ABSTRACT
Papua is one of the easternmost regions of the Republic of Indonesia. Islamic culture started to invade Papua in the 17th century through three pathways, namely the Sultanate of Tidore, Seram, and Raja Ampat. Written culture in Papua began since then. Thus, traces of the Islamic culture in the form of handwritten old manuscripts can be found in West Papua and the Raja Empat Islands. The major challenge is to find the exact number of such manuscripts and the genre of the texts. The objective of this research was to record, preserve, and inform about the existence of the texts and to explore about the content. The characteristic of the research is codicology with the manuscript as the object. Previous research has recorded and digitalized manuscripts and the properties of the aforementioned three cultures. It is known from the perspective of the context of the texts that the majority of the Papuan manuscripts contain Islamic teachings. The materials used are European paper and local paper called koba-koba leaves. The letters commonly found in the manuscripts are Arabic, Lontara, and Jawi in Arabic, Makassar, and Malay languages.
