Nusa Laut is the smallest inhabited island in the
Lease Islands group east of
Ambon
Ambon may refer to:
Places
* Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia
** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province
** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796
* Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...
, in Indonesia's
Maluku province.
It lies just off the south-western corner of
Saparua island, separated from it by a deep channel. The island's coasts are fringed by a drying reef.
Nusa Laut's 5,780 inhabitants (as at 2020) live in seven villages - Leinitu, Sila, Nalahia and Ameth in the north of the island, and Titawaai, Abubu and Akoon in the south of the island. They speak the
Nusa Laut language
Nusa Laut is an Austronesian language spoken on the island of the same name in the Moluccas in eastern Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific ...
, as well as
Indonesian and
Ambonese Malay
Ambonese Malay or simply Ambonese is a Malay-based creole language spoken on Ambon Island in the Maluku Islands of Eastern Indonesia. It was first brought by traders from Western Indonesia, then developed when the Dutch Empire colonised the Ma ...
.
Nusa Laut has an all-Christian population and has been spared the 1999–2000 riots plaguing the rest of the region. Its villages have many colonial style houses and churches, two of which compete for the title of being the oldest church in Maluku. There is also an old fort - the Dutch East India Company's Fort Beverwijk.
Visitors come to the island for its beaches and to dive off the reefs of Ameth - reputedly one of the best dive spots in the Lease Islands.
[Muller, Dr. Kal (1990). ''Spice Islands: The Moluccas''. Periplus Editions. ]
References
External links
Old map of Manipa, Haruku, Saparua and Nusa Laut{{Maluku-islands , state=expanded
Islands of the Maluku Islands
Landforms of Maluku (province)