The Trangan Barat of Indonesia

The Trangan Barat of Indonesia, numbering approximately 9,200 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Tarangan people of the Aru Islands whose west-coast villages signed a trading contract with the Dutch in 1623, predating a permanent Dutch fort built on nearby Wokam Island in 1659, later occupied by Japan in 1942 before joining Indonesia in 1949. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and West Tarangan is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Trangan Barat

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Malay Peoples
Country: Indonesia
People Cluster: Maluku-Southern
Primary Language(s): West Tarangan (txn)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 9,200
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG022736
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Trangan Barat of Indonesia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

51%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: West Tarangan
Language Family: Austronesian

100%
%
Tarangan, West Speakers

Media Resources in West Tarangan:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in West Tarangan:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the West Tarangan bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Trangan Barat are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Trangan Barat:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Trangan Barat of Indonesia

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
read1 Peter 3:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live in harmony with one another, showing sympathy, love, compassion, and humility.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Tarangan, West Across Countries (ROP3 - 109853) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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