Place names and inter-island trade in Eastern Indonesia: Abui coastal toponymic interface

This paper investigates coastal and trade-related names in the Abui community of Takalelang in the Alor-Pantar Archipelago of Eastern Indonesia. The area has supplied forest products, spices, and food to the archipelago's trade network for at least 2000 years. The paper triangulates evidence from toponymy, historical sources, material culture, and oral tradition to understand the name-giving process and its historical and cultural context. The method unveils how trade affected the coastal toponymic interface, but also how the surrounding area developed to supply trade commodities and integrate new arrivals. The results reveal that the Abui coast is not a ‘hard edge’, but an ‘interface’, a place of contact and exchange, recounting origins, alliances, and past encounters. The structure of the Abui toponymy documents the Abui economic activities and agency in the face of pre-colonial and colonial powers.