Minangkabau (redirected from Minangs)

Minangkabau

Any member of the largest ethnic group on the island of Sumatra, Indon. Though Muslim, the Minangkabau are matrilineal. Traditionally, the wife remained with her maternal relatives after marriage; her husband continued to live with his mother but visited his wife. The domestic unit, a community house, held a head woman, her sisters, their daughters, and their children and visiting husbands. Today that kinship structure has declined, and more men have left their villages to establish their own households with wives and children. Traditional Minangkabau are farmers, and their crafts include wood carving, metalwork, and weaving. Some migrated to Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia) in the 1850s to participate in the rapid expansion of Malayan tin mining; over time immigrants switched to farming, and in the 20th century they came to control most of Malaya's retail trade. The Minangkabau number two to five million.

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Minangkabau 

a people inhabiting western and central Sumatra and a number of other regions in Indonesia and in Malaysia. In 1973 their number was estimated at more than 4 million. The language of the Minangkabau, which is similar to Indonesian, belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian language family. The Minangkabau are Muslims. Many of the peoples of Sumatra are racially related to the Minangkabau. An early feudal principality existed among the Minangkabau in the 13th century. In the first half of the 19th century, the Minangkabau resisted the Dutch conquest. Their chief occupation is wet rice cultivation and, since the early 20th century, the raising of industrial crops, such as rubber. Livestock breeding and handicrafts are also important. Capitalist relations are well developed, although communal living and many features of the matrilineal clan system have survived. The Minangkabau play an active role in the political and cultural life of Indonesia.

REFERENCES

Narody Iugo-Vostochnoi Azii. Moscow, 1966. (Bibliography.)

IU. V. MARETIN