Lampung people

The Lampung or Lampungese (Jamma Lampung ; Ulun Lappung ) are an indigenous ethnic group native to Lampung and some parts of South Sumatra (especially in Martapura region of Empat Lawang Regency, Muaradua district of South Ogan Komering Ulu Regency, Kayu Agung district of Ogan Komering Ilir Regency, Tanjung Raja district of Ogan Ilir Regency), Bengkulu (in Merpas district of Kaur Regency), as well as in the southwest coast of Banten (in Cikoneng of Serang Regency). They speak the Lampung language, a Lampungic language estimated to have 1.5 million speakers. The origins of the Lampung people is closely tied to the name of Lampung itself. In the 7th century the Chinese had already mentioned about a place in the south (Nampang) where it is said to be the place of the Tolang Pohwang kingdom, the location of the former kingdom's territory may now refer to the area of Tulang Bawang Regency or regions alongside the Tulang Bawang River, this is supported by Prof. Gabriel Ferrand (1918). There are strong evidence that Lampung was part of the Srivijaya empire with its capital in Jambi and did conquered parts of South East Asia region including Lampung until the 11th century. In the 5th AD Taiping Huanyu Ji chronicles, names of the Nan-hai (Southern ocean) states were recorded and among them are two states which were mentioned in sequence, To-lang and Po-hwang. The To-lang state was mentioned only once, but the Po-hwang state was mentioned many times as this state did send envoys to China in the year of 442, 449, 451, 459, 464 and 466. It is said that there is also a Tulangbawang kingdom, although the idea simply came from the unification of the two names in the Chinese chronicles. Originally the lineage of the Lampung people came from Sekala Brak kingdom. However, in its customary sense the Lampung people developed and became two people group, namely the Saibatin Lampungs (coastal) and the Pepadun Lampungs (interior).