Misool, formerly spelled Mysol (Dutch: Misoöl) or Misol, is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest 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 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, Biga language and Matbat language, 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 ** Indonesia ...

and its dialect, Papuan Malay. Other main islands of this group off the western end of Southwest Papua are Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo, and there are numerous smaller islands such as

Kofiau Kofiau is an island in the Raja Ampat Islands, in Southwest Papua, Indonesia. The island is primarily raised coral limestone with some volcanic hills, covered in low forest. The island is home to the endemic Kofiau paradise kingfisher and Kofiau m ...

Etymology

The name ''Misool'' is from Ma'ya language which meant port or harbour relating to when the first king from Waigeo 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 ecoregion, which includes the other Raja Ampat Islands and the Bird's Head Peninsula 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 ...

s, murid rodents, 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 els ...

species. Some native animals include: * ''

Echymipera kalubu The common echymipera (''Echymipera kalubu''), or common spiny bandicoot, is a bandicoot. It is long-snouted even by bandicoot standards. The upper parts are a coarse reddish-brown, flecked with spiny buff and black hairs. The tail is short and a ...

'', common spiny bandicoot * '' Echymipera rufescens'' * '' Dorcopsis muelleri'' * '' Phalanger orientalis'' * '' Spilocuscus maculatus'' * ''

Petaurus breviceps The sugar glider (''Petaurus breviceps'') is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum belonging to the marsupial infraclass. The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its abili ...

'' * '' Macroglossus minimus'' * '' Nyctimene aello'' * ''

Pteropus conspicillatus The spectacled flying fox (''Pteropus conspicillatus''), also known as the spectacled fruit bat, is a megabat that lives in Australia's north-eastern regions of Queensland. It is also found in New Guinea and on the offshore islands including Wood ...

'' * '' Aselliscus tricuspidatus'' * ''

Pipistrellus papuanus The lesser Papuan pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus papuanus'') is a species of vesper bat. It can be found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the In ...

'' *

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 ba ...

(''Paradisaea minor'')

Marine

Misool and the Raja Ampat Islands are part of the Coral Triangle, and islands' coral reefs and coastal waters are some of the most biodiverse on Earth. Native fish include the Misool rainbowfish (''Melanotaenia misoolensis'') and Misool yellowfin rainbowfish (''

Melanotaenia flavipinnis ''Melanotaenia'' is a genus of rainbowfish from Australia, Indonesia (West Papua), New Guinea, and nearby smaller islands. Species There are currently 86 recognized species in this genus: * '' Melanotaenia affinis'' ( M. C. W. Weber, 1908) (New ...

''). A section of

Raja Ampat Marine Recreation Park ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...

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.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 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 until 1945.No. 92 of the

Japanese Monographs The Japanese Monographs, Japanese Studies on Manchuria, and Japanese Night Combat Study are three groups of publications written by Japanese officers, prepared by the Military History Section of the Headquarters, US Army Forces East, and distributed ...

— "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