Kédang - History and Cultural Relations

Little is known of the history of Kédang prior to the closing decades of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, with Dutch military assistance, the raja of the neighboring island of Adonara secured political control over Kédang. The Dutch did not themselves enter the area in force until 1910, when they disarmed and registered the population of the entire island. From that time on Kédang history was submerged in that of the Dutch East Indies and the Republic of Indonesia. Catholic missionaries began working there in the 1920s, but Islamic conversions kept pace with those of the Catholics.

Culturally, as well as linguistically, the people of Kédang are closely allied with their neighbors to the west, the Lamaholot, with whom they share features of social structure and religious ideas. There are also similarities with speakers of Bahasa Alor on the islands of Pantar and Alor to the east. Bahasa Alor may be regarded as a dialect of Lamaholot. They are not culturally or linguistically related to the more numerous populations of Alor and Pantar who speak non-Austronesian languages.