Historic Overview Of Lombok

Lombok’s history is fairly unspectacular- a small, quiet island, it was, for quite some time, under the control of the Balinese ruling house and they made Mataram in Lombok their capital. Even though Lombok later freed itself of the Balinese, many people from Bali continued to live on Lombok along with other 'foreigners’- Chinese and Arabs. Arab traders had first brought Islam to Lombok, and it is thanks to them that today the majority of Lombok’s population is Muslim. Lombok saw the same ups and downs which faced Bali- the fall of the local ruling house, the coming of the Dutch, independence in 1949 and now modern Lombok is emerging from Bali’s shadow and making a name for itself.