Adonara () is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, located east of the larger island of

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

in the

Solor Archipelago The Solor Archipelago (; ) is a group of islands in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia, lying to the east of Flores and the west of the Alor Strait and the Alor Archipelago. To the north is the west part of the Banda Sea, while to the south acr ...

. To the east lies

Lembata Lembata is an island in the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Lomblen or Kawela; it is the largest island of the Solor Archipelago, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. It forms a separate regency of the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur. Th ...

, formerly known as Lomblen. Adonara is the highest of the islands of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, reaching an altitude of 1,659 metres, and it has an area of 529.75 km². It is situated administratively in the East Flores Regency of

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) 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 north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Administration

The island is divided into eight

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 ...

(''kecamatan''), tabulated below with their areas (in km²) and their populations at the 2010 Census and 2020 census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2025. Note: (a) Adonara Timur District, notwithstanding its name, actually occupies the south-central part of Adonara Island, with Wotan Ulu Mado District to the southwest and Ile Boleng District to the southeast.
(b) including the two kelurahan of Lamatewelu and Waiwerang Kota.
(c) Adonara District covers only the north-central part of Adonara Island ("Adonara Utara"), with Kelubagolit and Witihama Districts to the east and Adonara Barat and Adonara Tengah Districts to the west.

History

Local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural history, cultural and social history, social aspects of history. Local history is not mer ...

on Adonara is documented from the sixteenth century, when Portuguese traders and

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who 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 Miss ...

established a post on the nearby island of Solor. By that time Adonara and the surrounding islands were ritually divided between a population of coastal dwellers known as Paji, and a population mainly settling the mountainous inland called Demon. The Paji were susceptible to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, while the Demon tended to fall under Portuguese influence. The Paji areas on Adonara contained three principalities, namely Adonara proper (centered on the north coast of the island), and Terong and Lamahala (on the south coast). Together with two principalities on Solor (Lohayong and Lamakera), they constituted a league called Watan Lema ("the five shores"). The Watan Lema allied with the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

(VOC) in 1613, confirmed in 1646. The Adonara principalities had frequent feuds with the Portuguese in Larantuka on Flores, and were not always obedient to the Dutch authorities. In the course of the nineteenth century, the ruler of Adonara (proper) in the north strengthened his position in the

; by then, he was also the overlord of parts of eastern

and

. The Demon areas stood under the suzerainty of the principality of Larantuka, which in turn was under Portuguese rule until 1859, when it was ceded to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The principalities of Larantuka and Adonara (proper) were abolished by the

n government in 1962. Some post-

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

local officials trace their roots to past rulers, called ''

raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

'', of Adonara (proper). These include: Adonara 1911

* Foramma, c. 1650 * Boli I, c. 1671–1684 * Eke 1684–1688 (killed by

mountain people Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

) * Gogok, c. 1702 * Wuring (brother of Eke), 1688–1719 * Boli II (son of Wuring), 1719-after 1756 * unknown rulers * Jou, c. 1815 * Lakabella Jou (son of Jou), c. 1832 * Begu, d. July 28, 1850 (killed) * (son of Begu), 1850–1857 * Jou (brother of Pela), 1857–1868 * Kamba Begu (brother of Lakabella), 1868–1893 * Bapa Tuan (son of Kamba Begu), temporary Raja in 1893 for 6 months * Arkiang Kamba ( Arakang; brother of Bapa Tuan, b. 1866), 1893 or 1894 – abdicated December 18, 1930 * Bapa Ana (son of a sister of Kamba Begu),

Regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

with the title of Kapitan 1930 – December 1, 1935, condemned to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

1935 and sent to

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

* Bapa Nuhur, (son of Gela, a son of Bapa Tuan, b. 1915), 1941–1947 * Bapa Kaya, (son of Bapa Ana, d. 12/1/1954), Regent 1947–1951 * Mohamad Eke (great-grandson of Raja Jo, 1929 – c. 1985), 1951–1962, first referred as Government Asst during Bapa Kaya's rule and also Kapitan of Adonara

Geography

Adonara Island is a part of the Indonesian

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of East Flores. It can be reached by airplane from Jakarta to Kupang, then by ferry to Larantuka, then by boat. The town of Waiwerang and its neighbouring ''desa'' (villages) forms the only urban area on Adonara. There is no single administrative centre on the island, as each district has its own centre, all subservient to the regency administration at Larantuka on Flores island.

Notes

References

*P. Arndt (1938), 'Demon und Padzi, die feindlichen Brüder des Solor-Archipelags', ''Anthropos'' 33. *Robert H. Barnes (1995), 'Lamakera, Solor: Ethnohistory of a Muslim Whaling Village of Eastern Indonesia', ''Anthropos'' 90. *Robert H. Barnes (2004), 'The murder of Sengaji Begu: A turning point in Dutch involvement in the Solor Archipelago', ''Masyarakat Indonesia'' 30:2 *Benno M. Biermann (1924), 'Die alte Dominikanermission auf den Solorinseln', ''Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft'' 14. *Arend de Roever (2002), ''De jacht op sandelhout: De VOC en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw''. Zutphen: Walburg Pers. {{Authority control Solor Archipelago Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara Populated places in Indonesia Islands of Indonesia