1. The History

a. The origin

As a state, the existence of Buton was noted in the work of Mpu Prapanca in 1365 C.E entitled Negarakartagama. In that old text, Buton was called Butuni. It was described that Butuni was a village of hermits adorned with gardens, phallus and waterworks. And its king was titled Yang Mulia Mahaguru.

Historically, Buton was established by four persons - Sipanjonga, Simalui, Sitamanajo and Sijawangkati - called Mia Patamiana. Based on an oral history of Buton, these four persons were from Malay Peninsula who migrated to Buton in the end of the third century C.E.

They then divided themselves into two groups: Sipanjongan and Sijawangkati; Simalui and Sitamanjo. The first group and their companions occupied Gundu-Gundu area, while the second group and their companions in Barangkatopa.

In 1236 C.E, Sipanjongan and his companions left their homeland, Malay Peninsula, taking a voyage to east on a traditional ship, namely palolang. The first place they dropped in, during their voyage, was Malalang Island, Kalaotoa, and later arrived in Buton in Kalampa district. Afterwards they put out Malay kingdom`s flag that was known as Longa-Longa. And when Buton kingdom established, Longa-Longa was used as a legal flag of the kingdom.

Meanwhile Simalui and his companions stepped in Teluk Bumbu that is now included in Wakarumba district. They moved from place to place to survive, and finally met with Sipanjonga`s group. Their relation was then strengthened with marriage among them. Sipanjonga married Simalui`s sister, Sibaana, and they had a son named Betoambari. When grew into an adult, Betoambari married Wasigirina, the daughter of Kamaru King. From the marriage relation, they had a child named Sangariarana. According to history, Betoambari then became a ruler of Peropa, while Sangariarana was a ruler of Baluwu. After the establishment of Peropa and Baluwu district, family relation was tied among four districts: Peropa, Baluwu, Gundu-Gundu and Barangkatopa. These four districts were famously known as Empat Limbo (Four Limbos), and each of its leader was titled Bonto. The highest leader of the unity of four districts was titled Patalimbona who had an authority to select and to crown a king.

Besides Empat Limbo mentioned above, there were small kingdoms in Buton Island such as Tobe-Tobe, Kamaru, Wabula, Todanga and Batauga. In a line of their history, those five small kingdoms and Empat Limbo united to become one new kingdom named Buton kingdom. In the meantime, they crowned a woman, Wa Kaa Kaa, as their first king. Her installation was held in 1332 C.E.

Regarding the history of the name of Buton, in the belief of local tradition, the name referred to Butu, a kind of banyan tree (barringtonia asiatica). The name was given by nusantara (now is Malay region) sailors who often visited the island. It is estimated that the name had been used along before Majapahit came to conquer it. In official letters of kingdom, for example, the kingdom named itself as Butuni; Bugis people called Butung; and the Dutch called Buton. Furthermore, in the Dutch`s archive, the kingdom was noted as Butong (Bouthong). And when it converted to Islam, there was an attempt to refer the name “Buton” to Arabic word “bathni” or “bathin” that means stomach or womb.

b. The Buton Kingdom and Islam

During the rule of Wa Kaa Kaa, Buton kingdom developed considerably until Islam penetrated its area through Ternate in the mid 16^th century C.E. Before the penetration of Islam, Buton had been ruled by six kings, two of them were woman. In 1542 C.E, Buton kingdom turned into sultanate in conjunction with the installation of Lakilaponto as the first sultan of Buton who was titled Sultan Murhum Kaimuddin Khalifatul Khamis. In the time the king Lakilaponto converted into Islam, the Buton kingdom developed significantly until reached its top of glory in the seventeenth century C.E. The kingdom and Islam were interrelated harmonically, especially kingdom relation with the elements of Sufism. The law of kingdom, for instance, was called Murtabat Tujuh, the very popular term in the Islamic mysticism. The law regulated task, function and position of sultan. In that era, Buton also administered a mutual relation with Luwu, Konawe and Majapahit.

2. The Kings

The names listed below were the kings of Buton. Raja was the title of the kings before an Islamic era, while sultan was the title of the Muslim kings.

The kings (raja):

1. Rajaputri Wa KaaKaa
2. Rajaputri Bulawambona
3. Raja Bataraguru
4. Raja Tuarade
5. Rajamulae
6. Raja Murhum

The Sultans:

1. Sultan Murhum (1491-1537 C.E.)
2. Sultan La Tumparasi (1545-1552 C.E.)
3. Sultan La Sangaji (1566-1570 C.E.)
4. Sultan La Elangi (1578-1615 C.E.)
5. Sultan La Balawo (1617-1619 C.E.)
6. Sultan La Buke (1632-1645 C.E.)
7. Sultan La Saparagau (1645-1646 C.E.)
8. Sultan La Cila (1647-1654 C.E.)
9. Sultan La Awu (1654-1664 C.E.)
10. Sultan La Simbata (1664-1669 C.E.)
11. Sultan La Tangkaraja (1669-1680 C.E.)
12. Sultan La Tumpamana (1680-1689 C.E.)
13. Sultan La Umati (1689-1697 C.E.)
14. Sultan La Dini (1697-1702 C.E.)
15. Sultan La Rabaenga (1702 C.E.)
16. Sultan La Sahada (1702-1709 C.E.)
17. Sultan La Ibi (1709-1711 C.E.)
18. Sultan La Tumsari (1711-1712 C.E.)
19. Sultan Langkariri (1712-1750 C.E.)
20. Sultan La Karambau (1750-1752 C.E.)
21. Sultan Hamim (1752-1759 C.E.)
22. Sultan La Seha (1759-1760 C.E.)
23. Sultan La Karambau (1760-1763 C.E.)
24. Sultan La Jampi (1763-1788 C.E.)
25. Sultan La Masalalamu (1788-1791 C.E.)
26. Sultan La Kopuru (1791-1799 C.E.)
27. Sultan La Badaru (1799-1823 C.E.)
28. Sultan La Dani (1823-1824 C.E.)
29. Sultan Muh. Idrus (1824-1851 C.E.)
30. Sultan Muh. Isa (1851-1861 C.E.)
31. Sultan Muh. Salihi (1871-1886 C.E.)
32. Sultan Muh. Umar (1886-1906 C.E.)
33. Sultan Muh. Asikin (1906-1911 C.E.)
34. Sultan Muh. Husain (1914 C.E.)
35. Sultan Muh. Ali (1918-1921 C.E.)
36. Sultan Muh. Saifu (1922-1924 C.E.)
37. Sultan Muh. Hamidi (1928-1937 C.E.)
38. Sultan Muh. Falihi (1937-1960 C.E.)

3. The Kingdom Period

During pre-Islamic period, since 1332 until 1542 C.E., Buton was ruled by the six kings. The Islamic period began from 1542 to 1960 CE in which the kingdom was ruled by 38 kings. The last sultan was Muhamad Falihi Kaimuddin whose power ended in 1960 CE.

4. The Kingdom Territory

The territory of Buton encompassed all islands of Buton, besides several islands that were located in Sulawesi.

5. The Kingdom Structure

King was a highest ruler in Buton kingdom. The power structure of the sultanate was propped by two groups of aristocracy namely kaomu and walaka. Walaka was a group of people whose task was upholding norms and controlling the government ruled by sultan. Walaka had an absolute authority of selecting and installing sultan, but uniquely the selected sultan must be from kaomu. In order to facilitate the running of the government, Buton undertook a decentralization system by forming 72 small territories called kadie. Several structural positions of Buton government were bontona (minister), menteri besar, bonto, kepala siolimbona and secretary of sultan.

6. The Social and Cultural Life

The establishment of the Islamic kingdom of Buton was as a result of the transmission of Islamic teaching in Nusantara; Buton kingdom, therefore, was widely influenced by Islamic cultural pattern developed in Nusantara, especially in the form of writing tradition. Even, the amount of writing texts of Buton that are available until the present time are much bigger than that of Ternate, the country where Islam in Buton came from. The texts of Buton undoubtedly played a central role of revealing the history of that state, and in another side, are as the evident of the glory of Buton culture that developed marvelously. The texts included a variety of fields such as law, history, family tree, ceremony and custom, medicines, primbon, language and legend, all of which were written in Arabic alphabet, Buri Wolio and Jawi. The languages used in the texts were Arabic, Malay and Wolio. Besides the texts above, there were the texts of correspondence between the sultans and the East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC).

It is wealth noting that legal supremacy was collectively adhered without any discrimination. Whoever made a guilty whether from an ordinary people or sultan must be punished. Twelve of thirty Buton kings, for instance, were punished due to their violating the oath of office. One of them was the eighth sultan, Mardan Ali (La Cila) who was executed with death sentence; his neck was tied with a rope to death (this kind of punishment was known as digogoli).

In the level of economy, the economic activities run very good due to their mutual trade relation with the surrounding countries. In the interior of the state, the taxation system as a source of the income of the kingdom was managed strictly. The civil servant whose task was taking the taxes in rural districts was named tunggu weti. But when the system of taxation developed and changed whereby the status of tunggu weti was risen to be Bonto Ogena, his task was not restricted in the taxation system, he also served as a head of Siolimbona (legislative council). Buton had its own currency named Kampua as the implementation of exchanged system in the economic activity. Kampua had 17, 5 cm in length, and 8 cm in width; it was made of cotton that was traditionally spun to become thread, and later was woven into cloth.

The common ground shared by the Button people was stipulated in the following principles upheld in their daily life:

1. Yinda Yindamo Arata Somanamo Karo (wealth was sacrificed for the sake of self safety)
2. Yinda Yindamo Karo somanamo Lipu (self was sacrificed for the sake of country safety)
3. Yinda Yindamo Lipu somanamo Sara (state was sacrificed for the sake of government safety)        
4. Yinda Yindamo Sara somanamo Agama (government was sacrificed for the sake of religion)

Buton is a country of island located in a strategic route of voyage that connected between the rich islands of spices in east, and the traders who came from western Nusantara. Due to its strategic location, Buton was opened to the external threats, either from pirates or from foreign kingdoms that attempted to conquer it. Therefore, Buton built a multi-level defense system in order to avoid the threat of enemies. The first multi-level defense was ruled by four Barata: Wuna, Tiworo, Kulisusu, Kaledupa. The second was ruled by four Matana Sorumba: Wabula, Lapandewa, Watumotobe and Mawasangka. And the last was ruled by four persons who had Bhisa Patamiana (mysticism defense). This multi-level defense was strengthened by fortress in each group. In 1634 C.E., the first fortress was built by the sixth sultan of Buton, La Buke. This fortress has a circle wall about 2.740 meters in length, and protected area about 401.900 square meters. Its thickness is 1 to 2 meters, while its tall is about 2 to 8 meters that is completed with 16 bastions and 12 entrances and exit gates. This fortress is located in the area of hills at a distance around 3 kilometers from the coast.

The explanation above is just a short description. In this present time, several regencies and cities built within the past territory of Buton kingdom are: Buton Regency, Muna, Wakatoby, Bombana and Bau-Bau city. Bau-Bau was the center of Buton kingdom in the past. The inherited wealth of the kingdom such as the building of palace can be seen until these days.   

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