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Article: Wandering on the waves: Sebastian Hope travels to the waters off the Malay Peninsula in an effort to document the rapidly disappearing lifestyle of Indonesia's semi-nomadic sea gypsies.
- Article from:
- Geographical
- Article date:
- April 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Circle Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A glance at a map of South Asia reveals more blue than green, more sea than land. Land-dwellers tend to look on the sea as divisive, as separating one place from another and making each different. The islands that curve in a double arc away from the Malay Peninsula seem to confirm this View. The high degree of endemism in their flora and fauna and the variety in their cultures and languages are directly attributable to their long isolation from each other. For the sailor, however, the sea is a highway, connecting every shore with any other.
The sea holds a central position in Malay history and imagination. It enabled the Malay peoples to spread out from the Asian ...