page_title: Ajatappareng
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Ajatappareng / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Repronegatief. Vissers op het meer, Senkang, Zuid-Celebes
context_page_description: Ajatappareng was a historical region in the western part of South Sulawesi consisting of five allied principalities: Sidenreng, Suppa, Rappang, Sawitto, and Alitta. They formed an alliance during the sixteenth century in response to the rise of Gowa and Tallo to the south and rivalling the Telumpoccoe alliance—consisting three Bugis kingdoms of Bone, Wajo, and Soppeng—to the east. The Ajatappareng confederation became a regional power and a major port thanks to its naval power and the exodus of traders fleeing the Portuguese capture of Malacca. The confederation's power declined in the seventeenth century, when it was subjugated by Gowa. The later invasion of South Sulawesi by the Dutch East India Company and its imposition of monopoly ended the region's status as a trade centre.
context_section_description: In the Bugis language, the term Ajatappareng means "the lands west of the lakes", referring to its location relative to Lakes Tempe, Sidenreng, and Buaya in central South Sulawesi. Today, this region corresponds to four regencies and one city in Indonesia. The former regions of Sawitto and Alitta are now parts of the Pinrang Regency; those of Sidenreng and Rappang become the Sidenreng Rappang Regency, as well as the Maiwa district of the Enrekang Regency, while the former Suppa territory is now split between Pinrang, part of the Barru Regency and the city of Parepare. Various terrains exist in this region, from the hilly north to the fertile plains in the south and centre. Several rivers flow through the area, providing water for extensive wet-rice agriculture. In fact, the region contains some of the most productive area in South Sulawesi for growing rice. Manuel Pinto, a Portuguese explorer who visited Sidenreng in the 1540s, recorded that the region was rich in rice and other crops.
caption: Fishermen in Lake Tempe in the 1940s
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