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Concept
Sundanese people
Summary
The Sunda or Sundanese (Orang Sunda; Urang Sunda) are an indigenous ethnic group native to the western region of Java island in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. They speak the Sundanese language, which is part of the Austronesian languages.
The western third of the island of Java, namely the provinces of West Java, Banten, and Jakarta, as well as the westernmost part of Central Java, is called by the Sundanese people Tatar Sunda or Pasundan (meaning Sundanese land).
Sundanese migrants can also be found in Lampung and South Sumatra, and to a lesser extent in Central Java and East Java.
The Sundanese people can also be found on several other islands in Indonesia such as Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali and Papua.
The Sundanese are of Austronesian origins and are thought to have originated in Taiwan. They migrated through the Philippines and reached Java between 1,500 BC and 1,000 BC. Nevertheless, there is also a hypothesis that argues that the Austronesian ancestors of contemporary Sundanese people originally came from Sundaland, a massive sunken peninsula that today forms the Java Sea, the Malacca and Sunda Straits and the islands between them. According to a recent genetic study, Sundanese, together with Javanese and Balinese, has almost an equal ratio of genetic marker shared between Austronesian and Austroasiatic ancestries.
The Sunda Wiwitan belief contains the mythical origin of Sundanese people; Sang Hyang Kersa, the supreme divine being in ancient Sundanese belief created seven bataras (deities) in Sasaka Pusaka Buana (The Sacred Place on Earth). The oldest of these bataras is called Batara Cikal and is considered the ancestor of the Kanekes people. The other six bataras ruled various locations in Sunda lands in Western Java. A Sundanese legend of Sangkuriang contains the memory of the prehistoric ancient lake in Bandung basin highland, which suggest that Sundanese already inhabit the region since the Mesolithic era, at least 20,000 years ago.
Official source
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