Enggano

The Enggano are the small, isolated people of forested Enggano Island off southwestern Sumatra, among the region's oldest settled populations. Portuguese explorers first met them in the early sixteenth century, when they called themselves the E Lopeh; their closest ties are with the Batak and Nias, though long isolation gave their culture a distinct character.

Their language shares little vocabulary with neighboring Austronesian tongues and has undergone strange sound changes; scholars have variously treated it as a separate primary branch, an Austronesian-influenced isolate, or part of the Northwest Sumatra barrier-island group.

In 1337 the islanders were divided into five tribes, organized into exogamous maternal clans called kaudar with matrilocal marriage, while ancestral land passed from mother to daughter. They farmed yams, taro and coconuts, fished and hunted turtles, and carved masks and wooden figures in a style reminiscent of Polynesian work, exchanging goods by barter.