The Lingga Regency () is a group of 600 islands in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, located south of

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and along both sides of the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, off the eastern coast of

Riau Riau (Jawi script, Jawi: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of the island of Sumatra, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Barisan Mountains to the Malacca Strait, including s ...

Province on

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

island. They are due south of the populated

Riau Archipelago The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of Ri ...

, known for the industrial island of

Batam Batam, officially the City of Batam (, not to be confused with ''Batam Kota'', a kecamatan, district within this city), is the largest List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. The city administra ...

and the tourist-frequented island of Bintan, although the Lingga Islands themselves are rarely visited due to the infrequent local transportation. The

goes through the northern tip of Lingga Island, the main island in the archipelago. Administratively they form a

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of the Riau Islands Province with a land area of 2,250.45 km² and a population of 86,244 people at the 2010 census and 98,633 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 102,474.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, ''Kabupaten Lingga Dalam Angka 2024'' (summation of Katalog reports on individual districts as specified in the references to each below) The

regency seat A regency seat () is a capital or seat of government of a regency in Indonesia. It is roughly equivalent of county seat in the United States or county town in the United Kingdom. Legally, regency seats are not administrative subdivisions of Ind ...

lies at

Daik Daik ( Jawi: ; ) is the main village (''kelurahan'') on the island of Lingga of Lingga Regency, in the Riau Islands in Indonesia. It is located at . History Daik was the capital of the Lingga Sultanate for almost 100 years, from 1819 to 1911. ...

on Lingga Island. The population are mainly Malay,

Bugis The Bugis people, also known as Buginese, are an Austronesian ethnic groupthe most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassarese and Torajan), in the south-western province of Sula ...

and Chinese (predominantly

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

, Teochew and

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

Name

Lingga derives its name from the profile of which is shaped like the Hindu

lingam A lingam ( , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or Aniconism, aniconic representation of the Hinduism, Hindu Hindu deities, god Shiva in Shaivism. The word ''lingam'' is found in the Up ...

, often interpreted as a phallic symbol. This mountain has three sharp teeth at its peak; one of them seems to have broken off at its base, and it was immortalised by Malay poets as the symbol of durability. The poem is Pulau Pandan jauh ke tengah,
Gunung Daik bercabang tiga,
Hancur badan dikandung tanah,
Budi yang baik dikenang juga. By nuar Nearby are the remains of the fort of Benteng Bukit Cening, overlooking the sea. The cannons are still lined up, as if they were awaiting another enemy attack.

Islands

By size and population the most important islands in the archipelago are Lingga and Singkep, then Sebangka and Bakung. * Lingga with smaller Pulau Alut. * Pulau Selayar of Riau Islands between Lingga and Singkep. * Singkep with Pulau Posek to the west, Pulau Serak to the southwest, and Pulau Lalang to the south. * Sebangka and Bakung to the northwest of Lingga, with town of Limas, and the islets Senayang, Kapas, Kentar and Mowang. * Pulau Lobam and Cempah to the west of Sebangka. * Temiang and Mesawak in the north.

Administrative districts

At the time of the 2010 census, the regency was divided into five

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''kecamatan'') - Singkep, Lingga, Senayang, Singkep Barat and Lingga Utara - but four additional districts were created in 2012 (Singkep Selatan and Singkep Pesisir from parts of Singkep District, and Selayar and Lingga Timur from parts of Lingga District), another in 2018 (Kepulauan Posek - from part of Singkep Selatan District) and three more in 2019 (Bakung Serumpun, Temiang Pesisir and Katang Bidare - all out of Senayang District). The thirteen districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as at mid 2023.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, ''Kabupaten Lingga Dalam Angka 2024'' (summation of Katalog reports on individual districts as specified in the references to each below) The table also includes the location of the district administrative centres, the number of villages in each district (totaling 75 rural ''desa'' and 9 urban ''kelurahan''), and their post codes. Altogether the archipelago contains 509some 600 islands. Notes: (a) Singkep Barat District comprises 47 islands. (b) including one ''kelurahan'' (the district centre).
(c) The 2010 population of the new Kepulauan Posek District is included with the figure for Singkep Barat District, from which it was cut out in 2018.
(d) Singkep District comprises 32 islands. (e) comprising 3 ''kelurahan'' (Dabo, Dabo Lama and Sungailumpur) and 3 ''desa''.
(f) The 2010 populations of the new Singkep Selatan District and Singkep Pesisir District are included with the figure for Singkep District, from which they were cut out in 2012.
(g) including one ''kelurahan'' (Berlian). (h) Lingga District comprises 71 islands. (i) including 2 ''kelurahan'' - Daik and Daik Sepincan.
(j) The 2010 populations of the new Selayar District and Lingga Timur District are included with the figure for Lingga District, from which they were cut out in 2012.
(k) Lingga Utara District comprises 12 islands. (l) Senayang District (including the three new districts cut from it in 2019) comprises 324 islands.
(m) The 2010 populations of the new Bakung Serumpun District, Tamiang Pesisir District and Katang Bidare District are included with the figure for Senayang District, from which they were cut out in 2019.

Demographics

Religion

Islam is the dominant religion in the Lingga Islands regency, with 91.40% of the total population identifying themselves as Muslim. Other religions are Buddhism, which forms 5.89% of the total population, Christianity, which forms 2.63% of the total population, Hinduism, which forms 0.02% of the total population and Confucianism, which forms 0.03% of the total population.

Transport

Ferry services to the islands from outside the archipelago come from the provincial capital to the north, Tanjung Pinang on Bintan, including from

. These days the main industry is fishing. There are a number of fine beaches with some coral around the Archipelago but there is very little tourism on account of the poor transport links with the outside world. * Singkep has two ports, Dabo near Dabosingkep and Jago near Sungaibuluh. Service to the port of Muntok on

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

of Sumatera Selatan ceased operating regularly with the demise of the

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

mining industry. However, a high-speed ferry continues to connect Tanjung Pinang to Singkep, from where local boats may be chartered to Lingga. * For Lingga,

is the major town and port. It can be reached in a day from Singapore transferring at Tanjung Pinang. Singkep 46 lingga

Lingga Roads

Lingga Roads is an anchorage in the Lingga Islands, south of Lingga Island and northeast of Singkep. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lingga Roads was used as a fleet anchorage by major units of the

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, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

, in order that these ships be near a source of fuel. It was from Lingga Roads that the main Japanese southern striking force deployed for the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf () 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. By late 1944, Japan possessed fewer capital sh ...

References

External links

*
Singkep Community Website

{{coord, 0, 16, S, 104, 29, E, type:isle, display=title Regencies of the Riau Islands Populated places in Indonesia