The Minangkabau people, who make up the vast majority of the population of three million in West Sumatra, Indonesia, have a number of unusual characteristics that are almost unknown to nonspecialists. Chief among these is that they have, as far back as history records, been organized matrilineally (that is, in such a way that kinship structures pass in the female line), while at the same time they are strict and pious adherents of the predominantly patrilineal and patriarchal Muslim religion. How this apparent contradiction is reconciled among them, and how the matrilineal Minangkabau have adapted to patriarchal influences and conquerors, are questions that excite the study of this unique people.
West Sumatra province, the northern part of which lies on the equator, consists largely (apart from western islands that have little contact with the main island of Sumatra) of a hot, humid, and formerly malarial coastal lowland plain. From this plain, one ascends rather precipitously (and formerly with much difficulty) to the inland highlands, which are relatively cool and rainy but not humid. Several mountains, including the volcanic Mount Merapi, punctuate the inland landscape, and there are two large volcanic lakes surrounded by mountains, as well as several rivers, which were once important in trade.
The volcanic soil is highly fertile and can support more than one crop, usually of wet rice, the chief local staple. Year-round rainfall makes it possible to grow rice in all seasons, so that at any one time rice can be found at all different stages of growth, from planting to harvest, often within the same area. Except for plowing with the ubiquitous water buffalo, women do most of the work involved with rice growing. The fact that women were responsible for a major crop was one reason matriliny developed among the people. Despite heavy rainfall, irrigation is needed, as is terracing on the often sloping land.
Mythology reveals much about the Minangkabau past. A series of well-known stories center around an adventurous heroine instead of a hero, which would be most unusual in a patriarchy. Many stories suggest the importance of trade and seafaring. These were central male activities, while women focused on the subsistence farming.
Highly suggestive are the two foundation stories regarding Minangkabau. One, concerning the foundation of the country, is called "The Minangkabau World." According to this story, three sons of Alexander the Great set out on a voyage to conquer the world. After quarreling, they decided to divide the world among them. One became the raja (king) of Rum (roughly Anatolia, from Byzantine Rome), another became raja of China, and the third, raja of Minangkabau. When the latter landed his ship, all that was above water was the tip of Mount Merapi, no bigger than an egg. Gradually the waters receded, however, and people were able to cultivate more and more land as it surfaced.
Apart from showing contact with Middle Eastern Alexandrian legends, and probably Near Eastern flood legends (amazing considering the distance), the story is interesting both for its glorification of Minangkabau and its unification of the people's two major economic sources--seafaring (needed for trade) and agriculture. In reality, Sumatra's first inhabitants, and probably those of Minangkabau, must have arrived in the low coastal plain and moved up, not the other way round, although the highlands came to dominate
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