Halmahera
Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Halmahera has an area of 17,780 km2 and a population in 1995 of 162,728. Approximately half of the inhabitants are Muslim and half are Christian. Sparsely-populated Halmaheras fortunes have long been tied to those of the smaller islands of Ternate and Tidore. These islands were both the sites of major kingdoms in the era before Dutch East India Company colonized the entire archipelago, during World War II, Halmahera was the site of a Japanese naval base at Kao Bay. Thousands of people on Halmahera were killed in the fighting between religious militias, in June 2000, about five hundred people were killed when a ferry carrying refugees from the fighting on Halmahera sank off the northeast tip of Sulawesi island. Conspiracy theories about this event abound, a memorial to this tragedy can be found in Duma village in North Halmahera district.
Particularly since the inauguration of the first ever directly elected Bupati, as it is surrounded by flat land, Tobelo has the potential for expansion. Ternate is limited by its size, being an island which can be driven around in forty-five minutes. Also, in 2010 the provincial government has moved the capital from Ternate City to Sofifi. North Maluku Province consists of seven regencies and two municipalities,6 of which include a part of Halmahera island. The regencies are, North Halmahera, West Halmahera, East Halmahera, Central Halmahera, South Hamahera, Ternate Municipality, Tidore City and Islands, only Ternate Municipality and Sula Islands do not include any part of Halmahera. The volcanic island lies on an arc that includes the Raja Ampat Islands, all uplifted by the northward migration of the continent of Australia. Dukono is a volcano at the north end of the island. Mount Ibu is a volcano on the islands northwest coast. The flightless invisible rail is endemic to the island, the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace visited Halmahera, as described in his 1869 book The Malay Archipelago.
He considered the bird of paradise, Semioptera wallacei, to be his greatest prize
Sea level
Mean sea level is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earths oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a low and mean high tide at a particular location. Sea levels can be affected by factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales. The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change, the term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level. Precise determination of a sea level is a difficult problem because of the many factors that affect sea level. Sea level varies quite a lot on several scales of time and this is because the sea is in constant motion, affected by the tides, atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, salinity and so forth. The easiest way this may be calculated is by selecting a location and calculating the mean sea level at that point, for example, a period of 19 years of hourly level observations may be averaged and used to determine the mean sea level at some measurement point.
One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land, hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates. In the UK, the Ordnance Datum is the sea level measured at Newlyn in Cornwall between 1915 and 1921. Prior to 1921, the datum was MSL at the Victoria Dock, in Hong Kong, mPD is a surveying term meaning metres above Principal Datum and refers to height of 1. 230m below the average sea level. In France, the Marégraphe in Marseilles measures continuously the sea level since 1883 and it is used for a part of continental Europe and main part of Africa as official sea level. Elsewhere in Europe vertical elevation references are made to the Amsterdam Peil elevation, satellite altimeters have been making precise measurements of sea level since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. A joint mission of NASA and CNES, TOPEX/Poseidon was followed by Jason-1 in 2001, height above mean sea level is the elevation or altitude of an object, relative to the average sea level datum.
It is used in aviation, where some heights are recorded and reported with respect to sea level, and in the atmospheric sciences. An alternative is to base height measurements on an ellipsoid of the entire Earth, in aviation, the ellipsoid known as World Geodetic System 84 is increasingly used to define heights, differences up to 100 metres exist between this ellipsoid height and mean tidal height. The alternative is to use a vertical datum such as NAVD88. When referring to geographic features such as mountains on a topographic map, the elevation of a mountain denotes the highest point or summit and is typically illustrated as a small circle on a topographic map with the AMSL height shown in metres, feet or both. In the rare case that a location is below sea level, for one such case, see Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
New Guinea
New Guinea is a large Island in the South West Pacific region. It is the worlds second-largest island, after Greenland, covering an area of 785,753 km2. The island is divided between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west, the island has been known by various names. The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West and its etymology is unclear, one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the islands coastal region. The name came from papo and ua, which means not united or, ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning frizzly-haired, referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived in the island via the Spice Islands, when the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea. The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, the name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo.
It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise and this name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui and Waropen. The name was used until 2001, when the name Papua was again used for the island, the name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authority of Jakarta. New Guinea is an island to the north of Australia, and it is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km from the head to the tail of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m high, the tree line is around 4,000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges, except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season.
At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the worlds fourth highest landmass, Puncak Mandala, located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres. Puncak Trikora, in Papua, is 4,750 metres, mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres. Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range, mount Giluwe 4,368 metres is the second highest summit in PNG. It is the highest volcanic peak in Oceania, another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, the southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago within 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. The islands were the core of the Spice Islands known to the Chinese and Europeans. The name was due to the nutmeg and cloves that were originally found there. The Maluku Islands formed a province from Indonesian independence until 1999. A new province, North Maluku, incorporates the area between Morotai and Sula, with the arc of islands from Buru and Seram to Wetar remaining within the existing Maluku Province, North Maluku is predominantly Muslim, and its capital is Sofifi on Halmahera island. Maluku province has a larger Christian population, and its capital is Ambon, though originally Melanesian, many island populations, especially in the Banda Islands, were exterminated in the 17th century during the spice wars. A second influx of Austronesian immigrants began in the twentieth century under the Dutch.
Between 1999 and 2002, conflict between Muslims and Christians killed thousands and displaced half a million people, the name Maluku is thought to have been derived from the term used by Arab traders for the region, Jazirat al-Muluk. The Maluku Islands were a single province from Indonesian independence until 1999 when they were split into North Maluku and Maluku, North Maluku province includes Ternate, Bacan, Halmahera Morotai, the Obi Islands, and the Sula Islands. Evidence of increasingly long-distance trading relationships and of more frequent occupation of many islands, onyx beads and segments of silver plate used as currency on the Indian subcontinent around 200BC have been unearthed on some of the islands. Arab merchants began to arrive in the 14th century, bringing Islam, peaceful conversion to Islam occurred in many islands, especially in the centres of trade, while aboriginal animism persisted in the hinterlands and more isolated islands. Archaeological evidence here relies largely on the occurrence of pigs teeth, the Portuguese had conquered the city state of Malacca in the early 16th century and their influence was most strongly felt in Maluku and other parts of eastern Indonesia.
On the return trip, Francisco Serrão was shipwrecked at Hitu island in 1512, there he established ties with the local ruler who was impressed with his martial skills. The spice trade soon revived but the Portuguese would not be able to fully monopolize nor disrupt this trade, both Serrão and Ferdinand Magellan, perished before they could meet one another. The Portuguese first landed in Ambon in 1513, but it became the new centre for their activities in Maluku following the expulsion from Ternate. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic and anti-European state under the rule of Sultan Baab Ullah and his son Sultan Said. By the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, the Pela Gandong community relationship system is between various Christian and Muslim villages throughout the regions
Sultanate of Tidore
Sultanate of Tidore was a sultanate in Southeast Asia, centered on the Spice Islands of Tidore, a rival of Sultanate of Ternate for control of the spice trade. The Sultanate of Tidore ruled most of southern Halmahera, and, at times, controlled Buru, Ambon, in 1605 war broke out with neighbouring Ternate. Tidore had established an alliance with the Portuguese in the seventeenth century who had several forts on the island. Ternate had allied with Dutch traders, Tidore established a loose alliance with the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and Spain had several forts on the island. Before the Spanish withdrawal from Tidore and Ternate in 1663, Tidore became one of the most independent kingdoms in the region, particularly under Sultan Saifuddin, the Tidore court was skilled at using Dutch payment for spices for gifts to strengthen traditional ties with Tidores traditional periphery. As a result, he was respected by many local populations. Tidore remained an independent kingdom, albeit with frequent Dutch interference, like Ternate, Tidore allowed the Dutch spice eradication program to proceed in its territories.
This program, intended to strengthen the Dutch spice monopoly by limiting production to a few places, impoverished Tidore and weakened its control over its periphery
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE.
Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome.
In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
North Maluku
North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the part of the Maluku Islands. The provincial capital is Sofifi, on Halmahera, and the largest population center is the island of Ternate, in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the islands of North Maluku were the original Spice Islands. At the time, the region was the source of cloves. The Dutch, Portuguese and local sultanates including Ternate and Tidore fought each other for control of the lucrative trade in these spices. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 at the 2010 Census making it one of the provinces in Indonesia. The islands of North Maluku are mostly of volcanic origin, with the volcanoes of Dukono on Halmahera, Gamalama on Ternate still active and the whole of Tidore consisting of a large stratovolcano. The predominant trees of the forest are Anisoptera thurifera, Hopea gregaria, Hopea iriana, Shorea assamica, Shorea montigena, Shorea selanica, and Vatica rassak. The endemic mammals found include the Obi mosaic-tailed rat, masked flying fox.
There are over two hundred different birds on the islands, twenty-six of which are endemic, a number for this small island group. The islands are home to the largest bee in the world. The islands have a tropical rainforest climate, logging has occurred more recently on Halmahera and Morotai. North Maluku Province was subdivided into seven regencies and two cities, listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census. An eighth regency, covering Taliabu Island, was formed in 2013 from the westernmost island in the Sula Islands Residency, # The figures for the new Taliabu Island Regency are included in those for Sula Islands Regency. The northern part of the Maluku Islands is the location of four major sultanates, while they no longer hold official or political power, these sultanates still hold enormous cultural respect. The construction consists of sea-rock, sand and egg as the adhesive, kotanaka Fortress Orange Fortress Kalamata Fortress Dever Lacting Fortress Bernaveld Fortress Baileo
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Massachusetts, New York City, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836.
The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855.
The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Maluku sectarian conflict
The duration of the conflict is generally dated from the start of the Reformasi era in early 1999 to the signing of the Malino II Accord on 13 February 2002. The main belligerents were therefore religious militia from both faiths, including the well organised Islamist Laskar Jihad, and Indonesian government military forces, in one instance in April 1999 all Christian residents were expelled from the Banda Islands. Despite firing an estimated 80% of all spent in the fighting. The conflict had a significant effect upon the 2.1 million people of greater Maluku, decentralisation stimulated a renewed effort in 1998 for the northern islands of Maluku to secede from Maluku province. Economic power in Ambon from the mid-1980s onwards was held by civil servants, some estimates placed direct employment in the civil service at a quarter of total employment in Ambon and figures from 1990 stated 38% of Ternate workers were employed by the government. Demographic change has cited as a factor in creating tension.
Any transgression against these rules would be punished by curses from the ancestors who founded the institution. However, this system could not accommodate land-title of nonlocal, nonvillage-based transmigrant landowners and surrounding islands had a roughly equal number of Christian and Muslim citizens in the years prior to the crisis. In North Maluku the population was 85% Muslim prior to the start of conflict, there had been a steady exodus of Makianese from the island of Makian to Ternate and the northern regions of Halmahera. Dozens of villages had been established and populated by Makianese transmigrants who had moved there from the island during the 1970s. The Pagu did not wish to be ruled by a Makian majority local government, the first communal violence in Halmahera coincided with the 18 August formal inauguration of the Malifut sub-district. The crisis was allegedly permeated by the rivalry of two large semi-criminal gangs that operated in Ambon and, Jakarta, most of the 180 arrested in the immediate aftermath of the violence were of Ambonese origin.
Fighting in Ambon City during the first 3 or so days claimed anywhere from 43 to 65 lives, with bodies discovered weeks after in the ruins of Ambon. Over 100 were seriously injured at least 10 houses of worship had been destroyed, with the loss of homes, Ambon airport was closed and a curfew applied in the town for the week after. The weapons used in early period of rioting were mainly machetes, flaming arrows and other traditional weapons. More Christian houses were burnt in Silale and Waihaong kampungs in the afternoon, throughout this initial confrontation it was widely observed that the violence was directed by people from outside the area. There had not yet been any casualties and police assured Waringin residents they could return home safely, the targets of the attackers were Buton and Javanese migrants, however the mob was indiscriminate in the burning of Muslim houses in the neighbourhood. An Islamic elementary school and kindergarten were burned, and there was selective burning of Muslim-owned property, such as Padang restaurants, the irate Muslims of Hitu were to march to Ambon in protest, passing several Christian villages in the hinterland region
Provinces of Indonesia
Indonesian territory is composed of 34 provinces. A province is the highest tier of the local government divisions of Indonesia, provinces are further divided into regencies and cities, which are in turn subdivided into sub-districts. Each province has its own government, headed by a governor. The governor and members of representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms. Five provinces have special status, for the use of the law as the regional law of the province. Special Region of Yogyakarta, a sovereign monarchy within Indonesia with the sultan Hamengkubuwono as hereditary Governor, SR Yogyakarta refused to call themselves as the province according to Law No. 12/2012 about The Speciality of Special Region of Yogyakarta, for implementation of sustainable development. West Papua, for granting implementation of sustainable development, the provinces are officially grouped into seven geographical units. This clickable map shows provinces of Indonesia as of 25 October 2012, click on a province name to go to its main article.
A considerable number of new provinces have been proposed in addition to the 34 existing provinces of Indonesia, as of 2013, the government has targeted the creation of eight new provinces by 2020, by splitting several of the existing provinces. On 25 October 2013, the Indonesian House of Representatives began reviewing draft laws on the establishment of 57 prospective regencies and 8 new provinces
Ternate
Ternate is an island in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It was the center of the former Sultanate of Ternate and it is off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera. The city has a population of just under 200,000 on some 111.39 km2, like its neighbouring island, Ternate is a visually dramatic cone-shape. The two are ancient Islamic sultanates with a history of bitter rivalry. The islands were once the single major producer of cloves. In the precolonial era, Ternate was the dominant political and economic power over most of the Spice Islands of Maluku, Ternate City is the largest town in the province of North Maluku, within which the island constitutes a municipality. It is, however, no longer the capital, a title now held by the town of Sofifi on Halmahera. The Ternate Essay was an account of evolution by natural selection written on the island by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858. Darwin at once responded by publishing Wallaces essay alongside his own accounts of the theory, Ternate is dominated by the volcanic Mount Gamalama.
An 1840 eruption destroyed most houses, recent eruptions occurred in 1980,1983,1994 and 2011. During the 2011 eruption, Indonesia closed an airport near the volcano for several days following ash emissions that reached 2,000 metres into the atmosphere. The foothills are home to groves of trees, and climbs to the peak of the volcano can be made. The airport lies along the northeast coastline, hiri island is a volcanic cone lying off the northern tip of Ternate. Crocodile-infested crater Tolire Lake lies in the northwest and is bordered by sheer cliffs, Ternate beaches include Sulamadaha and Jouburiki in the west, and the beach at the village of Kastela in the southeast. Ternate is governed as Ternate City within the province of North Maluku, connections are via Makassar, and Manado via Sorong. In addition there are flights to Jakarta on Batavia Air, Sriwijaya Air. Greater Ternate City spreads 10 kilometres from the airport to Bastiong port, the commercial centre stretches 2 km from the bus terminal near Fort Oranye to Ahmad Yani Port where Pelni ships arrive.
It is the largest town in North Maluku province, the current Sultans Palace, built in 1796, is partly a museum
Indonesia
North Maluku
