Watubela is an
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...
in the
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...
, east of
Ceram and north of
Kai Islands
The Kai Islands (also Kei 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 ...
, southeast of the
Gorong archipelago, and southwest of the
Bomberai Peninsula
Bomberai Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Bomberai), otherwise known as the Bird's Beak Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Paruh Burung), is located in the Western New Guinea region, opposite to and to the south of the Bird's Head Peninsula. To the west lies ...
of
Papua,
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 ...
. It includes the islands of Watubela itself, Kesui (also called ''Kasiui'') and
Teor (also called ''Tio'or''). The islands now form two separate districts (''kecamatan'') within the
East Seram Regency of Maluku. Kesui Watubela District (also called Wakate District) includes Watubela and Kesui Islands, with a number of smaller islands; Teor District consists of the island of the same name.
The English naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British natural history, naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution thro ...
described the islands, which he called the Matabello Islands, in chapter 25 of his 1869 book ''
The Malay Archipelago
''The Malay Archipelago'' is a book by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight-year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, S ...
''.
References
External links
Languages of Indonesia (Maluku)
Archipelagoes of Indonesia
Landforms of Maluku (province)
{{Maluku-geo-stub