"Around 45 thousand years ago, there was pictorial evidence from Maros Island, South Sulawesi, which showed traces of the migration of people from Kalimantan to Sulawesi," Keim said at a seminar at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), University of Indonesia (UI), here on Tuesday.
"They dared to sail because they knew there were mangroves. So, the spice trade route followed the mangrove route. After that pattern was created, our ancestors carried out trading activities," he added.
He explained that the ancestors detected the presence of mangrove forests by estimating sea warmth.
"Our ancestors were already smart, they knew that as long as the sea was still warm, there would be mangroves, and as long as there were mangroves, they believed their voyages would be safe because there was a lot of food and also medicine in the mangrove forests," he said.
He posited that the entire Austronesian civilization originated in mangrove areas, as evident from the similarities in the way the word "mangrove" is pronounced across various ethnicities in Asia, Oceania, and parts of Africa.
"All Austronesian languages call the word 'mangrove' with a word similar to the word 'bakau.' 'Bakawan' in Tagalog, Philippines; 'makau-kau' in Hawaii, United States; 'honko' in Madagascar, South Africa," he said.
"So, there are similarities in words and pronunciation. 'Mangrove' is truly included in the Austronesian language family," he added.
He further explained that several mangrove species are spread across various Austronesian regions, which is strong evidence that people from the archipelago sailed following the distribution of these mangroves.
"There are mangrove colors that indicate their species, such as stylosa (green leaf stalks), mucronata (black mangrove), apiculata (oil mangrove), and others," he said.
"Then, when this is collected, compared to the shipping routes of the archipelago people, there are similarities. It means our people sail following the mangrove routes," he added.
Some mangrove colors are even visible on fabrics, and are thought to be one of the roots of batik culture, Keim continued.
"There are fabrics with mangrove colors that are logically batik. Batik is also found in Samoa, the United States. Where did it come from if it was not from the archipelago?" he asked.
"And to get there, (people from the archipelago) sailed using ships. So, all of our ancestors were sailors, as the song says that our ancestors were sailors," he said.
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Translator: Lintang Budiyanti Prameswari, Katriana
Editor: Tia Mutiasari
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