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Ambai (Indonesian : kepulauan Ambai) are the archipelago or the chain of islands off the southern coast of Yapen Island, in Cenderawasih Bay and Papua Province in Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia. [1]
The archipelago has five main islands, including Ambai and Saweru. There are seven medium-size islands and more than 15 smaller islands. The land area of the islands is 301.367 square kilometres (116.358 square miles).
Locations of major islands in the Cenderawasih Bay:
The Ambai Islands include part of Cenderawasih Bay Marine Park which is the largest marine national park in Indonesia with an area of 1,453.5 km2. [2] Because of its breadth, the park is divided into sections. Among them are "Padaido Islands Marine Park" in the east of Biak, the "Ambai Islands Marine" Park in southern Yapen, the "Harleem Islands Marine Park" in northeast Nabire, and lastly the "Cenderawasih Bay Marine Park" in the north of Wondama Bay.
Generally, the Ambai Islands region has its own characteristics and includes part of the biodiversity on the Yapen islands, including forests and hills, as well as trees species such as boat trees (pohon kayu perahu), trees to make traditional wooden drums and traditional guitars including ukulele and string bass, ironwood, bitangur, palm, katapang, coconut trees.
Some of the bird species in the islands include the bird of paradise, parrots, kakatua raja, kakatua, taun-taun, eagle, wood pigeon, cassowary, forest chicken and others. Some of the other fauna found includes wild pig, kuskus, snake, lizard, butterfly and others. The life within coral reefs has hundreds of species of fish and other marine life local to the islands.
The Ambai people, when overseas and remembering their ancestral homeland, often call it "munu fai" — in Bahasa it is kampung leluhur/kampung halaman.[ citation needed ] The Ambai are a sub-tribe of Melanesia. 'Nu Ambai' or 'Village Ambai'.
The island's' name, when translated literally from their language, means "Moon". This is due to the similarity of the word "moon" in the Ambai language, which is embai. So embai became "Ambai". And thus, "Ambai" is the more familiar word used by their ancient ancestors and until now. Ambai peoples with speech intonation of their native language is very dynamic; it is dynamic in social interaction with others. The number of speakers is estimated to be 10,000 mostly in the core peoples of Ambai Islands as well as the southern and eastern part of Yapen Islands.
The inhabitants of the islands live mostly on houses built on stilts off shore, and speak the Ambai language. [3]
The beaches are iconic places for the Ambai peoples as culture. They fished with nets and traditional diving. They cook and eat together, by the manner of their traditional picnic from a long time ago. Ambai peoples have an culture of men as fishermen and sailors; the women are skilled in gardening and farming. Ambai peoples are indigenous Papuans renowned as accomplished fishermen in the region and around the Cenderawasih ocean bay.
Progress since the early 1960s until now, Ambai peoples who wander in some areas on the north coast of Papua are known as very accomplished fishermen who contribute to the distribution of the fish is in the cities, like Serui, Jayapura, Biak, Nabire, Manokwari, Sorong. "My Ancestors were Seafarers" is a motto embedded in the minds of Ambai peoples until today.
Peoples of Ambai have distinctive cultural dancing and singing with drum beats is usually displayed in the custom party event "Mandohi". Mandohi is the tradition of the payback party (pesta adat balas budi baik) from someone on the kindness of relatives and family. By providing a wealth of indigenous utensils, antique plates, jars, beads and foods laid out on the stage to dance and sing in speech language Ambai, "Rayato, Anuai, Bewi and Apaiwariai". Quite often the parents who have high ability, mastering languages of other tribes, enrich it with singing of several languages of Cenderawasih Bay; Wandamen language, for example. Ambai peoples are known as a poet traditional boat and singer of traditional boats. Singing and poetry on a boat with Ambai language utterances do when returning from fishing or gardening. Poetry that was sung in the dusk in the stories to the memory of the natural resources and the beauty of the Ambai islands.
Ambai people have a custom event celebration, welcoming a kindred who recently returned from a place far away and for the first time he went, called "Aira". Aira is also held to welcome important guests. Ritual Aira was done with the "tread plate" antique or stepped on the antique plate that mats with a count of three footsteps. Aira ritual is typically held under in the existing decoration gate with foodstuff crops, fruits and drinks. After the event, the foods are distributed to the relatives of those present. Since the Ambai overseas introduce the culture of reception stomp these dishes in the 1960s, has recently been used by groups in Papua, including local governments in welcoming guests.
The Biak Islands are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. The group consists of the main islands of Biak, Supiori and Numfor, and numerous smaller islands, mostly covered in rain forest. The population of the archipelago is about 130,000.
West Papua, formerly Irian Jaya Barat, is an Indonesian province located in Indonesia Papua. It covers most of the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea: the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula and the whole of the Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby smaller islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean, to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea, to the south by the Banda Sea, and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province's capital and largest city. With an estimated population of 569,570 in mid-2023, West Papua is the least populous province in Indonesia after South Papua, following the separation off in 2022 of the western half of the Bird's Head Peninsula to create the new province of Southwest Papua, containing 52% of what had been West Papua's population.Its population density is similar to Russia.
Biak is the main island of Biak Archipelago located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak has many atolls, reefs, and corals.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
Yapen is an island of Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is Mios Num Island across the Mios Num Strait, and to the east Kurudu Island. Off the southeast coast of Yapen are the Amboi Islands and to the southwest are the Kuran Islands. Together these islands form the Yapen Islands Regency within the province of Papua. It is populated with communities of Yobi, Randowaya, Serui, and Ansus. Its highest point is 1,496 metres.
The South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG) languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, found in the islands and along the shores of the Halmahera Sea in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and of Cenderawasih Bay in the provinces of Papua and West Papua. There are 38 languages.
Cenderawasih Bay, also known as Sarera Bay and formerly Geelvink Bay, is a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Central Papua and West Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia.
The Kuran Islands are a group of small scattered islands, and part of the Yapen Islands archipelago in Papua Province of Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia.
Mios Num is an island of the Yapen Islands group, in Papua Province of Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia.
The Cenderawasih languages, approximately synonymous with West New Guinea languages, are a branch of Austronesian languages of Indonesia, found in the islands and shoreline of Cenderawasih Bay in the provinces of West Papua, Central Papua and Papua.
The Yapen languages are the branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken on Yapen Island and the nearby isle of Cenderawasih Bay, both in Papua province of northeastern Indonesia.
Waropen Regency is one of the regencies (kabupaten) in Papua Province, Indonesia. The Regency covers an area of 10,843.97 km2, and it had a population of 24,639 at the 2010 Census and 33,943 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 37,643 - comprising 19,754 males and 17,889 females. The capital is the town of Botawa.
Yapen Islands Regency is a regency (kabupaten) in Papua Province of eastern Indonesia. It covers an area of 2,432.49 km2 (939.19 sq mi), and had a population of 82,951 at the 2010 Census and 112,676 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 115,056. It comprises an archipelago which lies in Cenderawasih Bay off the north coast of Western New Guinea.
Teluk Cenderawasih National Park is the largest marine national park of Indonesia, located in Cenderawasih Bay, south-east of Bird's Head Peninsula. It includes the islands of Mioswaar, Nusrowi Island, Roon, Rumberpon, Anggrameos and Yoop. The park protects a rich marine ecosystem, with over 150 recorded coral species, for which it is considered a potential World Heritage Site.
Kurudu is an Eastern Yapen language of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, in Papua Province of Western New Guinea, northeastern Indonesia.
Serui-Laut, or Arui, is an Austronesian language spoken on Serui Island of the Ambai Islands, in Western New Guinea, Indonesia.
Silas Ayari Donrai Papare was a Papuan–Indonesian politician and guerilla leader who is a National Hero of Indonesia.
The 1979 Yapen earthquake occurred on September 12 at 05:17:51 UTC. It had an epicenter near the coast of Yapen Island in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Measuring 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale and having a depth of 20 km (12 mi), it caused severe damage on the island. At least 115 were killed due to shaking and a moderate tsunami.
Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencies of the province of Papua. It covers an area of 61,072.91 km2 and had an officially estimated population of 1,452,810 in mid 2023. It is bordered by the Indonesian provinces of West Papua to the west, the province of Papua to the north and northeast, by Highland Papua to the east, and by South Papua to the southeast. The administrative capital is located in Wanggar District in Nabire Regency, although Timika is a larger town.
Yaur is one of the ethnic groups that live in the northern coastal area of Yaur District, Nabire Regency. The area inhabited by the Yaur tribe falls within the Saireri customary territory, which includes the northern coast of Nabire, Biak, and Yapen.