Bantenese before the establieshment of Banten Sultanate. |
| Total population |
|---|
| 9 million (2005 census)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Banten |
| Languages |
| Religion |
The Bantenese are people living in Banten Province in Java, just west of Jakarta. The area of Banten province corresponds more or less with the area of the former Banten Sultanate. In his book "The Sultanate of Banten", Guillot Claude writes on page 35: “These estates, owned by the Bantenese of Chinese origin, were concentrated around the village of Kelapadua.” [2] People living in Banten, including Chinese, were called Bantenese. Bantenese is actually not an ethnic group. Most of Bantenese are Muslim.
The most dominant language is Sundanese[3][4]. The indigenous people living in Banten Province speak a Sundanese dialect derived from archaic Sundanese language. The dialect is classified as informal or harsh layer in modern Sundanese language, having different layers as Javanese language. [5]
Due to the influence of the Javanese culture during the reign of the Islamic Mataram kingdom, the Sundanese language - especially in the Parahyangan area - have different layers starting from the most formal, or "halus" version, to the everyday "loma/lancaran" version and the informal or harsh version. Mataram Sultanate tried to take control over Java island, including Banten territory covering the whole West Java region. But the Sultanate of Banten could defend its territory except Parahyangan area. In the mountainous regions and most of present-day Banten, the loma version of Sundanese language is the most dominant. By contrast, this version is considered "harsh" by people from Parahyangan.
However, around Serang and Cilegon, Banten Province, a dialect of the Javanese language is also spoken by about 500,000 people.[6]. And, in Northern part of Tangerang, Indonesian language with Betawi dialect is also used by Betawi immigrants. Besides Sundanese, Javanese and Betawi dialect, Indonesian language is also widely spoken especially by other ethnic immigrants from other parts of Indonesia especially in urban centers.