Map of Southeast Asia, 1800.
Source: The British Library, courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore.
Abbott's Travels
Naturalist, Explorer & Field Scientist
William Louis Abbott (1860-1936) used Singapore as his base for his expeditions in Southeast Asia. In 1899, he paid for the construction of a 20-metre-long (65-foot) schooner in Singapore which he named Terrapin. Over the next 10 years, he visited almost all the islands in the region on his Terrapin and collected or purchased animal specimens and materials from the local communities for the purpose of studying their culture; a vast majority of his collection came mostly from Indonesia and Borneo. It was in Singapore where Abbott later shipping his collection to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. In total, more than 6,000 pieces were donated to the institution, out of from 1903 to 1909, a portion of his collection from Borneo was donated to the Raffles Library & Museum.
The Terrapin, 20-metre- long schooner Abbott built and used for his travels in the region.
Source: In the Andamans and Nicobars.
Sumatra
Source: Unsplash.
Simeulue Island
About 150 kilometres off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, lies Simeulue Island. Its inhabitants are the Simeulue people, an indigenous group of people who are mostly found in Teupah Barat, Simeulue Timur, Simeulue Tengah, Teupah Selatan and Teluk Dalam districts. Very little is known about their history and heritage as they did not keep any historical records about their community; the likelihood of any knowledge about their traditions and legends would most likely be remembered by the older people living in the island.​
Borneo
Source: Unsplash.
Borneo, Malay Peninsula
Located at the southeast of the Malay Peninsula and southwest of the Philippines, The island of Borneo is politically divided into three different territories:
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Sabah and Sarawak (Malaysia);
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Kalimatan (Indonesia) and
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Brunei Darussalam
With an area of 748,168 km2 in size, the island is the third largest island in the world (the other two being Greenland and New Guinea). Surrounded by the South China and Sulu seas to its north, the Celebes Sea to its east, and the Java Sea to its south, Borneo has a dense and sprawling rainforest covering an area of roughly 287,000 square miles It is also rich in wildlife and is home to Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Malaysia.​