The Obi Islands (also known as Ombirah, Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Obi'') are a group of 42 islands in the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

n province of

North Maluku North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the sout ...

, north of

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) 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 ...

and Ceram, and south of

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

. With a total area of 3,048.08 km², they had a population of 41,455 at the 2010 Census and 50,760 at the 2020 Census. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 51,510.

Geography

Obi Island Obi (also called Obira) is the main island in the Obi Islands group of Indonesia, south of the larger Halmahera in North Maluku. Its area is 2,542 km². The island is eponymous to the Obi Island Birdwing, an endemic species of butterfly ...

, also called Obira Island, is the largest island in the Obi Islands archipelago. It is surrounded by many small islands, including Bisa Island (174.42 km²), Obilatu Island (65.30 km²), Gata-gata Island, Latu Island, Woka Island, and Tomini Island. Obi Island is bordered by the Maluku Sea to the west, the Seram Sea to the south, and the Obi Strait to the north and east. The major islands closest to it are Bacan Island to the north and Ambon to the south. Obi Island's topography is generally in the form of hills with a short coastline. The hilly surface results in many springs and rivers. Lake Kapi, in the west, is its largest lake.

Administration

The Obi Islands are part of

South Halmahera Regency South Halmahera Regency ( id, Kabupaten Halmahera Selatan) is a regency of North Maluku Province, Indonesia. It lies partly on Halmahera Island and partly on smaller islands to the west and south of Halmahera. It covers a land area of 8,779.320&nb ...

. The archipelago is directly bordered by the rest of

Province to the north and west, by Maluku Province in the south and by West Papua Province in the east. The total area of the main island is about . Obi Island and the surrounding small islands are divided into five administrative districts (''kecamatan''), which are sub-divided into 34 administrative villages (''desa'' and ''kelurahan''), with villages further subdivided into hamlets. Of the five districts, three comprise the main Obi Island, although each district also includes neighbouring smaller islands - Obi District includes the southern part of Bisa Island to the north of Obi Island, Obi Timur District includes Tobalai Island to the east, and Obi Selatan Island also includes Gomumu Island to the south. The other two districts include no part of Obi Island; Obi Barat District includes Obilatu and Belangbelang Islands to the west of Obi Island, together with the southern part (''Tapa desa'') of Tapat Island, while Obi Utara District includes the main part of Bisa Island to the north of Obi Island, together with the northern part (''Pasir Putih desa'') of Tapat Island.

Demographics

The population of the Obi Islands Group was 51,510 people in mid 2021, with a population density of 16.90 people per square kilometre. All inhabitants on the Obi Island are migrants, as these islands had no indigenous population. The first groups to settle on Obi Island were the Buton, followed by immigrants from Tobelo-Galela,

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

Tidore Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...

, Makian-Kayoa,

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawesi ...

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Meda ...

and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. Almost all of the residents are scattered along the coast with the highlands mostly uninhabited jungle. However, there are some worker settlements in hilly areas which have mines and temporary settlements for clove farmers used during clove harvesting season. Infrastructure, especially in terms of modern medical facilities, is lacking. The languages spoken on the islands are Galela and

Tobelo Tobelo is a town and a district on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera. It is the capital of the regency (''kabupaten'') of North Halmahera, part of the province of North Maluku. The town was formalised as the capital of North Halmahera in ...

, which belong to the West Papuan language family.

Villages

The five districts are sub-divided into villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan''), listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2020 Census. The administrative centres of the five districts are denoted by asterisks.

Economy

The dominant plantation products in the Obi Islands are cloves, nutmeg, coconut, and pepper. The main economic potential of the islands s in the mining sector. The island has resources of gold, coal, nickel, cement, and petroleum. In 2016, provincial governor Abdul Ghani Kasuba successfully negotiated for the China-based Jinchun Group to build a 620 million dollar nickel smelter on the main island.China`s Jinchun to in vest Rp9 trillion in North Maluku
Antara, 16 July 2016. Accessed 18 September 2017. Some mining companies in this islands are: * Halmahera Persada Lygend * Halmahera Jaya Feronikel * Megah Surya Pratiwi * Trimegah Bangun Persada * Wanatiara Persada

Notes

Archipelagoes of Indonesia Landforms of North Maluku Islands of the Maluku Islands {{Maluku-geo-stub