The Kayoa Islands are near the southern end of a chain of volcanic islands off the western coast of Halmaherato (Halmahera region), to the south of Makian and to the north of Bacan.[1] The 66 islands cover a land area of 179.97 km2. The main island is about 10 miles (16km) long, about 9 miles (14.5km) south of Makian with a line of hills along most of its length.[2] The group forms four districts within South Halmahera Regency, and it had a total population of 20,176 at the 2010 Census[3] and 23,111 at the 2020 Census.[4] The official estimate for mid 2024 was 22,232.[5]
The islands were for centuries the only place in the world where cloves were produced. Kayoa lies on the equator and is subject to regular heavy rain in the two monsoon seasons, which are December to March and June to July.[6]
The stratovolcanoMount Tigalalu lies at the western end of Kayoa, partly flanked by coral limestones.[7] However, Kayoa Island differs from its neighbours in being composed mainly of sedimentary rather than volcanic rock. Its western side consists of terraces of raised coral limestone with pumice and beach sand.[6]
Name of District
English name
Area in km2
Pop'n Census 2010
Pop'n Census 2020
Pop'n Estimate mid 2024
Admin centre
No. of villages
Post code
Kayoa
87.62
8,180
9,057
8,664
Guruapin
14
97780
Kayoa Barat
West Kayoa
27.07
3,469
4,336
4,121
Busua
4
97781
Kayoa Selatan
South Kayoa
26.06
5,856
6,822
6,658
Laluin
6
97780
Kayoa Utara
North Kayoa
39.22
2,671
2,896
2,789
Laromabati
6
97781
Kayoa Barat District - comprising Mauri Island (Pulau Mauri) and 4 smaller islands - is actually closer to the Bacan Islands than to Kayoa Island. The rest of the archipelago comprises a number of groups and individual islands - the largest being Pulau Kayoa and Pulau Waidoba in the east, and Pulau Taneti in the southwest, with a number of smaller islands northwards from Taneti Island - including the Gora Ici Islands, Gunange, Laigoma, Siko and Gafi.
Villages
The four districts are sub-divided into thirty administrative villages (desa) as tabulated below:
There are two native languages on Kayoa island, as well as Indonesian. The language named West Makian, spoken by about 12,000 people in Kayoa and its outlying islands, is one of the North Halmahera languages, which appear to fall within the West Papuan family.[12] The language named Taba or East Makian is one of the Austronesian languages.[13]
Archaeological evidence shows a foraging culture on Kayoa before around 3,500 years ago, changing at that time to an agricultural way of life with animals including pigs and dogs, red-slipped pottery, shell bracelets and beads, and polished stone tools such as adzes. This change shows the arrival on Kayoa of a new culture by 1500 BC.[14][15] From 2,000 years ago the islands started to trade spices to India and beyond.[14] Chinese copper money is found in jar burials of between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago in the Uattamdi cave shelter on Kayoa, implying that trade in cloves began early on the island. With the jars are glass beads, pieces of bronze and iron, and large shells from the coral reef. One of the burial vessels has rectangular and triangular patterns like those found at Leang Buidane but not on nearby islands.[6]
The next day (October 16th [1858]) I went beyond the swamp, and found a place where a new clearing was being made in the virgin forest... I have never in my life seen beetles so abundant as they were on this spot. Some dozen species of good-sized golden Buprestidae, green rose-chafers (Lomaptera), and long-horned weevils (Anthribidae) were so abundant that they rose up in swarms as I walked along, filling the air with a loud buzzing hum. Along with these, several fine Longicorns were almost equally common, forming such an assemblage as for once to realize that idea of tropical luxuriance which one obtains by looking over the drawers of a well-filled cabinet... It was a glorious spot, and one which will always live in my memory as exhibiting the insect-life of the tropics in unexampled luxuriance.
1 2 3 Peregrine, Peter Neal; Ember, Melvin, eds. (2001). "Uattamdi". Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Vol.3: East Asia and Oceania. Springer. ISBN0306462575.
↑ BPS Kecamatan Kayoa 26 September 2025 (Katalog 11020091.8204060).
↑ BPS Kecamatan Kayoa Selatan 26 September 2025 (Katalog 11020091.8204062).
↑ BPS Kecamatan Kayoa Utara 26 September 2025 (Katalog 11020091.8204063).
↑ BPS Kecamatan Kayoa Barat 26 September 2025 (Katalog 11020091.8204061).
↑ Watuseke, F.S. (September 1976). "LinguisticsWest Makian, a Language of the North-Halmahéra Group of the West-Irian Phylum". Anthropological Linguistics. 18 (6): 274–285. JSTOR30027583.
↑ Bowden, John; Hajek, John (June 1996). "Phonetic Representation Illustrations of the IPA: Taba". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 26 (1): 55–57. doi:10.1017/S0025100300005326. S2CID249406196.
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