Bacan Islands
Moluccas (Maluku Islands) | |
Area | 2,792.85 km2 (1,078.33 sq mi) |
---|---|
Highest elevation | 2,111 m (6926 ft) |
Highest point | Buku Sibela |
Administration | |
Demographics | |
Population | 115,612 (mid 2022) |
Pop. density | 414/km2 (1072/sq mi) |
The Bacan Islands, formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians,
Bacan (Dutch: Batjan),[2] formerly also known as Bachian[3][2] or Batchian,[4] is the group's largest island. The second and third-largest islands are Kasiruta and Mandioli.[3] Bacan Island in 2020 included about 82,387 people, of which about 10,000 live in the capital Labuha; it is subdivided into seven districts. Kasiruta and Mandioli each have over 11,000 inhabitants, and each is subdivided into two districts. A fourth island, Bacan Lomang, forms a twelfth district within the group. There are dozens of smaller islands in the group, which had a total population of 84,075 at the 2010 Census,[5] but by the 2020 Census had risen to 111,517.[6] The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 115,612.[7]
Administration
The group is divided into twelve administrative districts (kecamatan) out of the thirty districts within South Halmahera Regency. They are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census[5] and 2020 Census,[6] together with the official estimate for mid 2022.[7] The table also includes the number of administrative villages (desa and kelurahan) in each district and its post code.
Name | English name | Area in km2 |
Population census 2010 |
Population census 2020[6] |
Population estimate mid 2022[7] |
Admin. centre |
No. of villages |
No. of islands |
Post code |
Island or group |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bacan Timur Selatan | Southeast Bacan | 321.13 | 6,460 | 7,493 | 8,009 | Wayaua | 7 | 1 | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Bacan Timur Tengah | East Central Bacan | 276.28 | 5,229 | 6,158 | 6,495 | Bibinoi | 7 | 2 | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Bacan Timur | East Bacan | 463.50 | 9,051 | 12,794 | 13,267 | Babang | 10 | 8 | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Bacan Selatan | South Bacan | 169.21 | 13,265 | 19,560 | 20,006 | Mandaong | 10 | - | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Bacan | 304.69 | 19,092 | 27,045 | 27,885 | Labuha | 14 | 3 | 97791 | Bacan Islands | |
Bacan Barat Utara | Northwest Bacan | 264.94 | 4,096 | 5,010 | 5,237 | Yaba | 8 | 1 | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Bacan Barat | West Bacan | 180.78 | 3,549 | 4,327 | 4,620 | Indari | 7 | 49 | 97791 | Bacan Islands |
Batang Lomang (a) | Batang Lomang Islands | 55.81 | 6,177 | 7,655 | 7,929 | Bajo | 8 | 13 | 97790 | Batang Lomang Islands |
Mandioli Selatan | South Mandioli | 138.81 | 5,798 | 6,936 | 7,230 | Jiko | 6 | - | 97791 | Mandioli |
Mandioli Utara | North Mandioli | 96.79 | 2,990 | 3,809 | 3,949 | Indong | 6 | 7 | 97791 -97792 |
Mandioli |
Kasiruta Timur | East Kasiruta | 247.93 | 3,847 | 4,865 | 5,189 | Loleojaya | 8 | 6 | 97790 | Kasiruta |
Kasiruta Barat | West Kasiruta | 272.98 | 4,521 | 5,865 | 5,896 | Palamea | 10 | 25 | 97790 | Kasiruta |
History
From early times, Bacan was one of the four kingdoms of Maluku together with
In 1557, Father Antonio Vaz converted
Following the 1575 Ternatan invasion, Bacan become subservient to Ternate for periods, which was sealed through marriages. A sister and a daughter of Sultan Saidi Berkat of Ternate married Bacan rulers in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. A Spanish fort was built in 1606. By this time the seat of the sultan had been moved from Kasiruta to Bacan Island. Once the Dutch East India Company established hegemony in 1609, the Netherlands' power on Bacan was based in Fort Barnaveld.[8]
In 1705, the sergeant in charge of the fort and the sultan captured the English explorer William Dampier, seized his ship, looted its cargo, and threatened all aboard with execution. It is thought that this was in response to Dampier violating the trade monopoly. When the sergeant's Dutch superiors heard of the incident, Dampier was released, his ship restored and the English provided with sumptuous hospitality in Ternate.[9] The chief town at the time, also known as Bachian, was Amasing or Amasingkota on the island's isthmus.[3]
Ternate and Bacan were the only places in the northern Moluccas that had a Dutch curriculum school and a Protestant minister in the late 19th century. The majority of Bacan's Roman Catholics became Protestants during the Dutch colonial period.[citation needed] These Sirani wore semi-European dress and celebrated Sundays with dancing and music.[3] The Sultanate of Bacan was treated as a Dutch protectorate;[3] it was replaced by a council of chiefs under a Dutch contrôleur in 1889.[2] A sultan with much reduced powers was eventually appointed in 1900. What independence remained was lost with the Japanese occupation during and Indonesian independence after World War II.[10] The most significant modern town is Labuha on the west coast. Bacan has more recently been in the news due to violence between Christian and Muslim inhabitants of the island.
Geography
Bacan is of irregular form, consisting of two distinct mountainous parts, united by a low
During the 19th and early 20th century, large portions of the island were richly wooded, with indigenous
Demography
By the mid-19th century, the interior of Bacan island was considered uninhabited and the coastal dwellers all non-indigenous. The whole group had a population of 84,075 at the 2010 Census, but by mid 2022 had grown to 115,612.
Several
Economy
Colonial interest in Bacan was primarily driven by the
It is thought that
From 1882, an Amsterdam merchant cleared plantations for
See also
Notes
- ^ "Bacan | island, Indonesia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-05-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i EB (1911), p. 132.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p EB (1878).
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Index, p. 39. 1889.
- ^ a b Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011.
- ^ a b c Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.
- ^ a b c Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2023.
- ^ a b c Muller (1997), p. 130.
- ^ a b Muller (1997), p. 131.
- ^ a b Muller (1997), p. 132.
- ^ Bacanese Malay at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
References
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 197 ,
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 3 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 132–133
- Muller, Karl (1997), Maluku: Indonesian Spice Islands, Singapore: Periplus Editions, ISBN 962-593-176-7
- Wessels, C. (1929) "De Katholieke missie in het Sultanaat Batjan (Molukken), 1667-1609", Historisch Tijdschrift 8:2 and 8:3
- Coolhaas, W.Ph. (1923) "Kronijk van het rijk Batjan", Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 63.