thumb|300px|Satellite photo of RotiRote Island is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It has an area of . It lies northeast of the Australian coast and northeast of the Ashmore and Cartier Islands. The island is situated to the...

, west of Timor

Timor

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

, in Indonesia's eastern province, East Nusa Tenggara

East Nusa Tenggara

East Nusa Tenggara is a province of Indonesia, located in the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, including West Timor. The provincial capital is Kupang, located on West Timor...

. Ferries connect the islands to Waingapu

Waingapu

Waingapu is the largest town on the island of Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. It is the capital town of the Regency of Sumba Timur. Sumba Timur's Waingapu Airport 'Mau Hau' is located in Waingapu, and the town is served by ferries from nearby islands. The sub-district town has a population...

, on Sumba

Sumba

Sumba is an island in eastern Indonesia, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005...

, and Kupang

Kupang

Not to be confused with Tanjung Kupang in JohoreKupang is the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara province in southeast Indonesia....

, in West Timor

West Timor

West Timor is the western and Indonesian portion of the island of Timor and part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara, .During the colonial period it was known as "Dutch Timor" and was a centre of Dutch loyalists during the Indonesian National Revolution...

. It is also possible to fly to Savu from Kupang.

Geography

The Savu Islands (Kepulauan Savu) include Rai Hawu, Rai Jua and Rai Dana. The three islands are fringed by coral reef and sandy beaches. The principal island is Rai Hawu. Rai Jua is a smaller island which lies west of Rai Hawu. Rai Dana is a small, uninhabited island, situated thirty kilometres south-west of Rai Jua. From April to October, deep ocean swells pound the south facing coastlines.

The land is covered for the most part by grassland and palms. The climate is dry for large parts of the year, due to hot winds blowing from the Australian continent. Most rain falls during the months from November to March. Between 82% & 94% of all rain falls during the west monsoon, with little or no rain falling for the months of August to October. The mean annual rainfall for Savu Island is 1019 mm. During the dry season, the islands' streams dry up, so the islanders depend on wells for their water supply.

Vulcanism

The Savu Islands are situated in a tectonic subduction zone, where the Indo-Australian Plate

Indo-Australian Plate

The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters...

 is moving northward, sliding under the Eurasian Plate

Eurasian Plate

The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...

. The islands lie on a ridge that was created by volcanic eruptions caused by the plate movement. Sediments carried into the Earth's crust heat up and rise in plumes of magma, which cool and solidify to form igneous rock. The Sumba Ridge is no longer volcanically active, however there are active volcanoes on the island of Flores

Flores

Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population was 1.831.000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. Flores is Portuguese for "flowers".Flores is located east of Sumbawa...

, to the north.

The compression of the two tectonic plates is causing the Savu Islands to rise at a rate of about 1 mm per year. Occasionally, however, the tectonic plate suddenly slips a much greater distance, resulting in an earthquake. In 1977, a major earthquake, registering 7.9 on the Richter Scale, struck 280 km W/SW of Raijua

Raijua

Raijua is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands in Indonesia. Its total land area is 13.9 square miles . Raijua is sometimes called The Wedge by surfers because it includes an exposed reef break, making it an ideal surfing location during Indonesia's dry season .-References:...

. This triggered an enormous tsunami, which swept across the coastal plain at Seba, reaching as high as the airport. No one was reported missing on Savu or Rai Jua. However, on the neighbouring islands of Sumba

Sumba

Sumba is an island in eastern Indonesia, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005...

 and Sumbawa

Sumbawa

Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. It is in the province of West Nusa Tenggara....

, the death toll reached 180.

• Interactive map showing major earthquakes in East Nusa Tenggara between 1970 and 2005 (requires Flash Player).

Society

The population is about 62,000. Savu has strong historical ties with Hinduism in Java

Hinduism in Java

Hinduism has historically been a major religious and cultural influence in Java. In recent years, it has also been enjoying something of a resurgence, particularly in the eastern part of the island.-Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms:...

 and the people consider themselves of Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 origin. The society still performs traditional animistic beliefs, known as Djingi Tiu. Dutch missionaries introduced Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 which remains on the islands today.

Agriculture

Savunese culture is ecologically fitting for such an arid environment. The traditional clan agreements on land control and water distribution ensure that the land is carefully managed and not over exploited. Their gardens form a well structured ecology, emulating a tropical forest with diverse species of trees and shade plants.

Agricultural production on Savu includes corn, rice, roots, beans, livestock (meat/milk) and seaweed, which was introduced by Japanese interests, in the early 1990s. Pigs, goats and chickens are commonplace in the villages. Those farmers who depend on mixed crop gardens or on mung bean fields are generally better able to manage during times of poor rain but are seemingly less successful when the rains are good. Corn, as a single crop, remains the predominant staple on Savu, though most farmers try to plant several different fields to increase their chances of at least one successful harvest. Cotton is the main crop on Rai Jua, where the standard of living is below that of Savu. It is used to make traditional textiles. Corn is planted in late November, December or early January and harvested from February through to March; rice and also mung beans are planted later, usually in January, after soils are well saturated with rain. In El Niño years, farmers are frequently misled by initial rains, which offer promise but then cease. Most farmers keep some seed reserves if they are forced to plant a second time during the wet season. Rarely do farmers have sufficient seed reserves for a third attempt at planting and by the time such a third planting seems necessary, there is little likelihood of success. By mid-March the rains begin to diminish and it is no longer possible to plant corn with any expectation of a good harvest.

Prior to the corn harvest, the poorer segments of the population survive on reserve foods, primarily cassava, some sweet potato, forest yams and sugar supplies from tapping lontar palms. This period is known as the time of "ordinary hunger". However, during periods of drought, when the planting and subsequent harvest of the corn crop is delayed, the period of ordinary hunger is extended and "ordinary hunger" becomes "extraordinary hunger". Most families manage on one meager meal a day. Livestock, suffering from the same conditions as the human population, are consumed or sold to buy emergency foods. People turn to green papaya, eaten as a vegetable, and tamarind seeds. In the dry season, drinking water becomes difficult to obtain and is often polluted by animals seeking water. Women and younger girls spend more time than ever carrying water for their families. A strong indicator of the "extraordinary hunger" period is a sharp increase in gastro-intestinal diseases. Children are particularly vulnerable.

Early European contact

Initial contact was with the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Companie in 1648. References to Savu from the period invariably concern Savunese soldiers, mercenaries or slaves. In 1674, the crew of a Dutch sloop were massacred in East Savu, after their vessel ran aground. The Dutch responded by forming an alliance with the raja of Seba, so troops could be sent in to retaliate. However, they failed to enter the fortress of Hurati, in B'olou Village of Eastern Savu, as it was ringed by three defensive walls. To save face, the Dutch force accepted payment in the form of slaves, gold and beads.

In 1770, Captain James Cook visited Savu, staying three days before continuing on to Batavia

Jakarta

Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...

. It was the first European voyage to have scientists on board. During the three year expedition, botanists Joseph Banks

Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...

 and Daniel Solander

Daniel Solander

Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.-Biography:...

 collected over three thousand five hundred plant species along with specimens of animals, minerals and ethnographic materials that on their return fascinated Europeans. Cook's visit to Savu was brief and, though he and Joseph Banks produced detailed records of the island and its people, their accounts were based for the most part on information provided by Mr Lange, the German representative of the Dutch East India Company

Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...

, who was stationed on Savu at the time.

Further reading

• Fox, James (1971) A working bibliography on the islands of Roti, Savu, and Sumba in east
• Fox, James J. (1972) "The Sawunese", in F. Lebar (ed.) Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia, 1:77-80. New Haven, Connecticut: Human Relations Area Files Press.
• Fox, James J. (1977) Harvest of the Palm: Ecological Change in Eastern Indonesia. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press.
• Fox, James J. (1979) "The Ceremonial System of Sawu" in A. Becker and A. Yengoyan (eds.) The Imagination of Reality: Essays on Southeast Asian Coherence Systems. Norwood, New Jersey: ABLEX Publishing Corporation.
• Fox, James J. (1980) The Flow of Life Essays on Eastern Indonesia Harvard Studies in Cultural Anthropology

External links

• savu-raijua.com