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

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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

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
readMatthew 4:16

Pray that those living in darkness and the shadow of death will see a great light and turn to the Lord for salvation.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
readRomans 8:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember the God who has given them freedom from fear so that they will trust Him completely as their good Father who meets all their needs.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
readRomans 12:4-5

Ask God to send believers to people in other cultures and to help them use their gifts in harmony with others so that the body of Christ may be built up.

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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