The Solor Archipelago () is a group of islands in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make u ...

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 ...

, lying to the east of Flores and to the west of the

Alor Strait Alor Strait (also ''Alloo'' StraitGoodall, George (Editor)(1943) ''Philips' International Atlas'' London, George Philip and Son map 'East Indies' pp.91-92 for pre Independence spelling) divides the Solor Archipelago from the Alor Archipelago, ...

and the Alor Archipelago. To the north is the west part of the

Banda Sea The Banda Sea ( id, Laut Banda, pt, Mar de Banda, tet, Tasi Banda) is one of four seas that surround the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean, but surrounded by hundreds of islands, including Timor, as well as the Halma ...

, while to the south across the

Savu Sea The Savu Sea (or the Sawu Sea) ( id, Laut Sawu, pt, Mar de Savu, tet, Tasi Savu) is a small sea within Indonesia named for the island of Savu (Sawu) on its southern boundary. It is bounded by Savu and Rai Jua to the south, the islands of ...

lies the island of

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, al ...

. The largest islands are, from west to east,

Solor Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the langu ...

Adonara Adonara is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, located east of the larger island of Flores in the Solor Archipelago. To the east lies Lembata, formerly known as Lomblen. Adonara is the highest of the islands of the archipelago, ...

, and Lembata (formerly known as Lomblen), although there are many small islands as well. Administratively, the islands of Solor and Adonara are included within the East Flores Regency, while Lembata (with smaller offshore islands) forms its own regency (''kabupaten''), the Lembata Regency. Both regencies lie within the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

. The islands are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, and according to the official estimates for mid 2021, together with the number of administrative districts (''kecamatan'') on each island. In addition to the national language of

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 ...

, the population also speak Lamaholot as a lingua franca. There are also many local languages, for example

which is spoken on Adonara and Solor. On the South coast of Lembata, the village of Lamalera (pop. 2,500) is known for its hunting of the sperm whale and other deep-sea species. This is allowed under

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...

regulations around

aboriginal whaling Indigenous whaling is the hunting of whales by indigenous peoples recognised by either IWC (International Whaling Commission) or the hunting is considered as part of indigenous activity by the country. It is permitted under international re ...

but

conservationists The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...

worry that commercial whaling is also done.Lamera whaling
/ref> Lamalera and Lamakera (on the neighbouring island of Solor) are the last two remaining Indonesian whaling communities.

References

Archipelagoes of Indonesia Lesser Sunda Islands Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara Inner Banda Arc {{ENusaTenggara-geo-stub