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Overview
To the
east of Bali, across a deep strait seething with
whirlpools and swimming with dolphins lies Lombok,
an island whose history and culture are intimately
intertwined with those of her illustrious neighbor. Yet in many important ways, Lombok is
quite different from Bali. It's climate is drier
and land more rugged. With 1.6 million
inhabitants, a majority of whom are Muslim Sasaks,
Lombok is only about half as densely populated.
Like Bali, Lombok
is dominated by a towering northern volcanic
range, with 3,800-metre (12,300-foot) Mt. Rinjani,
the second highest peak in Indonesia, at its center. Another non-volcanic range traverses the
barren southern side of the island (corresponding
to Bali's southern Bukit Peninsula), and most of
Lombok's arable land and the majority of her
population occupy a narrow 25-km (16-mile) wide
strip of land in between.
The western third
of this plain, similar in many ways to east Bali,
which it faces across the strait, is well fed by
mountain streams and artesian springs. Here,
Balinese and Sasaks have sculpted handsome rice
terraces into the fertile, sloping alluvial fan at
the foot of Mt. Punikan. The island's two large
towns, Mataram and Ampenan, are located here,
within close proximity of the stately old court center
of Cakranegara, and the port, the secluded
mountain resorts, and Lombok's spectacular
southern beaches are only an hour away.
For some of the
world's best scuba diving, surfing and
beach-lounging, visitors from every continent head
for the eastern coast of Lombok. The idyllic white
sand beaches and colorful coral reefs of Senggigi
and the Gili Islands draw thousands of tourists
each year.
On Lombok's
southeastern peninsula, the weather is dependably
gorgeous and the beaches are pristine. On the
land, coffee farms, coconut groves, and red palm
sugar plants make for interesting tours. In the
sea, divers can find rare species of giant clams,
sharks, turtles, manta rays, and blue spotted
stingrays gracing the warm coastal.
The Gili Islands
are located just off the East Coast of Lombok.
This small, beach-circumference islands provide an
excellent vacation destination for
adventure-hungry tourists. The mostly young crowds
spend their days on the beach and their nights in
the disco clubs. Because of the small number of
hotels on the islands, many visitors simply sleep
on the beaches.
Early native
chronicles confirm that Lombok was colonized from
East Java, and the Sasak people perhaps take their
name from a type of bamboo raft (sesek) used to
cross the straits. According to a 14th-Century Old
Javanese lontar-leaf text found here in 1894 (the
famous Negarakertagama, which incidentally is the
main source of information concerning the ancient
empires of East Java), the island was brought
under direct Javanese control by Patih Gajah Mada
powerful prime minister of the great Majapahit
empire, before his death in 1365. No trace of this
conquest remains, with the possible exception of
an isolated group of peoples living near Sembalun,
high on Rinjani's slopes, who claim to be
descended from Hindu-Javanese settlers and who
guard the grave of a brother of Majapahit's king.
In the 17th
Century, Lombok was invaded and colonized from two
directions. The western plain was annexed by the
Balinese ruler of Karangasem, who was to exert a
controlling influence over this part of the island
up until the Dutch Conquest of 1894. The East
Coast, meanwhile, which was at this time the
political center of the native Sasak inhabitants,
was conquered by groups of Muslim Makassarese
traders operating from Sumbawa, and the Sasak
aristocracy was thereafter converted to Islam.
Noted for its fine
handicrafts, especially basket ware and plaited
mats, as well as intricate jewelry vases, caskets
and other decorative objects. Its name was
invented when the Sasak kingdom of Langko located
in Kopang, Central Lombok fell to the Balinese
invaders. The royal family fled to Loyok, a
village south to Kotaraja, and after the royal
compound was also destroyed, two sons of the ruler
of Langko went to live in Kotaraja, which means
"The City of Kings".
In the mountain
tribal villages (of the Waktu-telu), such as
Pujung and Sengkol in southern-central Lombok, one
finds still another type of village traditional
hyperbolic-shaped thatched huts supported by
roughly sown wooden beams, with wide strips of
bamboo and tree branches interwoven to form walls
and partitions.
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