4 - Credit among the Early Modern To Wajoq

Summary

Numerous nineteenth-century observers noted the tendency of the people of Wajoq, a Bugis polity in South Sulawesi, to enter the field of international trade. Missionary-linguist B.F. Matthes, for example, described them as “born traders” who “wander everywhere in the archipelago”. This chapter looks at their lending and borrowing practices during the eighteenth century, and at how these practices facilitated the establishment of a largescale commercial network. Its main sources are the Wajorese chronicles, a Wajorese commercial treatise, the records of the Wajorese leader in Makassar, and Dutch criminal proceedings and commercial records. It examines the different types of loans according to the Bugis taxonomy, the manner in which loans were supposed be repaid, and what actually happened when commercial arrangements went awry. It is hoped that these examinations will show how Wajorese institutional innovations in the realm of credit maximized the commercial potential of the To Wajoq and made their extensive, highly successful trading network possible.

Wajorese Migration and Commerce

Located in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Wajoq is bordered on the east by the Gulf of Boné, on the north by the foothills of the Latimojong Mountains, on the west by Lake Témpé and Lake Sidénréng, and on the south by the Cenrana River. Its immediate political neighbours are Boné to the south, Soppéng to the west, Sidénréng to the northwest and Luwuq to the north. This location has been credited with inspiring the To Wajoq to develop their maritime skills. The seventeenth-century Dutch Governor of Makassar Adriaan Smout observed how the freshwater lake Témpé, the clean and deep Cenrana River, and the proximity of the sea provided the To Wajoq with diverse economic opportunities, and encouraged them to go into commerce. This analysis is echoed in modern anthropological literature.

Early modern Wajorese commerce must be situated within the context of Wajorese migration, which is a pervasive theme of Wajorese history from earliest times until the present. In the Wajorese chronicles, Wajoq itself is presented as a frontier.