Nusa Laut is the smallest inhabited island in the

Lease Islands The Lease Islands, formerly called the Uliasers or Uliassers, are a group of three inhabited islands (and smaller uninhabited islets), lying immediately to the south of Seram and east of Ambon Island in the province of Maluku (province), Maluku, ...

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 Saparua is an island east of Ambon Island in the Indonesian province of Maluku; the island of Haruku lies between Saparua and Ambon. The main port is in the south at Kota Saparua. The island of Maolana is located near its southwestern side and ...

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 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

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 Malu ...

. 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)