Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of
Maluku province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
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 ...
, despite
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
and a few other adjacent islands, such as
Saparua
Saparua is an island east of Ambon Island in the Indonesian province of Maluku; the island of Haruku lies between Saparua and Ambon. The main port is in the south at Kota Saparua. The island of Maolana is located near its southwestern side and ...
,
Haruku,
Nusa Laut
Nusa Laut is the smallest inhabited island in the Lease Islands group east of Ambon, in Indonesia's Maluku province.
It lies just off the south-western corner of Saparua island, separated from it by a deep channel. The island's coasts are fringed ...
and the
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Banda) are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central M ...
.
Geography and geology
Seram is traversed by a central
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
, the highest point of which,
Mount Binaiya
Mount Binaiya (Indonesian: Gunung Binaia) is the highest point on the Indonesian island of Seram (or Ceram) and the highest mountain in the province of Maluku. With an elevation of , it is one of the one hundred most topographically prominent p ...
, is covered with dense
rain forest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...
s. Its remarkably complex geology is because of its location at the meeting of several tectonic microplates, which have been described as "one of the most tectonically complex areas on Earth".
Seram actually falls on its own microplate, which has been twisted around by 80° in the last 8 million years
by the relatively faster movement of the Papua microplate. Meanwhile, along with the northward push of the Australian Plate, this has resulted in the uplift that gives north-central Seram peaks of over 3000 m. On the island, there are important karst areas. In the mountains, near Sawai, there is the cave Hatu Saka, currently the deepest cave in Indonesia (-388 m). In Taniwell district, on the north coast, is the underground river
Sapalewa, one of the largest underground rivers on the planet.
The population of the island and the neighbouring smaller islands in the 2020 Census was 773,459 people, administered among three regencies (''kabupaten''), namely
Maluku Tengah Regency
Central Maluku Regency ( id, Kabupaten Maluku Tengah) is a regency of Maluku Province of Indonesia. The Regency covers an area of 11,595.57 km2, and had a population of 361,698 at the 2010 Census, and 423,094 at the 2020 Census. The official ...
(which had 204,907 people on Seram Island itself and 218,185 on the lesser islands, the majority on Ambon Island),
Seram Bagian Barat Regency and
Seram Bagian Timur Regency.
Ecology
Seram Island is remarkable for its high degree of localised bird endemism.
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
Saving Asia's threatened birds
, 2003, retrieved 19 May 2010 There are 117 species of
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
on the island, 14 species or subspecies are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
, including the
eclectus parrot
The eclectus parrot (''Eclectus roratus'') is a parrot native to the Solomon Islands, Sumba, New Guinea and nearby islands, northeastern Australia, and the Maluku Islands (Moluccas). It is unusual in the parrot family for its extreme sexual dimor ...
,
purple-naped lory
The purple-naped lory (''Lorius domicella'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is forest-dwelling endemic to the islands of Seram, Ambon, and perhaps also Haruku and Saparua, South Maluku, Indonesia. It is considered endan ...
,
salmon-crested cockatoo
The salmon-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua moluccensis''), also known as the Moluccan cockatoo, is a cockatoo endemic to the Seram archipelago in eastern Indonesia. At a height of up to and weight of up to , it is among the largest of the white co ...
,
Seram masked owl
The Seram masked owl (''Tyto almae'') is an owl species in the family Tytonidae endemic to Seram Island in Indonesia. After being first brought to the attention of the world from a photograph taken during an expedition by Rudi Badil and Sukianto ...
,
lazuli kingfisher
The lazuli kingfisher (''Todiramphus lazuli'') is a species of bird in the family Alcedinidae. It can be found on the islands of Seram, Ambon and Haruku. . Found singly and in pairs in lowland wooded areas, including cultivated areas and mangrove ...
,
sacred kingfisher
The sacred kingfisher (''Todiramphus sanctus'') is a medium-sized woodland kingfisher that occurs in mangroves, woodlands, forests and river valleys in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the western Pacific.
Taxonomy
The binomial name ''H ...
,
grey-necked friarbird
The Seram friarbird (''Philemon subcorniculatus''), also known as the grey-necked friarbird, Ceram friarbird, grey-necked honeyeater and gray-necked honeyeater, is a species of bird in the family Meliphagidae. It is endemic to Indonesia where i ...
and
Moluccan king parrot
The Moluccan king parrot (''Alisterus amboinensis'') is a parrot endemic to Peleng Island, Maluku, and West Papua in Indonesia. It is sometimes referred to as the Ambon king parrot or Amboina king parrot, but this is potentially misleading, as ...
.
[,]
The mammals found on Seram include Asian species (
murid rodents) as well as Australasian
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
s. The mountain area of Seram supports the greatest number of endemic mammals of any island in the region. It harbors 38 mammal species and includes nine species that are endemic or near endemic, several of which are limited to montane habitats. These include the
Seram bandicoot
The Seram bandicoot (''Rhynchomeles prattorum''), also known as the Seram Island long-nosed bandicoot, is a member of the order Peramelemorphia that is endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia. It is the only species in the genus ''Rhynchomel ...
,
Moluccan flying fox,
Seram flying-fox,
Manusela mosaic-tailed rat
The Manusela mosaic-tailed rat (''Melomys fraterculus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Indonesia. It lives in the rainforests on the island of Seram in Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of I ...
,
spiny Ceram rat
The spiny Ceram rat (''Rattus feliceus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found only in Seram, Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian a ...
and the
Ceram rat
The Ceram rat (''Nesoromys ceramicus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae.
It is found only in Seram Island, Indonesia, where it has been recorded on Mount Mansuela
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. ...
, all considered threatened.
Saltwater crocodile
The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed ...
s exist within some of the island's rivers, including the
Salawai River.
In the eastern part of the island,
Manusela National Park
Manusela National Park is located on Seram island, in the Maluku archipelago of Indonesia. It is made up of coastal forest, swamp forest, lowland and montane rainforest ecosystem types. Mount Binaiya at 3,027 meters, is the highest of the park's ...
has been established in 1997, covering an area of 1,890 km² (11% of the island).
History
Most central Moluccans consider Seram to be their original ancestral home and it is still known colloquially as Nusa Ina (Mother Island).
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Seram was generally within the sphere of influence of
Ternate
Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the we ...
, although it was often ruled more directly by the Ternaten vassal state of
Buru
Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...
. The expedition of
António de Abreu
António de Abreu () was a 16th-century Portuguese navigator and naval officer. He participated under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque in the conquest of Ormus in 1507 and Malacca in 1511, where he got injured. Departing from Malacca in Nove ...
(as captain) and
Francisco Serrão
Francisco Serrão (died 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and a possible cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through modern Indonesia and the East Indies. He became a confidant of Su ...
sighted and explored the entire southern coast of Seram in early 1512, for the first time for Europeans.
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
were active there in the 16th century.
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
trading post
A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded.
Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...
s were opened in the early 17th century, and the island came under nominal Dutch control c. 1650. The
Tidore Sultanate
The Sultanate of Tidore (Indonesian: كسلطانن تيدوري, ''Kesultanan Tidore'', sometimes ''Kerajaan Tidore'') was a sultanate in Southeast Asia, centered on Tidore in the Maluku Islands (presently in North Maluku Province). It was also kn ...
made periodical claims on Seram and were accorded suzerainty in the eastern part of the island from 1700 to 1768. In the 1780s, Seram provided a key base of support for Prince
Nuku of Tidore
Nuku (born c. 1738 - died 14 November 1805) was the nineteenth Sultan of Tidore Sultanate, Tidore in Maluku Islands, reigning from 1797 to 1805. He is also known under the names Sultan Muhammad al-Mabus Amiruddin Syah, Saifuddin, Jou Barakati (Mas ...
's long-running rebellion against Dutch rule. From 1954 until 1962 the island's mountain terrain was the scene of an armed guerilla struggle against Indonesian rule by the counter revolutionary
Republic of South Moluccas
South Maluku, also South Moluccas, officially the Republic of South Maluku, was an unrecognised secessionist republic that claimed the islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram, which make up the Indonesian province of Maluku.
Dutch conquest exerte ...
movement led by
Soumokil
Christiaan Robbert Steven Soumokil (13 October 1905 – 12 April 1966) was a South Moluccan politician and prosecutor who served as the second president of the Republic of South Maluku from 1950 until his execution in 1966 by Indonesian fo ...
.
Administration
Seram includes three of the
regencies
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, ...
within the province of Maluku, but administratively each of these regencies includes a number of smaller islands adjacent to Seram.
1.
West Seram Regency
West Seram Regency is a regency of Maluku, Indonesia. It is mainly located on the island of Seram, but includes various islands lying to the west of Seram -- Manipa, Kelang, Boano, as well as the smaller islets of Babi, Pua, Masowoi and Marsegu. ...
(''Kabupaten Seram Bagian Barat'') is mainly located on the island of Seram, but includes various islands lying to the west of Seram -
Manipa
Manipa Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located 8 km off the western coast of Kelang at the western end of Seram Island and 25 km off the western coast of Buru. Including adjacent small islands ...
,
Kelang
Kelang Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is a mountainous island located off the western tip of Seram Island, just east of Manipa. Sole, located on the northeastern side, and Tahalupu are the two principal ...
,
Boano
Boano Island is an island in West Seram Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia. It is located off the northern coast of the Hoamoal Peninsula at the western end of Seram Island, across the Boano Strait. The inhabitants speak the Boano language, ...
and the smaller Babi, Pua and Marsegu. It covers a land area of 6,948.40 km
2, and had a population of 164,654 at the 2010 Census and 212,393 at the 2020 Census. The principal town lies at
Piru.
2.
Central Maluku Regency
Central Maluku Regency ( id, Kabupaten Maluku Tengah) is a regency of Maluku Province of Indonesia. The Regency covers an area of 11,595.57 km2, and had a population of 361,698 at the 2010 Census, and 423,094 at the 2020 Census. The official ...
(''Kabupaten Maluku Tengah''), with its capital at
Masohi
Masohi is a coastal town on the Indonesian island of Seram. It is the capital of the Central Maluku Regency (Kebupaten Maluku Tengah). It was the site of a detention camp for political prisoners in the 1970s. It had 36,433 inhabitants at the 202 ...
, includes the middle part of Seram, as well as
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
(apart from the City of
Ambon
Ambon may refer to:
Places
* Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia
** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province
** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796
* Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...
which forms the southern half of that island), the
Lease Islands
The Lease Islands, formerly called the Uliasers or Uliassers, are a group of three inhabited islands (and smaller uninhabited islets), lying immediately to the south of Seram and east of Ambon Island in the province of Maluku (province), Maluku, ...
(
Saparua
Saparua is an island east of Ambon Island in the Indonesian province of Maluku; the island of Haruku lies between Saparua and Ambon. The main port is in the south at Kota Saparua. The island of Maolana is located near its southwestern side and ...
,
Haruku,
Nusa Laut
Nusa Laut is the smallest inhabited island in the Lease Islands group east of Ambon, in Indonesia's Maluku province.
It lies just off the south-western corner of Saparua island, separated from it by a deep channel. The island's coasts are fringed ...
) and some other smaller offshore islands, plus the
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Banda) are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central M ...
further to the south. It covers 7,963.81 km
2 and had a population of 423,094 at the 2020 Census; this excludes the City of Ambon, which occupies the southern half of
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
but is administratively not part of the regency.
3.
East Seram Regency
East Seram Regency ( id, Kabupaten Seram Bagian Timur) is a regency of Maluku, Indonesia. It is mainly located on the island of Seram, but also includes smaller islands to the southeast comprising the Gorom and Watubela archipelagoes. The regenc ...
(''Kabupaten Seram Bagian Timur'') is mainly located on the island of Seram, but also includes smaller islands to the southeast comprising the
Gorom and
Watubela archipelago
Watubela is an archipelago in the Maluku Islands, east of Ceram and north of Kai Islands, southeast of the Gorong archipelago, and southwest of the Bomberai Peninsula of Papua, Indonesia. It includes the islands of Watubela itself, Kesui (also ...
es. The regency covers a land area of 5,779.12 km
2, and had a population of 99,065 at the 2010 Census and 137,972 at the 2020 Census. The principal town lies at
Bula Bula or BULA may refer to:
Places
*Bula, Camarines Sur, a municipality in the Philippines
*Bula (Guinea-Bissau), sector in Guinea-Bissau
*Bula, Indonesia, a village on Seram Island
*Bula, Texas, US
*Bula, West Virginia, US
*Bula (river) in Tatar ...
.
Religion
Seram has been traditionally associated with the
animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...
of the indigenous
Alfur
Alfur, Alfurs, Alfuros, Alfures, Aliforoes, Alifuru or Horaforas (in Dutch, ''Alfoeren'') people is a broad term recorded at the time of the Portuguese seaborne empire to refer all the non- Muslim, non- Christian peoples living in inaccessible a ...
(or
Nuaulu
The Nuaulu, Naulu or Nunuhai are a tribe located in Seram, Maluku, Indonesia.
Description
The tribe name 'Nuaulu' means head atersof the Nua River, which is the ancestral homeland of the Nuaulu people. In the late 19th century or early 20th cen ...
), a West Melanesian people who reputedly retained a custom of headhunting until the 1940s. Today, however, most of the population of Seram is either
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
or
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
due to both conversion and immigration. Seram was affected by
the violent inter-religious conflict that swept Maluku province starting in late 1998, resulting in tens of thousands of displaced persons across the province but after the Malino II Accord of 2002 tempers cooled. Seram has been peaceful for many years but towns like
Masohi
Masohi is a coastal town on the Indonesian island of Seram. It is the capital of the Central Maluku Regency (Kebupaten Maluku Tengah). It was the site of a detention camp for political prisoners in the 1970s. It had 36,433 inhabitants at the 202 ...
remain informally divided into de facto Christian and Muslim sections.
Around 7,000 people belonging to the
Manusela tribe follow Hinduism.
Economy
Copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from copr ...
,
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
,
sago
Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is ...
, and
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
are important products.
Oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
is produced in the northeast near Bula by CITIC Seram Energy
who took over from KUFPEC (Indonesia) Limited in 2006.
The Oseil oil field is located onshore in the northeast of the island in the Seram Non-Bula Production Sharing Contract area.
[ The discovery well was drilled in 1993.][ As of end 2010 the Seram Non-Bula Block had estimated proven oil reserves of 9.7 million barrels.][ Most production comes from the Jurassic Manusela carbonate formation.]
See also
* Islands of Indonesia
The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands.
History ...
* Alfur
Alfur, Alfurs, Alfuros, Alfures, Aliforoes, Alifuru or Horaforas (in Dutch, ''Alfoeren'') people is a broad term recorded at the time of the Portuguese seaborne empire to refer all the non- Muslim, non- Christian peoples living in inaccessible a ...
* Manusela
* Wemale
The Wemale people are an ethnic group of Seram Island, Indonesia. They number over 7,500 and live in 39 villages of the central area of the island. Like the Alune people in the west, the Wemale people originate from a common ancestral group cal ...
* Alune
* 1899 Ceram earthquake
On 30 September 1899 the island of Ceram, Dutch East Indies, was struck by an Ms 7.8 earthquake which was accompanied by a 10-meter landslide-induced tsunami. According to the Batavian Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory, the shock occurred ...
* Niwelehu
Niwelehu is a small village. It is in the northern part of Taniwel, a district of the Indonesian island of Seram.
Politics
Political System
The highest ranked political figure in the Niwelehu village government is the Raja, which is Bah ...
: village in Taniwel
References
External links
Seacology Seram Island Health Clinic Project
Seacology
Seacology is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization headquartered in Berkeley, California, that works to preserve island ecosystems and cultures around the world. Founded in 1991, it began with the work of ethnobotanist Paul Alan Cox, ...
Alifuru Consciousness Video
{{Authority control
Islands of the Maluku Islands
Landforms of Maluku (province)
Outer Banda Arc
Wallacea