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The Nage are an indigenous people living on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores.
Study of the tribe
In 1940, Officer Louis Fontijne produced a Dutch Colonial Service study entitled Grondvoogden in Kelimado (Guardians of the land in Kelimado), Kelimado being a region included in the Nage district of central Flores. Commissioned as an investigation of indigenous land tenure and leadership, the study was the only comprehensive description of Nage society and culture produced during the colonial period.
In 1983, anthropologist Gregory Forth renewed interest in the tribe, revisiting the islands while seeking a copy of Fontijne's complete study.
Forth has also hypothesized a possible connection between the local stories of the Ebu Gogo, a creature in Nage mythology, and the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a possible species of extinct hominid, hence a renewed interest in the tribe.