West Manggarai Regency ( id, Kabupaten Manggarai Barat) is one of the eight regencies which comprise the

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 ...

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

, located in the

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 ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

(''Nusa Tenggara Timur'') in

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 ...

. The Regency was created on 25 February 2003 by separation off the western districts of

Manggarai Regency Manggarai Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia, situated on the island of Flores. Established in 1958 the regency was reduced in size and population by the separation of Manggarai Barat regency in 2003 and of Manggara ...

. It covers a land area of 3,141.47 km², and had a population of 221,703 at the 2010 census, rising to 251,689 at the 2015 Intermediate census and to 256,317 at the 2020 census. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 259,566. The regency's capital is the town of

Labuan Bajo Labuan Bajo is a fishing town located at the western end of the large island of Flores in the Nusa Tenggara region of east Indonesia. It is the capital of the West Manggarai Regency ''(Kabupaten Manggarai Barat)'', one of the eight regencies which ...

Geography

The regency includes the western portion of Flores island (''Pulau Flores'') and several small islands mainly lying to the west of it, including the two largest islands,

Komodo Komodo may refer to: Computers * Komodo Edit, a free text editor for dynamic programming languages * Komodo IDE an integrated development environment (IDE) for dynamic programming languages * Komodo (chess), a chess engine People * Komodo ...

(''Pulau Komodo'') and

Rinca Rinca, also known as Rincah, Rindja, Rintja and Pintja, is a small island near Komodo and Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, within the West Manggarai Regency. It is one of the three largest islands included in Komodo National Park. Th ...

(''Pulau Rinca'') as well as others such as Seraya Besar (''Pulau Seraya Besar''), Seraya Kecil (''Pulau Seraya Kecil''), Bidadari (''Pulau Bidadari'') and Longgos (''Pulau Longgos''). The total area of West Manggarai Regency is , with a land area of and a sea area of .

Administration

At the time of the 2010 census West Manggarai Regency was divided into 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''), but a further five districts have subsequently been created by the division of existing districts. These are tabulated below with their areas and their 2010 and 2020 census populations, together with the official estimates as at mid 2021. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its post code. Notes: (a) includes the 139 islands off the west coast of Flores, of which the largest are

and

; the district also includes the most westerly part of the Flores mainland, including the regency capital of

.
(b) includes the offshore islands of Pulau Boleng and Pulau Longos.
(c) The 2010 census population quoted for Sanonggoang District includes the figure for the new Mbeliling District, cut out of it between 2010 and 2015.
(d) The 2010 census population quoted for Lembor District includes the figure for the new Lembor Selatan District, cut out of it in the same period.
(e) The 2010 census population quoted for Kuwus District includes the figure for the new Ndoso District, cut out of it in the same period, while the 2010 census population quoted for Kurus District additionally includes the figure for the new Kurus Barat District, cut out of it in 2018.
(f) includes the offshore islands of Pulau Medang and Pulau Sebabi.
(g) The 2010 census population quoted for Macang Pacar District includes the figure for the new Pacar District, cut out of it in 2018.

Demographics

Religion

Most of the population of West Manggarai Regency are

Christianism 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 populati ...

, which is 78.56%, of which the majority are

Catholicism 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 ...

77.76% and

Protestantism 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 ...

0.80%. There is also a large proportion of the population adheres to the religion

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 21.39%, and the rest are

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

0.4% and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

less than 0.01%.

Ethnic groups

Manggarai The Manggarai are an ethnic group found in western Flores in the East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. Manggarai people are spread across three regencies in the province, namely the West Manggarai Regency, Manggarai Regency and East Manggarai Re ...

The Manggarai people inhabits Manggarai Regency, West Manggarai and East Manggarai, which is located on the island of Flores, East Nusa Tenggara Province. The total population is about 350,000 people. The

Manggarai language The Manggarai language (, id, bahasa Manggarai) is the language of the Manggarai people from the western parts of the island of Flores, in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Background Manggarai is the native language of the Manggarai p ...

consists of several dialects, such as Pae, Mabai, Rejong, Mbaen, Pota, Central Manggarai, East Manggarai, and West Manggarai dialects. The four leading dialects may be the languages of separate ethnic groups that were subservient to the Manggarai people in ancient times. *

The Komodo people inhabits Komodo Village, Komodo District, West Manggarai and speak the endangered

Komodo language The Komodo language is a language spoken by the extinct Komodo people, and present day inhabitants of Komodo Island, with a small population of speakers on mainland Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in t ...

. Komodo people inhabit the fishing village inhabited by 800 families. The population stands at 2,000 people. The majority are

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...

and some are active as Rangers in

Komodo National Park Komodo National Park ( Indonesian: ''Taman Nasional Komodo'') is a national park in Indonesia located within the Lesser Sunda Islands in the border region between the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The park includes the ...

. *

Bajau The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...

The Bajo or Bajau people are the indigenous tribes of the archipelago originating from the Sulu Islands,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Bajo migrated to various places in the Malay Archipelago, one of which was Labuhan Bajo, West Manggarai. Labuan Bajo means the harbor for the Bajo people. This ethnic group is a nomadic ethnic group in the sea, it is not surprising that many call it the Sea Gypsy.

Development issues

Rural development The West Manggarai Regency, along with other nearby regencies on Flores, has a long and hot dry season. Programs of tree-planting have been initiated in recent years which are helping improve the local environment. These activities include efforts to promote continued attention to the cultivation of sugar palms (

Arenga pinnata ''Arenga pinnata'' (syn. ''Arenga saccharifera'') is an economically important feather palm native to tropical Asia, from eastern India east to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines in the east. Common names include sugar palm, areng palm (al ...

). Education Education facilities in the region are limited, especially in the outlying areas. Some non-government organisations help, for example, with the provision of books for children to isolated villages. Tourism Various local community groups in different parts of the regency work to promote the local tourist industry through, for example, the development of local dance troupes and foods from local areas. In Liang Ndara village, which has been designated as a tourist site, there are programs to teach English in the local community to support the tourist industry, Mount Mbeliling ( id, Gunung Mbeliling), one of the highest peaks in the regency (1,325 meters) is a well-known destination for climbers and tourists to the regency. The area around Mt Mbeliling, which is rich in bird life, attracts bird-watching groups

Tourism

Sano Nggoang

Sano (means Mount) Nggoang is 513 hectares (1.9 sq. mi.) of volcanic crater lake with depth of around 600 meters (1968.5 ft.), the deepest lake of its kind in the world.

Shark and manta ray sanctuary

In late August 2013, the local authority designated that all regency's marine and coastal water up to 12 nautical miles offshore occupied 7,000 square kilometer area as a

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

and

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

sanctuary (includes sea around

Komodo Island Komodo ( id, Pulau Komodo) is one of the 17,508 islands that comprise the Republic of Indonesia. The island is particularly notable as the habitat of the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard on Earth, which is named after the island. Komodo Island h ...

Komodo National Park

The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...

, the world's largest lizard.UNESCO: Advisory Body Evaluation
retrieved 2 February 2010 In 1991 the national park was declared a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

References

{{Authority control Regencies of East Nusa Tenggara Flores Island (Indonesia)