Balabalagan Islands (also spelled Bala-balakang and historically known as Little Paternoster Islands) are an Indonesian archipelago forming an administrative district of

Mamuju Regency Mamuju Regency is a regency ( id, kabupaten Mamuju) of West Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The regency capital is at Karema, while Mamuju town is the capital of West Sulawesi. The population of the regency was 336,879 at the 2010 Census, but it w ...

located in the

Makassar Strait Makassar Strait is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. To the north it joins the Celebes Sea, while to the south it meets the Java Sea. To the northeast, it forms the Sangkulirang Bay south of the Mangkalihat Pe ...

off the east coast of Kalimantan (Borneo), between it and Sulawesi and closer to the latter island. The archipelago is also located near the geographic center of Indonesia. In the 19th century, the islands were recorded as numbering 14, with the largest named Sebunkatang; the channels were shallow and unnavigable, but provided a fertile fishing ground for the island natives, called Biajoo. The islands rest on a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

, itself placed on an undersea bank which extends out from Kalimantan, presenting a major hazard to navigation; the ''Admiralty Pilot'' has warned that "No vessel should venture among [them] without local knowledge." The islands cover a land area of only 1.47 km² and had a population of 2,201 at the 2020 Census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.

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External links

List of alternate names

Map including Kepulauan Balangan
{{authority control Archipelagoes of Indonesia Districts of West Sulawesi Landforms of West Sulawesi Underwater diving sites in Indonesia