History

History of Lombok

Why Lombok is less popular in terms of shopping, cuisine, and nightlife than Bali?

Because Sasak culture in Lombok are the dominant culture, the people are very restrained and they are love quiet of nature.

However, Lombok is becoming popular with tourists and honeymooners who want to relax in an inexpensive, tropical, un-crowded atmosphere, with many natural treasures. Lombok is a relaxing place, the warm tropical sun can normally slowly melt a sense of urgency and a hurried pace off most visitors. Nothing happens quickly in Lombok and visitors who are stressed from their daily lives find Lombok a delightful place to unwind.

There is little known about life on Lombok in the prehistory. As well  as most other languages that are spoken in the archipelago, the Sasak language belongs to the Austronesian language family. The Austronesians, which originated from mainland Asia, started to move toward the Philippines, Indonesia and the islands in the Pacific around 5,000 BC.

A chronicle from the 14th century from the big East Javanese principality Majapahit names Lombok  as a part of it. The only copy of the chronicle, the Negarakertagama, was found in the village Pagutan, just outside Mataram at the end of the 19th century. In that time there were a lot of local rulers, which each ruled over an area the size of several villages. Every once in a while one of them, which often called themselves Raja. 

Islam was introduced from Java in the first part of the 16th century by Sunan Giri or Sangopati Prince. Sangopari Prince was known as Pedanda Bau Rau on Bali, and as Tuan Haji Semeru on Sumbawa. These first Moeslims preached a synthetic versian of Islam, colored by local ancestral believes and Hinduism. Early messages tell us that the mosque which can still be seen in Bayan, is the oldest an most important of Lombok.