Page 268 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

be late when compared to the Maluku and NTT where changes were the result of trade
contacts and the arrival of outsiders for centuries before they arrived in Papua. Over this
time period, the physical appearance of the people from Maluku and NTT has become
different from the Papuans, and also with culture they have undergone changes that could
be quite big, but if we examine more deeply, it turns out that the physical Anthropology
of the people of Maluku and NTT is the same as people of Papua, as well as with the initial
culture or the basic culture of the three groups of people. This paper only slightly looks into
the similarities and the relationship between the people of Papua, Maluku, and the people
of East Nusa Tenggara.

Contacts with Other Cultures
Contacts between the people of Maluku and Papua have included mixed marriages. The
assimilation process generally occurred in the area of Raja Ampat and Onin and Biak due
to trade, headhunting and piracy. Frequently in the past, if they could not sell the men and
women victims who had been captured, they would take them home as slaves, but the
women would be taken as wives by the brigands. This had led, in Papua, to the existence
of a mixed population of the descendants of Maluku, particularly in Raja Ampat, Onin and
Biak. Similarly, in Maluku, from hundreds of years ago there have been people who are
descendants of the Papuans, both from Biak, Raja Ampat and Onin.
From some historical evidence and folklore from the area of Misol, it can be inferred
that in the past, Misol was a haven for Maluku people who wanted to trade in Tanah Besar.
Some of the names of places there come from Seram Language like Magey which means
“how”. In the meantime, Magey in Misol dialect means light. The remains of the history of
seafaring people of Seram in Misol can still be found in Kali Gam in the form of an upside
down boat belonging to Seram people.
Mixed marriages between people of Maluku and Papua and East Nusa Tenggara were
also often the result of natural conditions, so traders had to wait for a change of wind to
return to their respective regions, which could be quite long. Therefore, they would marry
girls from the area to take care of all the necessities of life.
With the two things above, now in the Onin, and Raja Ampat and Biak, there are
people of Maluku descendants; most of them have used local family names. The case
above has also happened to the merchants of the East Nusa Tenggara who made trade
contacts with the Papuans. In Misol, besides the people of Maluku descent, there are also
those descended from the people of East Nusa Tenggara. Accordingly, they no longer

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