Kaimana Regency is a

regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

in the south of West Papua province of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It covers an area of 18,500 sq. km, and had a population of 46,249 at the 2010 Census and 62,256 at the 2020 Census. The administrative centre is the town of

Kaimana Kaimana is a small port town in West Papua, Indonesia and capital of the Kaimana Regency. It had a population of 13,613 at the 2010 Census. In March 2007, the Indonesian Navy conducted a training exercise off the coast of Kaimana in Kaimana Ba ...

. The

Mairasi languages The Mairasi languages, also known as Etna Bay are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are named after E ...

are spoken in the regency, among other languages.

Administrative Districts

The regency comprises seven

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (''desa'' and ''kelurahan'') in each district and its post code. NNG - Kaimana strip - 1962

Offshore Islands

Kaimana Regency contains over 500 separate offshore islands, spread over the five districts with coastlines. Kaimana District includes at least 280 islands, of which the largest are Pulau Namatota, Pulau Aiduma and Pulau Dramai. There are at least 62 islands in Teluk Etna District, of which the largest is Pulau Kayumerah. Teluk Arguni Bawah District includes 31 islands. There are 14 islands in Buruway District, of which the largest are Pulau Adi (the regency's largest offshore island, including the village of Manggawitu) and Pulau Kelimala. Kambrau District includes 4 islands.

Demographics

Ethnic Groups

The customs in Kaimana Regency, which because of its strategic location as a stopover (transit), have been influenced by culture from outside (social interaction) so that the indigenous values of this area have been acculturated by the surrounding cultural values. People who live in inland mountainous areas have not been much influenced by outside interactions, while residents of coastal areas have had a lot of this influence through marriage, music/dance and clothing. Most of the inhabitants of Kaimana Kota District are in the villages. The inhabitants of Kaimana District, who are local tribes, are the largest population, followed by non-indigenous people (who come from outside areas) who are scattered in several villages in the Kaimana Kota ''kelurahan'', such as Seram and Kaki Air. The non-indigenous population in these two villages is a spontaneous migration of the population from Maluku and

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...

and the island of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, who live in a pattern of clustered settlements in separate pockets of settlement. Indigenous people are found in the villages inside and outside the urban kaimana kota. The indigenous tribes include the Irarutu, Mairasi, Kambrau and Kowiai. The distribution of the Irarutu tribe is in the southern area of the Kaimana city and the tribe originates from the Teluk Arguni District. The Mairasi tribe originates from the interior of the eastern part of Kaimana and spread across the North East coast of Kaimana District. The Kambrau tribe originates from the Teluk Kambrau District, Kaimana District and the Arguni Bay area and is spread across the southern and northern coasts of the Kaimana Kota ''kelurahan''. The Koiwai tribe originates from the western area of Buruway District and the northern area of the Kaimana District. This tribe mostly inhabits archipelagic areas.

Religion

The composition of the religious adherents in Kaimana Regency is quite diverse, namely Protestantism, Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The condition of harmony and tolerance between religious communities is running quite well. Based on data released by the Kaimana Regency Government in 2021, as of January 1, 2021, the majority of the population is

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, which is 50.63% (generally consists of local coastal Papuans combined with migrants from outside Papua). Religious followers

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

are also quite large, namely 49.32% where

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

are 39.98% and

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

9.34% (basically

Papuans The indigenous peoples of West Papua in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Malay Arch ...

). While adherents of religion

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

0.06%.

Lengguru area

Lengguru is well-preserved without land opened for plantation, logging or mining. This is in stark contrast to the other parts of Indonesia (especially the Indonesian Papua area which is not 100 percent preserved). In 2014 researchers revealed the level of biodiversity in the Lengguru area covering its coastal region and karsts. The expedition covered a range from 100 meters below sea level underwater up to 1,000 meters above sea level. Many species of flora and fauna were discovered, of which some are new species.

References

External links

Statistics publications from Statistics Indonesia (BPS)
Regencies of West Papua (province) {{WPapua-geo-stub