The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. Lying within Wallacea, the Moluccas have been considered as a geographical and cultural intersection of Asia and Oceania.
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of 743.37 km2 (287.02 sq mi) and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon to the south and various districts (kecamatan) of the Central Maluku Regency to the north. The main city and seaport is Ambon, which is also the capital of Maluku province, while those districts of Maluku Tengah Regency situated on Ambon Island had a 2020 Census population of 128,069. Ambon has an airport and is home to the Pattimura University and Open University, state universities, and a few private universities, which include Darussalam University and Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku (UKIM).
Seram is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent islands, such as Saparua, Haruku, Nusa Laut and the Banda Islands.
Buru is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province and includes the Buru and South Buru regencies. Their administrative centers, Namlea and Namrole, respectively, have ports and are the largest towns of the island, served by Namlea Airport and Namrole Airport respectively.
Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. The main city and capital of Maluku province is Ambon on the small Ambon Island. The land area is 46,150.92 km2, and the total population of this province at the 2010 census was 1,533,506 people, rising to 1,848,923 at the 2020 census. The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 1,881,727. Maluku is located in Eastern Indonesia. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, Southwest Papua, and West Papua in the north, Central Sulawesi, and Southeast Sulawesi in the west, Banda Sea, East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara in the south and Arafura Sea, Central Papua and South Papua in the east.
The Tour de Pologne, officially abbreviated TdP, is an annual, professional men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in Poland. It consists of seven or eight stages and is usually around 1,200 km in length. The race was first held in 1928 and is considered the oldest and most important bicycle race in Poland.
The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages (CMP) are a proposed branch in the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The languages are spoken in the Lesser Sunda and Maluku Islands of the Banda Sea, in an area corresponding closely to the Indonesian provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku and the nation of East Timor, but with the Bima language extending to the eastern half of Sumbawa Island in the province of West Nusa Tenggara and the Sula languages of the Sula archipelago in the southwest corner of the province of North Maluku. The principal islands in this region are Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Timor, Buru, and Seram. The numerically most important languages are Bima, Manggarai of western Flores, Uab Meto of West Timor, and Tetum, the national language of East Timor.
Central Maluku Regency is a regency of Maluku Province of Indonesia. The Regency covers an area of 11,595.57 km2, and had a population of 361,698 at the 2010 Census, and 423,094 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 427,050. The principal town lies at Masohi, on Seram Island. The regency (kebupaten) is composed of the central part of the island of Seram, the Banda Islands, and the Lease Islands, together with those parts of Ambon Island which are outside the City of Ambon.
The Tour de Indonesia is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in Java, Indonesia since 2004. The race is sanctioned by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a 2.1 category race as part of the UCI Asia Tour.
Tour de Singkarak is an annual professional road bicycle racing stage race held in West Sumatra, Indonesia, and named after the Lake Singkarak. First staged in 2009, Tour de Singkarak is classified by the Union Cycling International (UCI) as a 2.2 category race as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It covers more than 1267 kilometres — from/to Padang passing around lake Singkarak and runs through inland West Sumatran cities — and lasted for a week and held annually. This exciting tour across the picturesque West Sumatra countryside's scenic landscapes, comprising beaches, blue lakes, and numerous hairpin bends, as they climb up to the foot of the volcanoes. The total prize money is IDR 1,000,000,000 (US$100,000). BNI-Maybank was the platinum sponsor of the Tour De Singkarak since 2009 with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Indonesia. TDS is the biggest international cycling race in Indonesia, having the fifth largest audience in the world, it attracted many top international cyclists to participate in this world famous annual sports event.
Boano Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located off the northern coast of the Hoamoal Peninsula at the western end of Seram Island, across the Boano Strait. The inhabitants speak the Boano language, Luhu, as well as Indonesian and Ambonese Malay.
Ambon Bay Festival is an annual event held at Ambon Bay and across West Seram Regency, Maluku, Indonesia at the end of September. The festival aims to promote national and international tourism to the Maluku Islands. It has been held since 2006.
Tour de Flores is a multi-day cycling race on the Indonesian island of Flores. It is part of UCI Asia Tour in category 2.2. Aside from Larantuka, Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park, the cyclists race along natural and cultural wonders of Flores Island such as the tricolor lake on Mt. Kelimutu, the megalithic village of Bena, and the exiled house of Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno in Ende. Tour de Flores had become an annual international cycling event since 2016.
Team Sapura Cycling is a Malaysian UCI Continental cycling team founded in 2017 with major backing from Sapura Holdings Berhad, a renowned conglomerate from Malaysia.
The Invasion of Ambon was a combined Indonesian military operation which aimed to seize and annex the self proclaimed Republic of South Maluku.
On 26 September 2019, a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Seram Island in Maluku, Indonesia, near the provincial capital of Ambon. The earthquake struck at 07:46:44 Eastern Indonesia Time with a shallow depth of 18 km. The tremor could be felt throughout the island, with an intensity of very strong (VII) reportedly felt in the provincial capital of Ambon.
Jesse Ewart is an Australian-born Irish cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Bike Aid.
Aiman Cahyadi is an Indonesian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Continental team Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team.
The 1674 Ambon earthquake occurred on February 17 between 19:30 and 20:00 local time in the Maluku Islands. The resulting tsunami reached heights of up to 100 metres (330 ft) on Ambon Island killing over 2,000 individuals. It was the first detailed documentation of a tsunami in Indonesia and the largest ever recorded in the country. The exact fault which produced the earthquake has never been determined, but geologists postulate either a local fault, or a larger thrust fault offshore. The extreme tsunami was likely the result of a submarine landslide.
Marcus Culey (AUS)