Pamona

The Pamona, also called To Pamona or To Pobare'e after their Bare'e language, are the people of the Lake Poso basin and Poso River in Central Sulawesi, spreading to the Tomini Gulf coast at Tojo. Their traditions trace their ancestors to the Salu Moge mountains, from where the ruler Macoa Bawalipu of Wotu brought them to Mangkutana. Before colonial rule they followed the Lamoa belief system, settling along rivers to avoid raiders from Tomini Bay. Customary chiefs governed their villages with a council of elders.

In 1770 the chief Pilewiti, a cousin of the ruler of Bone, founded the Kingdom of Tojo, which united Bare'e-speaking groups under a dynasty blessed by the Bone court.

Mandar settlers brought Islam to the Poso coast in the early nineteenth century, while the highland Pamona kept their older rites and farming life into the colonial period.