The Story of Nakoda Hitam: Her Life and Ventures at Maritime Crossroads at the Turn of the 20th Century
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
The Story Of Nakoda Hitam: Her Life and Ventures at Maritime Crossroads at the Turn of the 20th Century |
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Author :
Mayumi Ishikawa |
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Abstract:
Story about sea-faring Malays and their mercantile activities abound in the maritime histories of Southeast Asia. Though we tend to assume that most such traders were men, the following story is about a woman nakoda (master of sailing vessel and merchant-cum-trader) who settled in the coastal area of southwestern Sarawak around the turn of the 20th century. Originally from the Natunas, she was reputed to be a skilled sailor who skimmed across the South China Sea to places as distant as Singapore and Java. She belonged to the last generation of nakoda whose lifetimes coincided with the period of final, irreparable demise of the traditional merchant class. Like many of her contemporaries, she inevitably shifted her focus to agriculture and eventually became a pioneer coconut estate developer in Sarawak. Based on historical as well as oral resources,1 I wish to record here the fascinating story of Nakoda Hitam’s life against the backdrop of changing socio-economic conditions of Sarawak. Her story exemplifies a rare convergence between “history from above” and “history from below”. While people’s memories center on her persona, family and work, the development of her coconut estates was surveyed and documented in colonial archives by Brooke government officials as part of the record of plantations in the region. The official recorded history and oral tradition of local residents thus complement each other and permit the reconstruction of her lifeworld through which we catch a glimpse of the dynamics of Sarawak Malay society.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Mayumi Ishikawa. (2005). The Story of Nakoda Hitam: Her Life and Ventures at Maritime Crossroads at the Turn of the 20th Century. The Sarawak Museum Journal, LXI (82): 247-262 |
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