This book is the first to describe the history of the Bugis. It ranges from their origins 40,000 years ago to the present and provides a complete picture of contemporary Bugis society. It is based on the Author's extensive field research over the last thirty years, on oral tradition, written epics and chronicles, on travelers' tales from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and on the latest research by Western and Asian scholars in the fields of archaeology, history, linguistics and anthropology.