Misool
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Misool, formerly spelled Mysol (Dutch: Misoöl) or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the
Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Southwest Papua province. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding ...
in
Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...
,
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 ...
. Its area is 2,034 km2. The highest point is 561 m and the main towns are Waigama, located on the island's northwest coast, and Lilinta on the island's southeast coast. The inhabitants speak the
Ma'ya language Ma'ya is an Austronesian language of the Raja Ampat islands in West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by about 6,000 people in coastal villages on the islands Misool, Salawati, and Waigeo. It is spoken on the boundary between Austronesian and Pap ...
,
Biga language Biga is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in Southwest Papua, Indonesia in the south of the island of Misool. It is spoken in the single village of Biga in Misol Timur Selatan District. References External links * Pa ...
and
Matbat language Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia, on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands. Its dialects are ''Magey'' and ''Tomolol''. Similar to the neighboring Ma'ya language, Matbat is one of ...
, as well as
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
and its dialect,
Papuan Malay Papuan Malay or Irian Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. It emerged as a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (now Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and We ...
. Other main islands of this group off the western end of Southwest Papua are
Salawati Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua (formerly West Papua), Indonesia. Its area is 1,623 km2. Salawati is separated from New Guinea to the southeast by the Sele Strait (a.k.a. Galowa Str ...
,
Batanta Batanta is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Its area is 453 km² and its highest point is 1184 m. The Pitt Strait separates it from Salawati, while the Dampier Strait separat ...
and
Waigeo Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about to the north-w ...
, and there are numerous smaller islands such as Kofiau.


Etymology

The name ''Misool'' is from
Ma'ya language Ma'ya is an Austronesian language of the Raja Ampat islands in West Papua, Indonesia. It is spoken by about 6,000 people in coastal villages on the islands Misool, Salawati, and Waigeo. It is spoken on the boundary between Austronesian and Pap ...
which meant port or harbour relating to when the first king from
Waigeo Waigeo is an island in Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about to the north-w ...
arrived on the island. Original inhabitants ( Matbat) called the island with the name ''Batan Me''.


Ecology


Terrestrial

Misool is part of the
Vogelkop–Aru lowland rain forests The Vogelkop–Aru lowland rain forests is a tropical moist forest ecoregion in Indonesia. The ecoregion covers the peninsular lowlands of western New Guinea, along with the Aru Islands and other nearby islands. Geography The ecoregion includes ...
ecoregion, which includes the other Raja Ampat Islands and the
Bird's Head Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces o ...
on mainland New Guinea. Plant communities include alluvial, or lowland alluvial rain forest and lowland hill rain forest. Native animals include
marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
s,
murid rodent The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae com ...
s, bats, and many birds, including several
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species. Some native animals include: * '' Echymipera kalubu'', common spiny bandicoot * ''
Echymipera rufescens The long-nosed echymipera (''Echymipera rufescens''), or long-nosed spiny bandicoot, is a species of marsupial in the family Peramelidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical d ...
'' * ''
Dorcopsis muelleri The brown dorcopsis (''Dorcopsis muelleri''), also known as the brown forest wallaby, is a species of marsupial in the family Macropodidae. It is endemic to the lowlands of West New Guinea and the nearby Indonesian islands in West Papua of Misoo ...
'' * ''
Phalanger orientalis The northern common cuscus (''Phalanger orientalis''), also known as the gray cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae native to northern New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands, but is now also found in the Bismarck Archipe ...
'' * ''
Spilocuscus maculatus The common spotted cuscus (''Spilocuscus maculatus''), also known as the white cuscus, is a cuscus, a marsupial that lives in the Cape York region of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. Names It is known as aklang or gabi in the ...
'' * '' Petaurus breviceps'' * ''
Macroglossus minimus The long-tongued nectar bat (''Macroglossus minimus''), also known as the northern blossom bat, honey nectar bat, least blossom-bat, dagger-toothed long-nosed fruit bat, and lesser long-tongued fruit bat, is a species of megabat. ''M. minimus'' is ...
'' * ''
Nyctimene aello The broad-striped tube-nosed fruit bat (''Nyctimene aello''), also known as the greater tube-nosed bat is a species of megabat in the genus ''Nyctimene (genus), Nyctimene''. It is found in West Papua (region), West Papua, Indonesia, Papua New Guin ...
'' * '' Pteropus conspicillatus'' * ''
Aselliscus tricuspidatus ''Aselliscus'' is a genus of bat in the family Hipposideridae. , it contains the following species: * Stoliczka's trident bat Stoliczka's trident bat (''Aselliscus stoliczkanus'') is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is found ...
'' * '' Pipistrellus papuanus'' *
Lesser bird-of-paradise The lesser bird-of-paradise (''Paradisaea minor'') is a bird-of-paradise in the genus ''Paradisaea''. Description The lesser bird-of-paradise is medium-sized, up to 32 cm-long, maroon-brown with a yellow crown and brownish-yellow upper back ...
(''Paradisaea minor'')


Marine

Misool and the Raja Ampat Islands are part of the
Coral Triangle The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in ea ...
, and islands' coral reefs and coastal waters are some of the most biodiverse on Earth. Native fish include the
Misool rainbowfish The Misool rainbowfish (''Melanotaenia misoolensis'') is a species of rainbowfish in the subfamily Melanotaeniinae. It is Endemism, endemic to Misool in West Papua (region), West Papua, Indonesia. They occur in moderately streams with relatively ...
(''Melanotaenia misoolensis'') and Misool yellowfin rainbowfish ('' Melanotaenia flavipinnis''). A section of Raja Ampat Marine Recreation Park covers the coastal waters southeast of the island. The park was designated in 2009.


History

Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat archipelago in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the
Bacan Sultanate The Sultanate of Bacan (كسلطانن باچن) was a state in Maluku Islands, present-day Indonesia that arose with the expansion of the spice trade in late medieval times. It mainly consisted of the Bacan Islands (Bacan, Kasiruta, Mandioli, etc ...
.Wanggai, Toni V. M. (2008)
Rekonstruki sejarah umat Islam di tanna Papua
econstruction of the History of lslam in Papua Syariff Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2022-03-13.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Sultante of Tidore had close economic ties with the island, which was ruled by king in Lilinta descended from
Gurabesi Gurabesi was a legendary Papuan leader from Biak in West New Guinea, present-day Indonesia, who had a large role in tying part of the Papuans to the Islamic Sultanate of Tidore. He is commonly believed to have flourished in the 15th or early 16th ...
of Waigeo, while Tidore appointed another king in Waigama.Slama, Martin (2015),
Papua as an Islamic Frontier: Preaching in 'the Jungle' and the Multiplicity of Spatio-Temporal Hierarchisations", ''From 'Stone-Age' to 'Real-Time': Exploring Papuan Temporalities, Mobilities and Religiosities''
ANU Press, pp. 243–270,
During this period, Islam became firmly established and local chiefs had begun adopting Islam. Misool was a part of the Dutch colonial empire under the
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
administration. The Japanese occupied the island in 1942, became the base of
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
until 1945.No. 92 of the Japanese Monographs — "Southwest Area Naval Operations, Apr. 1942 – Apr. 1944", 10 September 1947.


Pulau Misool Nature Reserve

Pulau Misool Nature Reserve was established in 1982. It covers the southern portion of the island, with an area of 840 km2.


References


External links

* * Jelle Miedema, ''Perspectives on the Bird's Head of Irian Jaya, Indonesia:'' Proceedings of the Conference Leiden, 13–17 October 1997
Indonesia Field Project - Misool - Marine Conservation Agreements
Raja Ampat Islands {{SwPapua-geo-stub