Measurement of the territorial sea of the kingdom of Gowa, Indonesia: Comparative study in international maritime law

Abstract

The history of the measurement of territorial sea width in international maritime law is influenced by state practices, theories and doctrines. Recently, a 12-mile wide territorial sea measured using the baseline method set out in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 was prescribed. Previously, the enforcement of sovereignty over territorial sea was carried out according to the interests of each country. The Kingdom of Gowa - Makassar, a state entity before Indonesia was made a Dutch colony (Dutch East Indies), was a famous kingdom that controlled sea shipping and trade in the seventeenth century. Their trade activities reached as far as Kampuchea, Siam, Johor, Moluccas and surrounding areas. This study examines how the Kingdom of Gowa - Makassar determined its territorial sea. By implementing an interpretation and analogy approach, this study concludes that the Gowa - Makassar kingdom employed several methods to determine its territorial sea during its reign.