The Kai Islands of Indonesia are a group of islands in the southeastern part of the Maluku Islands, located in the province of Maluku. The Moluccas have been known as the Spice Islands due to regionally specific plants such as nutmeg, mace, and cloves that originally intrigued the European nations of the 16th century. The coastal zone of the islands are identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Triangle.
The Tanimbar Islands, also called Timur Laut, are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the southwest of Yamdena, Larat and Fordata to the northeast, Maru and Molu to the north, and Seira, Wuliaru, Selu, Wotap and Makasar to the west. The Indonesian phrase timur laut means "east of the sea" or "northeast".
The Banda Sea is one of four seas that surround the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean, but surrounded by hundreds of islands, including Timor, as well as the Halmahera and Ceram Seas. It is about 1000 km (600 mi) east to west, and about 500 km (300 mi) north to south.
Bantik is an endangered Austronesian language, perhaps a Philippine language, of North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is the traditional language of the Bantik people, who are now switching to Manado Malay as their language for everyday communication. While using Indonesia for formal and religious occasions. Though Bantik is still used as a marker of ethnic identity.
Fataluku is a Papuan language spoken by approximately 37,000 people of Fataluku ethnicity in the eastern areas of East Timor, especially around Lospalos. It is a member of the Timor-Alor-Pantar language family, which includes languages spoken both in East Timor and nearby regions of Indonesia. Fataluku's closest relative is Oirata, spoken on Kisar island, in the Moluccas of Indonesia. Fataluku is given the status of a national language under the constitution. Speakers of Fataluku normally have a command of Tetum and/or Indonesian, those speakers who are educated under Portuguese rule or from younger generation educated under Portuguese-language educational system during independence speak Portuguese.
Oirata or Woirata is a Timor–Alor–Pantar language spoken on the island of Kisar in Indonesia, and by some people in Ambon. Ethnologue reports an SIL figure of 1,200 speakers from 1987. It is closely related to Fataluku, of which it is sometimes considered to be a dialect.
The Lower Mamberamo languages are a recently proposed language family linking two languages spoken along the northern coast of Papua province, Indonesia, near the mouth of the Mamberamo River. They have various been classified either as heavily Papuanized Austronesian languages belonging to the SHWNG branch, or as Papuan languages that had undergone heavy Austronesian influence. Glottolog 3.4 classifies Lower Mamberamo as Austronesian, while Donohue classifies it as Papuan. Kamholz (2014) classifies Warembori and Yoke each as coordinate primary subgroups of the South Halmahera–West New Guinea languages.
Chuukese, also rendered Trukese, is a Chuukic language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily on the islands of Chuuk in the Caroline Islands in Micronesia. There are communities of speakers on Pohnpei, and Guam. Estimates show that there are about 45,900 speakers in Micronesia.
The Yawa languages, also known as Yapen languages, are a small family of two closely related Papuan languages, Yawa and Saweru, which are often considered to be divergent dialects of a single language. They are spoken on central Yapen Island and nearby islets, in Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesian Papua, which they share with the Austronesian Yapen languages.
Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language spoken by Atoni people of West Timor. The language has a variant spoken in the East Timorese exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno, called Baikenu. Baikenu uses words derived from Portuguese, for example, obrigadu for 'thank you', instead of the Indonesian terima kasih.
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.
The Palawano languages are spoken in the province of Palawan in the Philippines, by the Palawano people.
Bima city is a coastal city on the east of the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia's province of West Nusa Tenggara. It is the largest city on the island of Sumbawa, with a population of 142,443 at the 2010 census and 155,140 at the 2020 census; the official estimate as at mid-2023 was 161,362. It is separate from the adjoining Bima Regency which had a population of 535,530 according to the mid-2023 official estimates.
The Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion includes several island groups in the southwestern Banda Sea, including the Tanimbar Islands, Kai Islands, and the Barat Daya Islands except for Wetar.
Kei is an Austronesian language spoken in a small region of the Moluccas, a province of Indonesia.
Tanimbar Islands Regency is a regency of Maluku province, Indonesia, consisting primarily of the Tanimbar Islands. The Regency covers a land area of 10,102 km2, and it had a population of 105,341 at the 2010 Census and 123,572 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 124,787. The principal town and administrative centre lies at Saumlaki in Tanimbar Selatan District.
Fordata is an Austronesian language spoken in the Tanimbar Islands of the Moluccas. It is closely related to Kei, and more distantly to Yamdena, both also spoken in the Tanimbar Islands.
Mathilda Batlayeri Airport is an airport located in Amfutu, Tumbur Village, Wertamrian district, Tanimbar Islands Regency, Maluku, Indonesia. The airport replaced the old Olilit Airport to the south, which has fallen into disuse. The airport is named after Mathilda Batlayeri, a heroine originating from Tanimbar Islands who died at South Kalimantan in 1953 while fighting the Darul Islam rebel movement.
Saumlaki is a town in Tanimbar Islands Regency, Indonesia. It is the seat of Tanimbar Islands Regency, as well as the biggest town in the island of Yamdena. Previously a small village, it has grown to a relatively sizeable town due to its political status as a regency seat. Most of the regency's infrastructure is concentrated in Saumlaki. The administrative location of the town is in the kelurahan of Saumlaki, inside South Tanimbar District. The urban settlement extends outside of the administrative boundaries to surrounding communities such as the villages of Olilit and Sifnana.
MV Tanimbar Bahari was an Indonesian coastal cargo ship that sank in a storm off Saumlaki in January 2022.
