Makassarese

The Makassarese are the Austronesian people of southwestern Sulawesi, around Makassar and Gowa, close kin and historic rivals of the Bugis. Listed as a Majapahit tributary in 1365, they built the kingdoms of Gowa and Tallo, reunited under King Tunipalangga, who reigned from 1512 to 1546.

The court embraced Islam in 1605 under Sultan Alauddin, and in 1611 launched wars that brought southwest Sulawesi under Gowa's overlordship. From 1607 Gowa opened Makassar to foreign traders, and the port became a busy emporium.

In the Makassar War of 1666 to 1669 the Dutch East India Company, allied with the Bugis prince Arung Palakka, stormed Somba Opu and imposed the Treaty of Bungaya, reducing Gowa to a vassal. Makassarese seafarers sailed phinisi ships as far as the Australian coast in search of trepang.