Sundanese Culture

The History of Sunda

Sunda is a culture of people who live at the western region in the island of Java-Indonesia. As one of the ethnic,Sunda is a forerunner to the establishment of civilization in the archipelago (Sundaland). Began with the founding of the oldest kingdoms in Indonesia, namely Salakanagara and Tarumanagara till Galuh, Pakuan Padjadjaran,and Sumedang Larang. The kingdom of Sunda is the kingdom of peace, during the time of they rule, they never expand to get larging the territory. Descendants of the Kingdom of Sunda has spawned great kingdoms in the archipelago, which is the Kingdom of Sriwijaya, Majapahit, Mataram, Cirebon, Banten, etc.

The meaning of the Sundanese word is Good / White / Clean / Shining, everything that contains elements of goodness. Sundanese people are believed that having ethics or character Kasundaan as the path to the primacy of life. The character kaSundaan it self is Cageur (healthy), Bageur (good), Ko (right), Singer (skilled), and Smart (intelligent), which has existed since the days of the year 150 Salaka Nagara until Sumedang Larang in the 17th century,has brought prosperity and well-being more than 1000 years.

Culture System

In 1830 came from the most famous political mistakes made by Netherlands which is called Culture System (Cultuurstelsel), but actually more accurately called the system of slavery. This system focuses the efforts made by the government to drain more crops resulting from soil of Sunda.The result of this culture system has racked the fifth of farmers income tobe come the change of taxes. By conducting new crops such as sugar, coffee, and tea, its became bigger of what they owned by the farmland. The economic impact is very dramatic for the rural. Passing through the middle of the century, private investment in the land of West Java began to grow and start popping more plantations.Tanahhe soil was taken out of the hands of farmers and given to the landlord. By the year of 1870, the agrarian law is deemed necessary to protect the people's rights for they own land.

The next article is about Traditional Musical Instrument of Sunda