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 isla ...
of
Maluku province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
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 Gui ...
, 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 to the south and various districts (''kecamatan'') o ...
'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 to the south and various districts (''kecamatan'') o ...
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
Haruku Island is an island in Central Maluku Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia - lying east of Ambon Island, off the southern coast of Seram and just west of Saparua. It is administered as a single district, ''Kecamatan Pulau Haruku'', wit ...
,
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 fringe ...
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 ...
.
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 ari ...
, the highest point of which,
Mount Binaiya, is covered with dense
rain forests. 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 (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 else ...
, including the
eclectus parrot,
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 enda ...
,
salmon-crested cockatoo,
Seram masked owl,
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 mangrov ...
,
sacred kingfisher,
grey-necked friarbird and
Moluccan king parrot.
[,]
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 ...
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,
Moluccan flying fox,
Seram flying-fox,
Manusela mosaic-tailed rat,
spiny Ceram rat and the
Ceram rat, 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 l ...
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 ...
, 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 ...
. 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 Nov ...
(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 o ...
sighted and explored the entire southern coast of Seram in early 1512, for the first time for Europeans.
Portuguese 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 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 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 in Maluku Islands, reigning from 1797 to 1805. He is also known under the names Sultan Muhammad al-Mabus Amiruddin Syah, Saifuddin, Jou Barakati (Master of Fortune), a ...
'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 movement led by
Soumokil.
Administration
Seram includes three of the
regencies within the province of Maluku, but administratively each of these regencies includes a number of smaller islands adjacent to Seram.
1.
West Seram Regency (''Kabupaten Seram Bagian Barat'') is mainly located on the island of Seram, but includes various islands lying to the west of Seram -
Manipa,
Kelang,
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, 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 to the south and various districts (''kecamatan'') o ...
(apart from the City of
Ambon which forms the southern half of that island), the
Lease Islands (
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
Haruku Island is an island in Central Maluku Regency, Maluku Province, Indonesia - lying east of Ambon Island, off the southern coast of Seram and just west of Saparua. It is administered as a single district, ''Kecamatan Pulau Haruku'', wit ...
,
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 fringe ...
) 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 ...
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 to the south and various districts (''kecamatan'') o ...
but is administratively not part of the regency.
3.
East Seram Regency (''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 archipelagoes. 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.
Religion
Seram has been traditionally associated with the
animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...
of the indigenous
Alfur (or
Nuaulu), 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 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 co ...
,
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 nat ...
,
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 c ...
, and
fish
Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...
are important products.
Oil 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.
Histor ...
* Alfur
* Manusela
* Wemale
* Alune
* 1899 Ceram earthquake
* Niwelehu: 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, w ...
Alifuru Consciousness Video
{{Authority control
Islands of the Maluku Islands
Landforms of Maluku (province)
Outer Banda Arc
Wallacea