Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

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 Guine ...

located off the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of

Madura Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...

; it is the 129th largest island in the world and Indonesia's 19th largest in area.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Eerste minister van Buton Zuid-Celebes TMnr 10001614

In the precolonial era, the island, then usually known as Butung, was within the sphere of influence of

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 ...

. Especially in the sixteenth century, Buton served as an important secondary regional center within the Ternaten empire, controlling regional trade and collecting tribute to be sent to Ternate. The

Sultanate of Buton The Sultanate of Buton was an indigenous sultanate in what is today Indonesia. It used to rule over Buton, Buton island and adjacent areas within present-day Southeast Sulawesi province. It was a constitutional monarchy with its own written const ...

ruled over the island from the 14th until the 20th century. Sultan Murhum, the first Islamic monarch on the island, is remembered in the name of the island's major harbor, Murhum Harbor, in Baubau.

Geography

Its largest town is Baubau, where the Wolio and Cia-Cia languages are spoken. Major nearby islands include Wawonii (to the north), Muna and Kabaena (to the west) and Siumpu (to the southwest). The Tukangbesi Islands lie just to the east where Tukang Besi is spoken, and is separated by the Gulf of Kolowana Watabo (''Teluk Kolowana Watabo''). Batuatas Island is to the south. Also the ''Bouton Passage'' (as it was known in the pre-Independence era) was an important inter-island navigational location of the northern Flores Sea.

Ecology

The island is largely covered by rainforest and is known for its wildlife. It is one of only two habitats of the anoa, a type of buffalo.

People

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van een gezantschap van Buton Sulawesi TMnr 10020641

The languages spoken on Buton include Wolio, Cia-Cia, various dialects of Muna, Tukang Besi, Kumbewaha, Lasalimu, Kamaru, Pancana, Busoa, Taloki, Kulisusu and Kioko. The

Indonesian language Indonesian ( ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. Indonesia ...

, the national language of Indonesia, is also widely used and taught in schools. In 2009, the Cia-Cia tribe in Baubau city began to use the Korean

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

alphabet for their language, based on textbooks created by the

Hunminjeongeum Society The Hunminjeongeum Society, sometimes called the "Hunminjeongeum Research Institute" in English-language newspaper accounts, is a private organization in Seoul dedicated to the propagation of Hangul to all the unwritten languages of the world.

, a linguistic society in Seoul., but in 2012 it was reported that adoption ultimately failed and has been abandoned.

Economy

The island has a massive reserve of natural

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

and several other minerals. Asphalt from Buton can be utilized as bitumen modifiers as well as a substitute for petroleum asphalt. As a result, natural asphalt can be used to reduce dependency on conventional fossil based resources.

Administration

Buton Island is administratively divided into five second level administrative divisions (''Daerah Tingkat II''): Baubau City, Buton Regency, (part of) South Buton Regency (which includes several smaller islands to the west and south of Buton), North Buton Regency and (part of) Muna Regency. However, the eponymous archipelago is administered under an additional four regencies: the rest of Muna Regency and South Buton Regency, together with West Muna Regency, Wakatobi Regency, Central Buton Regency (which does not include any portion of Buton Island), and (part of) Bombana Regency.

Notes

{{reflist Islands of Sulawesi Landforms of Southeast Sulawesi