Riau Lingga Archipelago nestles in the straits between mainland Asia (Malay Peninsula) and the northern eastern coast of Sumatra. The archipelago was a collection point for forest primitives, river-bank dwellers, and strand collectors.
With the southward movement of Mongoloid proto-Malay, who has a physical feature in the form of a rather harsh facial expression and rather dark skin tone, great mixing of strand folk and the newly arrived immigrants took place, especially in Sumatra. The ancestral origin of the Orang Laut is thought to be a Proto-Malay. They are estimated to arrive in that area before the beginning of the century AD or around 2500-1500 BC.
In the seventh century during maritime state of Srivijaya, Sea Tribes have played a key role in the history of the region, dominating certain ports, functioning as the navy of Malay rulers, and gathering important sea products for trade, usually in a patron client relationship with those rulers.
With the arrival of Bugis into the trading network and also the assassination of Sultan Mahmud Syah II, their glory days wane sharply in the beginning of 1699. The people of Bugis were originally the residents of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their kingdom became the biggest kingdom in Indonesia in the 17th century. The turmoil started after the arrival of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C) in expeditions with the goal of trading for pepper and spices. It was during this period that more Bugis migrated to the other parts of Malay Archipelago and Riau Lingga region.
The Riau Sea Tribes later were soon eclipsed technologically by Illanun raiders from Sulu Sultanate in the late eighteenth century.
Riau Lingga Archipelago
