Unveil the ‘lost toponyms’ in the northern part of the Menoreh Mountains, Java, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

How geographical features get their names have become part of the cultural heritage that lives within local communities, following the presence of human civilization. They should be documented to preserve against the extinction. Geographical name of hills and rivers in the Menoreh region in Java was the example where numerous toponyms disappeared from the recent maps. This declining information occurred after comparing the Indonesian official topographic maps (RBI) to the latest Dutch colonial era maps. Field surveying was undergone to ascertain the ‘lost’ names by interviewing residents in four districts: Borobudur, Salaman, Kalibawang, and Samigaluh, in the northern part of this mountainous area. There were 107 names of hills and rivers that existed on the Dutch maps but disappeared from the RBI maps. The result revealed that 81 names existed, 12 names changed and 14 names unrecognized. This fact was experienced in the rest of the island of Java as well. For the future RBI updating, thorough and profound toponymic verification sourced from the older maps is required to gain the most accurate information. A map must be a medium to bequeath the legacy of geographical names instead of oral tradition that has decreased over today generation.

RÉSUMÉ

La façon dont les entités géographiques sont nommées est une partie du patrimoine culturel des communautés locales, qui dépend de la présence des civilisations humaines. Les toponymes devraient être documentés pour les protéger de leur disparition. Les noms géographiques des collines et des rivières dans la région de Menoreh à Java sont un exemple où de nombreux toponymes ont disparu des cartes récentes. Ce déclin d’information est apparu après la comparaison entre les cartes topographiques officielles indonésiennes (Peta Rupabumi Indonesia – RBI) avec les dernières cartes compilées de l’époque coloniale hollandaise. Des enquêtes terrains ont été faites pour vérifier les noms perdus en interviewant les habitants de quatre quartiers : Borobudur, Salaman, Kalibawang et Samigaluh, situés dans la partie nord de cette région montagneuse. 107 noms de collines et de rivières notés sur les cartes hollandaises ont disparu des cartes de la RBI. Les enquêtes terrains ont montré que parmi ces 107 noms, 81 existent encore, 12 noms ont changé et 14 n’ont pas été reconnus. Ceci a également été confirmé dans les autres parties de l’île de Java. Pour la prochaine mise à jour des cartes de la RBI une vérification approfondie des toponymes, à partir des anciennes cartes, est nécessaire pour obtenir les meilleures informations possibles. Les cartes doivent être un moyen pour transmettre le patrimoine des noms géographiques au lieu de la tradition orale qui décroit au sein des générations actuelles.

KEYWORDS:

• Menoreh
• Java
• lost toponym
• legacy

Acknowledgements

We would like to offer our sincere appreciation to all interviewees involved who had given such precious information for the sake of preserving this intangible legacy. Our sincere gratitude expressed to Professor Multamia Lauder for the inspiration and her constructive suggestion. We are particularly grateful for the assistance given by Mr. Eko Artanto and staffs at the Geospatial Information Agency of the Republic of Indonesia. We would also like to thank the Leiden University Library for free access to the historical maps by accessing via websites. Finally, I wish to thank the Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada for providing the education about cartography and toponymy.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Albina Apriadsa is a surveyor at the Centre of Boundary Mapping, Indonesian Geospatial Agency. He is responsible for doing research on regional border and its problems and interested in toponyms research. He earned S.Si. from the undergraduate program in Cartography and Remote Sensing at Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Habib Sidiq Anggoro is a surveyor at the Centre of Boundary Mapping, Indonesian Geospatial Agency. He is interested in thematic mapping researches such as vegetation and conservation purpose mapping. He earned S.Si. from the undergraduate program in Cartography and Remote Sensing at Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Ari Cahyono is a lecturer at Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He earned S.Si. from Cartography and Remote Sensing program and M.Sc. from Remote Sensing graduate program at the same faculty. Currently, he is pursuing doctoral program in geography at UGM. His research interests focus on toponyms, historical cartography, VGI, and cyber cartography. He is a member of Indonesian Cartographic Society. He is also the corresponding member of Joint ICA-IGU Commission on Toponymy. His interest in toponyms was motivated by Prof. P. Jordan, Prof. F. Ormeling and several experts from UNGEGN when participating in The 4th UNGEGN Training Course on Toponymy.

Rossaydiana Apriadna is a student at Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada. She takes major Cartography and Remote Sensing undergraduate program. Now, she is doing research on environmental comfort index based on remote sensing imagery. She is also interested in cartographic research, especially on geographical names.

ORCID

Ari Cahyono http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0720-7496