Muna

The Muna, who call themselves the Wuna, are the Austronesian people of Muna Island and neighbouring parts of Buton in Southeast Sulawesi, speaking languages of the Muna-Buton group. Their eight early villages united into the Kingdom of Muna around 1210, with its capital at Kotano Wuna; its first king was La Eli.

The seventh ruler, La Kilaponto, reigned from 1517 to 1520 and then, as Sultan Murhum, took the throne of Buton, where his adoption of Islam opened the faith to both islands. After Buton signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company in 1613, the island realms fought between 1626 and 1667 under King Sangia Kaendea.

A Dutch-backed Butonese force seized the Muna king by trickery and exiled him to Ternate before his people brought him back. Muna social life included the Karia, the four-day seclusion that marked a girl's passage to adulthood.