The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

of 56

islands 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 ...

and many offshore islets, situated in the

Gulf of Tomini The Gulf of Tomini ( id, Teluk Tomini), also known as the Bay of Tomini, is the equatorial gulf which separates the Minahassa (Northern) and East Peninsulas of the island of Sulawesi (Celebes) in Indonesia. The Togian Islands lie near its cen ...

, off the coast of

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi ( Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 fo ...

, 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 largest islands are Batudaka, Togean, Talatako and

Una-Una Una-Una ( Indonesian: Pulau Una-Una) is an Indonesian island, part of the Togian Islands in the Gulf of Tomini. Una-Una is a small volcanic island created by the Colo volcano. Its vegetation primarily consists of coconut trees. Most of the is ...

. There are 59 villages on the islands, with one settled by the

Bajau people 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 exony ...

, more commonly known as the sea gypsies.

Administration

The islands are a part of the

Tojo Una-Una Regency Tojo Una-Una Regency is a regency of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The administrative centre is at Ampana town, on the Sulawesi 'mainland'. While the Regency includes a considerable area on the eastern peninsula of Sulawesi, it also includes the Tog ...

within

Province. At the time of the 2010 Census, the Archipelago was divided into four districts (''kecamatan''). Subsequent to 2010, two additional districts have been created - Batudaka and Talatako. These are tabulated below with their areas and their 2010 and 2020 Census populations, together with the official estimate as at mid 2021. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district, and its post code. Notes: (a) The 2010 Census population of Batudaka district is included in the figure for Una-Una district, from which it was cut out.
(b) The 2010 Census population of Talatako district is included in the figure for Walea Kepulauan district, from which it was cut out.

Geology and ecology

Formed by volcanic activity, the islands are covered by rainforest and surrounded by coral reef formations, which provide habitat and breeding areas for

hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is lar ...

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

and the

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

. The

Tonkean macaque The Tonkean black macaque or Tonkean macaque (''Macaca tonkeana'') is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twe ...

is found in the islands' forests. The animals

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 ...

to the islands include the

Togian babirusa The Togian babirusa (''Babyrousa togeanensis''), also known as the Malenge babirusa, is the largest species of babirusa. It is endemic to the Togian Islands of Indonesia, but was considered a subspecies of '' Babyrousa babyrussa'' until 2002. Co ...

and the Togian hawk-owl, which is discovered in 1999. The Togian white-eye, another endemic bird species, was described in 2008. Non-venomous

jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrell ...

are also found in Togian Islands, the unique one is jellyfish with little red spots.

National Park

On 2004, the government established a part of Togean Islands as a National Park consists of 292,000 hectares of sea water (includes 132,000 hectares of coral reef which is the largest in

), 70,000 hectares of land and 10,659 hectares reservation of forests and mangroves.

References

External links

Togean Islands
website for a general source of informations about the Togean Islands *
Informative and rare trip report
Archipelagoes of Indonesia Islands of Sulawesi Landforms of Central Sulawesi {{CSulawesi-geo-stub

Administration

Geology and ecology

National Park

See also

References

External links