The Raja Ampat archipelago straddles the equator and forms part of the Coral Triangle, an area of Southeast Asian seas containing the richest marine biodiversity on earth. The Coral Triangle itself is an approximate area west-southwest of the Philippines, east-northeast and southeast of the island of Borneo, and north, east and west of the island of New Guinea, including the seas in between. Thousands of species of marine organisms, from the tiniest cleaner shrimp and camouflaged pygmy seahorses to the majestic cetaceans and whale sharks, thrive in these waters.
Administratively, the archipelago is part of the province of Southwest Papua. Most of the islands constitute the Raja Ampat Regency, which was separated from Sorong Regency in 2004. The regency encompasses around 70,000 square kilometres (27,000sqmi) of land and sea, of which 8,034.44km2 constitutes the land area and has a population of 64,141 at the 2020 Census;[2] the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 66,839.[3] This excludes the southern half of Salawati Island, which is not part of this regency but instead constitutes the Salawati Selatan and Salawati Tengah Districts of Sorong Regency.
History
Raja Ampat Islands featured on the reverse of the 100,000 rupiah banknote
Archaeological evidence indicates that the Raja Ampat Islands were first visited by humans over 50,000 years ago.[4] At this time, Misool and Salawati were connected to New Guinea, while Waigeo and Batanta formed an island called Waitanta.[5] At the Mololo Cave site, excavations show that early people were processing tree resins and hunting native animals.[6] Pottery-making communities moved into Raja Ampat about 3500–3000 years ago and may have brought Austronesian languages to the area.[7]
The name of Raja Ampat (Raja means king, and empat means four) comes from local mythology that told of a woman who found seven eggs, in one version this woman was Boki Tabai, daughter of Al-Mansur of Tidore and wife to Gurabesi. Three of the seven hatched and became kings who occupied Raja Ampat Islands, the fourth hatched and settled in Waigama but later migrated to Kalimuri (Seram). In another version, the fifth egg hatched into a woman (Pin Take) who later washed away to Biak, married Manar Makeri, and later gave birth to Gurabesi. The sixth egg hatched into a spirit, while the seventh egg did not hatch and turned to stone and worshipped as a king in Kali Raja (Wawiyai, Waigeo).[8] Historically the 'four' kingdoms were Waigeo, Salawati, Sailolof, Misool, and Waigama. Locally Waigama is not considered one of the Raja Ampat, while Sailolof is not considered one of the Raja Ampat by Tidore.[9]
Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat Islands in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the Bacan Sultanate.[10] During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maluku-based Sultante of Tidore had close economic and political ties with the islands, especially with Gurabesi.[10][11] During this period, Islam became firmly established, and local chiefs began adopting Islam.[11]
As a consequence of these ties, Raja Ampat was considered a part of the Sultanate of Tidore. After the Dutch invaded Maluku, it was claimed by the Netherlands.
The English explorer William Dampier gave his name to Dampier Strait, which separates Batanta Island from Waigeo Island. To the east, there is a strait that separates Batanta from Salawati. In 1759 Captain William Wilson sailing in the East IndiamanPitt navigated these waters and named a strait the 'Pitt Strait', after his vessel; this was probably the channel between Batanta and Salawati.
Climate
Weather in Raja Ampat.
The islands have a tropical climate, with temperatures ranging from 20 to 33°C (68 to 91°F).[12]
Water temperature in North Raja Ampat ranges from 28 to 30°C (82 to 86°F), while in the South in Misool, it ranges from 26 to 28°C (79 to 82°F) (Water temperature chart in Misog ol).
Raja Ampat is considered the global epicentre of tropical marine biodiversity and is referred to as "The Crown Jewel" of the Bird's Head Seascape, which also includes Cenderawasih Bay and Triton Bay. The region contains more than 600 species of hard corals, constituting about 75% of the world's known species, and more than 1,700 species of reef fish – including on both shallow[16] and mesophotic reefs.[17] Compared to similarly-sized ecosystems elsewhere in the world, Raja Ampat's biodiversity is arguably the richest in the world.[18] Endangered and rare marine mammals, such as dugongs, whales (such as blue, pygmy blue, Bryde's, Omura's,[19][20][21]sperm), dolphins, and even orcas occur here.[22][23][24] Endangered whale sharks, the largest extant fish species on earth, also thrive in this region.
In the northeast region of Waigeo Island, local villagers have been involved in turtle conservation initiatives by protecting nests or relocating eggs of leatherback, olive ridley, and hawksbill turtles. Their works are supported by the local government and NGOs.[25]
Raja Ampat Marine Recreation Park was designated in 2009. It is composed of four marine areas – the waters around northern Salawati, Batanta, and southwestern Waigeo, Mayalibit Bay in central Waigeo, the waters southeast of Misool, and waters around the Sembilan Islands north of Misool and west of Salawati.[26]
The oceanic natural resources around Raja Ampat give the area significant potential as a tourist area, drawing divers, researchers and others with an interest in the marine life there.[27]
According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on Earth.[27] Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and East Timor. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, making Raja Ampat quite possibly the richest coral reef ecosystem in the world.[27]
The area's massive coral colonies, along with relatively high sea surface temperatures, also suggest that its reefs may be relatively resistant to threats like coral bleaching and coral disease, which now jeopardize the survival of other coral ecosystems around the world. The Raja Ampat islands are remote and relatively undisturbed by humans.[27]
The crown-of-thorns starfish eats Raja Ampat's corals, and the destruction this causes among reefs has posed a threat to tourism. The crown-of-thorns starfish, which "can grow around as big as a trash-can lid" and is covered in sharp, stinging spines, has proliferated due to increasing nitrogen in the water from human waste, which in turn causes a spike in phytoplankton on which the starfish feed.[28] In 2019, local divers began the task of reducing starfish populations by injecting the starfish with a 10% vinegar solution; the dead starfish can then be eaten by local fish.[28]
The high marine diversity in Raja Ampat is strongly influenced by its position between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae are more easily shared between the two oceans. Raja Ampat's coral diversity, resilience, and role as a source for larval dispersal make it a global priority for marine protection. Its location results in it being a biogeographic crossroads between Indonesia, Micronesia and the Arafura Sea.[29]
1,508 fish species, 537 coral species (a remarkable 96% of all scleractinians recorded from Indonesia are likely to occur in these islands and 75% of all species that exist in the world[30]), and 699 mollusk species, the variety of marine life is staggering.[31] Raja Ampat is identified as the epicenter of restricted-range reef fishes, in the Coral Triangle with over 100 species of endemic reef fishes, and also an extremely high diversity of reef coral species (over 600 475 species).[29]
The Raja Ampat Islands have at least three ponds containing harmless jellyfish, all in the Misool area.[32]
The submarine world around the islands was the subject of the documentary film Edies Paradies 3 (by Otto C. Honegger), which has been broadcast by the Swiss television network Schweizer Fernsehen.[33]
In March 2017 the 90-metre-long (295ft) cruise ship Caledonian Sky owned by British tour operator Noble Caledonia got caught in a low tide and ran aground in the reef. An evaluation team estimated that 1,600 square metres (17,000sqft) of the reef was destroyed, which will likely result in a compensation claim of $1.28 million – $1.92 million. A team of environmentalists and academics estimated much more substantial damage, with potential losses to Indonesia estimated at $18.6 million and a recovery time for the reef spanning decades.[34][35][36]
A zebra shark breeding and release initiative started in 2022, aiming to release 500 sharks by 2032. The wild population was formerly abundant, but a fishing industry that ballooned starting in the 1990s reduced the population to perhaps just 20 individuals.[37]
Population
The main occupation for people around this area is fishing since the area is dominated by the sea. They live in a small colony of tribes that spreads around the area. Although traditional culture still strongly exists, they are very welcoming to visitors. Raja Ampat people have similarities with the surrounding Moluccan people and Papuan people, as they speak Papuan and Austronesian languages. The Muslim proportion is much higher compared with other Papuan areas. However, the West Papua province as a whole has a larger Muslim population because of its extensive history with the Sultanate of Tidore.[38]
Most of the islands make up the Raja Ampat Regency, a regency (kabupaten) forming part of Southwest Papua. It came into existence in 2004, before which the archipelago was part of Sorong Regency.[39] The southern part of the island of Salawati is not part of the Raja Ampat Regency. Instead, it constitutes the Salawati Selatan and Salawati Tengah Districts of Sorong Regency.
Raja Ampat Regency is subdivided into the following districts (kecamatan):
Note: (a) including the Boo Islands, which lie some distance to the west of Kofiau. (b) Not to be confused with Salawati Tengah District of Sorong Regency, Salawati Tengah District of Rajah Ampat Regency actually forms the southeast portion of Salawati Island. (c) the Ayau Islands (including Ayau District) lie some distance to the north of Waigeo.
Taking account of the 2,757 people of Salawati Selatan and Salawati Tengah Districts which are administratively in Sorong Regency,[40] the total population of the archipelago added up to 69,596 in mid 2022.
There are proposals to divide the current Raja Ampat Regency into three, with Waigeo and its surrounding small islands forming a new North Raja Ampat Regency (Kabupaten Raja Ampat Utara), and with Misool and Kofiau and their surrounding small islands forming a new South Raja Ampat Regency (Kabupaten Raja Ampat Selatan), leaving the residue of the existing Regency to cover the northern part of Salawati Island (the rest of Salawati Island still lies within Sorong Regency) and Batanta Island (which forms Selat Sagawin District).
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.
Waigeo is an island in the Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about 65 kilometres to the northwest coast of New Guinea. The Dampier Strait separates it from Batanta, and the Bougainville Strait from the Kawe Islands to its northwest. The "inner sea" that nearly cleaves the island in two is Mayalibit Bay, also known as the Majoli Gulf.
The Bird's Head Peninsula or Doberai Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces of Southwest Papua and West Papua. It is often referred to as The Vogelkop, and is so named because its shape looks like a bird's head on the island of New Guinea. The peninsula at the opposite end of the island is called the Bird's Tail Peninsula. The peninsula just to the south is called the Bomberai Peninsula.
Sorong is the largest city and the capital of the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua. The city is located on the western tip of the island of New Guinea with its only land borders being with Sorong Regency. It is the gateway to Indonesia's Raja Ampat Islands, species rich coral reef islands in an area considered the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity. It also is the logistics hub for Indonesia's thriving eastern oil and gas frontier. Sorong experienced rapid growth during the decade from 2010, and further growth is anticipated as Sorong becomes linked by road to other frontier towns in Papua's Bird's Head Peninsula. The official estimate of population as at mid 2023 was 294,978 - comprising 154,543 males and 140,435 females. The suburban area of Sorong city contains tropical rainforest and mangrove forest that has increasingly become popular as ecotourism attractions especially for birdwatching or wildlife watching.
Sorong Regency is a regency of the Southwest Papua province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 13,075.28 km2, and had a population of 70,619 at the 2010 Census, and 118,679 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 129,963. Its administrative centre is the town of Aimas. Sorong Regency surrounds Sorong City (Kota) on the landward side; the city is administratively independent of the Regency and is not included in the above statistics; Sorong City has an airport, Sorong Airport, which also serves the Regency.
Misool, formerly spelled Mysol or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. Its area is 2,034 km2. The highest point is 561 m and the main towns are Waigama, located on the island's northwest coast, and Lilinta on the island's southeast coast.
Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. Its area is 1,623 km2. Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southeast by the Sele Strait, and from Batanta to the north by the Pitt Strait.
Batanta is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Its area is 479.5 km2 and its highest point is 1184 m. The Pitt Strait separates it from Salawati Island, while the Dampier Strait separates it from Waigeo Island.
The Raja Ampat–South Halmahera languages are a branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages of eastern Indonesia. They are spoken on islands in the Halmahera Sea, and on its margins from the south-eastern coast of Halmahera to the Raja Ampat Islands off the western tip of New Guinea.
Maʼya is an Austronesian language of the Raja Ampat islands in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. It is part of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG) subgroup and is spoken by about 6,000 people in coastal villages on the islands Misool, Salawati, and Waigeo, on the boundary between Austronesian and Papuan languages.
Sailolof is a small port town in the province of Southwest Papua, Indonesia, some 1,686 miles from Jakarta. It is located on the west coast of Salawati Island in Sorong Regency. and is the administrative centre for the South Salawati District of Sorong Regency. Sailolof also constitutes a historic kingdom one of the Four Kings of Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua. The town is located near the western coastal tip of the Bird's Head Peninsula.
Raja Ampat Regency is a regency of Southwest Papua Province of Indonesia. The regency, which was formed by separating the archipelago from Sorong Regency, based on the Law 26 of 2002, was inaugurated on 12 April 2003. It consists of a number of groups of islands situated off the north-west end of West Papua; the four main islands from south to north are Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo. At present, the regency covers a land area of 7,559.60 km2, with a total area stated as 67,379.61 km2. It had a population of 42,508 at the 2010 Census and 64,141 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 68,501. The principal town lies at Waisai on Waigeo Island.
Ambel (Amber), also known as Waigeo after the island where it is primarily spoken, is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken on the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat archipelago near the northwestern tip of West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by approximately 1,600 people. It is endangered, as the population is shifting to Papuan Malay and few people born after the year 2000 have any knowledge of the language.
Salawati is an Austronesian language spoken on the west of Salawati Island, in the Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesian New Guinea.
Pitt Strait (Indonesia), falls within the waters of the Indonesian province of Southwest Papua. The strait separates the Raja Ampat islands of Batanta and Salawati and links the Ceram Sea to the Pacific Ocean. To its west lies Dampier Strait, which separates Batanta island from Waigeo island. The Sagewin Strait name refers to Sagewin Island, which lies at the south east side of Pitt Strait, close to Salawati.
Sagewin, or Sagawin, is a small uninhabited island in the Raja Ampat Archipelago of eastern Indonesia. It lies off the north-western tip of the larger island of Salawati and is surrounded by the waters of the Pitt Strait, which separates Salawati from the island of Batanta. The island of Sagewin is 7.3 kilometres in length, and has a mean elevation of 20 meters.
The Vogelkop–Aru lowland rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion covers the peninsular lowlands of western New Guinea, along with the Aru Islands and other nearby islands.
Gurabesi was a legendary Papuan leader from Biak in West New Guinea, present-day Indonesia, who had a large role in tying part of the Papuans to the Islamic Sultanate of Tidore. He is commonly believed to have flourished in the 15th or early 16th century, although other sources point at a later date. His story symbolizes the beginnings of communication between the Malayo-Islamic and Papuan cultures.
Southwest Papua is the 38th province of Indonesia to be created, and was split off from West Papua on 8 December 2022. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The province comprises the Greater Sorong area which consists of Sorong City, Sorong Regency, South Sorong Regency, Maybrat Regency, Tambrauw Regency, and Raja Ampat Regency. The Bill (RUU) on the Establishment of the Southwest Papua Province was passed into law and therefore it became the 38th province in Indonesia with effect from 8 December 2022.
The Salawati Kingdom is the Islamic kingdom that once stood in Salawati Island, Raja Ampat Regency, Southwest Papua. The center of the Salawati kingdom was located in the Samate village which is currently located in the North Salawati district.
↑ Mansoben, Johszua Robert (1995). Sistem Politik Tradisional Di Irian Jaya. Jakarta: LIPI - RUL 1995. pp.232–246. ISBN979-8258-06-1.
1 2 Wanggai, Toni V. M. (2008). Rekonstruki sejarah umat Islam di tanna Papua [Reconstruction of the History of lslam in Papua]. Syariff Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2022-03-13.
↑ Heatubun, Charlie D.; Zona, Scott; Baker, William J. (2014). "Three new genera of arecoid palm (Arecaceae) from eastern Malesia". Kew Bulletin. 69 (3). doi:10.1007/s12225-014-9525-x. S2CID24848021.
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