The Aru Islands Regency is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of 6,426.77 km2 (2,481.39 sq mi). At the 2011 Census the Regency had a population of 84,138; the 2020 Census produced a total of 102,237, and the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 108,834. Some sources regard the archipelago as part of Asia, while others regard it as part of Melanesia.
Coat of arms
Inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Aru Islands, photographed late 1899 during the Siboga Expedition.
The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. Lying within Wallacea, the Moluccas have been considered a geographical and cultural intersection of Asia and Oceania.
Drawing of Ternate by a presumably Dutch artist. Inset shows Saint John Baptist Portuguese-built fort on the island
An orembai, a common traditional sailing vessel of the Maluku Islands
Fort Duurstede in Saparua, 1846
Tanimbar warriors
