Tawitawi Island (also spelled Tawi Tawi or Tawi-Tawi) is a Philippine island in the

Sulu Archipelago The Sulu Archipelago ( Tausug: Kapū'-pūan sin Sūg Sulat Sūg: , ) is a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the southwestern Philippines. The archipelago forms the northern limit of the Celebes Sea and southern limit of the Sulu Se ...

between the

Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...

and

Celebes Sea The Celebes Sea ( ; ) or Sulawesi Sea (; ) of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawes ...

, about east of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. It is the main island of

Tawi-Tawi Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi ( Tausug: ''Wilaya' sin Tawi-Tawi''; Sinama: ''Jawi Jawi/Jauih Jauih''; ), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The capit ...

Province, with a little more than half the province's 1,087.40 km² (419.85 sq mi) land area. Tawitawi has an area of , making it the 21st-largest island of the Philippines, and the third-largest island in the Sulu Archipelago (after

Basilan Basilan, officially the Province of Basilan (; ; ; ), is an island province of the Philippines located primarily in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. Basilan Island is the largest and northernmost of the major islands of the Sulu Archipelago ...

and

Jolo Jolo () is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a populatio ...

). It has a shoreline length of , and a maximum elevation of . Tawitawi Island is of volcanic origin and irregular in shape, about long and between wide. It is hilly and heavily wooded, with both white sandy beaches and rocky coasts. The island is subdivided into four municipalities (

Bongao Bongao, officially the Municipality of Bongao (), is a municipality and capital of the province of Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 116,118 people. History Evidence of human presence in Bongao w ...

, Languyan, Panglima Sugala, and Tandubas). The inhabitants are mostly

Sama people The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...

, speaking

Sama–Bajaw languages The Sama–Bajaw languages are a well-established group of languages spoken by the Sama-Bajau peoples (''A'a sama'') of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Languages Grimes (2003) identifies nine Sama–Bajaw languages. #Balangingi (Ba ...

and of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

conviction.

References

External links

* {{Authority control * Sulu Archipelago