Raja-Raja Bugis

Left to right: Raja Haji of Selangor, Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian vice president, and B.J. Habibie, former Indonesian president.

This article is about ethnic groups of South Sulawesi. For Bugis Street in Singapore, see Bugis Street.
Bugis
Left to right: Raja Haji of Selangor, Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian vice president, and B.J. Habibie, former Indonesian president.
Total population

5.0 million (2000 census)
Regions with significant populations
South Sulawesi (Indonesia): 3.4 million
East Kalimantan (Indonesia): 0.4 million
Malaysia:728,465 a
Singapore
Language(s)
Bugis, Indonesian, Malay
Religion(s)
Islam, animism
Footnotes
a An estimated 3,500,000 claim Bugis descent.

The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the lowland plains to the north and west of the town of Maros. The name Bugis is an exonym which represents an older form of the name; (To) Ugi is the endonym.

The Bugis speak a distinct regional language in addition to Indonesian, called Basa Ugi, Bugis or Buginese. In reality, there are a several dialects, some of which are sufficiently different from others to be considered separate languages. Bugis belongs to the South Sulawesi language group; other members include Makasar, Toraja, Mandar and Enrekang, each being a series of dialects.

In historical European literature, the Bugis have a reputation for being fierce, war-like, and industrious. Honor, status, and rank are of great importance to the Bugis. They are a self-sufficient people who have a positive self-image and are very confident of their own abilities. As the most numerous group in the region (more than 5 million), they have had considerable influence on their neighbors.