Salawati is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands 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 ...

(formerly West 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 ...

. Its area is 1,623 km². Salawati is separated from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

to the southeast by the Sele Strait (a.k.a. Galowa Strait, Revenges Strait), and from Batanta to the north by the Pitt Strait (a.k.a. Sagewin Strait).

History

Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat archipelago in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the Bacan Sultanate.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 Sultanate of Tidore had close economic ties with the island.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, The name of the island comes from '' Shalawat'' which was spoken by the Sultan of Bacan as he arrived on the island and memorialized as 'Salawati'. During this period, Islam became firmly established and local chiefs had begun adopting Islam. On this island also once stood an Islamic kingdom named

Salawati Kingdom The Salawati Kingdom is the Islamic kingdom that once stood in Salawati Island, Raja Ampat Regency, Southwest Papua. The center of the Salawati kingdom was located in the Samate village which is currently located in the North Salawati district ...

which was founded by Fun Malaban.

Administration

Salawati Island (with small offshore islets) comprises five administrative districts (''kecamatan'') of Southwest Papua Province. The northern part of the island is divided into North Salawati (''Salawati Utara''), West Salawati (''Salawati Barat'') and Central Salawati (''Salawati Tengah'') districts of Raja Ampat Regency, while the southern part is divided into South Salawati (''Salawati Selatan'') and Central Salawati (''Salawati Tengah'') districts of

Sorong Regency Sorong Regency ( id, Kabupaten Sorong) is a regency of Southwest Papua province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 13,075.28 km2, and had a population of 70,619 at the 2010 Census, and 118,679 at the 2020 Census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, ...

. Note that the name of Central Salawati District is held by two different districts in adjacent parts of the two regencies.

Pulau Salawati Utara Nature Reserve

Pulau Salawati Utara Nature Reserve covers much of the northern portion of the island, with an area of 570 km² on the northern portion of the island. It protects part of the island's native lowland rain forest.

References

Raja Ampat Islands {{SwPapua-geo-stub