Located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head ground on the
island of latest Guinea, in Indonesia's WestNew Guinea province, Raja ampat, or the Four Kings, is
associate ground comprising over one,500little islands, cays, and shoals
encompassing the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo,
and also the smaller island of Kofiau. Raja
ampat ground is that the a part of Coral
Trianglethat contains the richest marine variety on earth.
Raja ampat
Regency may be a new regency that separated from Sorong Regency in 2004. It
encompasses over forty thousang km² of land and ocean, that conjointly contains Cenderawasih Bay, the most
important marine parkland in Indonesia. it's a vicinity of the fresh named West
New Guineaprovince of Indonesia that was once Irian Jaya. a number of the
islands area unit the foremostnorthern items of land within the Australian
continent.
The name of Raja
ampat comes from native mythology that tells a couple of girl WHO finds
seven eggs. Four of the seven eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of Raja ampat biggest islandswhile the
opposite 3 become a ghost, a woman, and a stone.
History shows that Raja
ampat was once a vicinity of state of Tidore, associate prestigious kingdom
from Maluku. Yet, when the Dutch invaded Maluku, it had been shortly claimed by
European nation.
The first recorded watching and landing by Europeans of the
Ampat Islands was within the person of the Portuguese navigator Jorge DE
Menezes and his crew in 1526, on route from Biak, the Bird's Headground, and
Waigeo, to Halmahera (Ternate).
The English someone William Dampier gave his name to Dampier
Strait, that separates Batanta island from Waigeo island. To the east, there's
a strait that separates Batanta from Salawati. In 1759 Captain William Wilson
sailing within the East Indiaman Pitt navigated these waters and named one strait
Pitt strait, when his vessel; this was most likely the channel between Batanta
and Salawati.
The main occupation for folks around this space is fishing since the realm is dominated by
the ocean. They board alittle colony
of tribes that spreads round the space. though ancient culture stillpowerfully
exists, they're terribly hospitable to guests. Raja ampat folks area unit a lot of like Ambonese than Papuan folks
and currently a number of them area unit Muslim and a few of themarea unit
Christian.
The oceanic
natural resources around Raja ampat
provides it important potential as a traveler space.several sources place Raja ampat together of their high 10
hottest places for diving while it retainsthe amount one ranking in terms of
underwater variety.
According to Conservation
International, marine surveys recommend that the marine life diversity within
the Raja ampat space is that the
highest recorded on Earth.Diversity is significantly larger than the other
space sampled within the Coral
Triangle composed of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea Papua,
Solomon Islands, and land. The Coral
Triangle is that the heart of the world's reefvariety, creating Raja ampat quite presumably the richest
reef ecosystems within the world.
The area's large coral
colonies in conjunction with comparatively international waters surface
temperatures, conjointly recommend that its reefs could also be comparatively
immune to threats like coral
bleaching and coral sickness, that
currently jeopardize the survival of different coral ecosystems round the world. The Raja ampat islands area unit remote and comparatively undisturbed
by humans.
The high marine diversity in Raja ampat is powerfully influenced by its position between the
Indian and Pacific Oceans, as coral and fish larvae area unit a lot of simply shared between the 2 oceans. Raja ampat's coral
diversity, resilience, and role as a supply for larval spreading build it a
worldwidepriority for marine protection.
1,508 fish
species, 537 coral species (a
outstanding ninety six of all scleractinia recorded fromIndonesia area unit
doubtless to occur within these islands and seventy fifth of all species that
exist in the world), and 699 mollusc species, the variability of marine life is
staggering.Some areas boasthuge faculties of fish and regular sightings of sharks, like wobbegongs.
Raja ampat
Islands have a minimum of 3 ponds containt unpoisoned jellyfish, tired Misool space.
Although accessing the islands isn't that troublesome, it
takes a while. It takes six hours flight fromnational capital, the capital town
of Indonesia to Sorong. Then, taking a ship to achieve the islands is critical.