Buton (also Butung, Boeton or Button) is an

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 ...

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 ...

located off the southeast peninsula of

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

. It covers roughly 4,727 square kilometers in area, or about the size of

Madura Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...

; it is the 129th largest island in the world and Indonesia's 19th largest in area.

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Eerste minister van Buton Zuid-Celebes TMnr 10001614

In the precolonial era, the island, then usually known as Butung, was 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 we ...

. Especially in the sixteenth century, Buton served as an important secondary regional center within the Ternaten empire, controlling regional trade and collecting tribute to be sent to Ternate. The

Sultanate of Buton The Sultanate of Buton was an indigenous sultanate in what is today Indonesia. It used to rule over Buton, Buton island and adjacent areas within present-day Southeast Sulawesi province. It was a constitutional monarchy with its own written const ...

ruled over the island from the 14th until the 20th century. Sultan Murhum, the first Islamic monarch on the island, is remembered in the name of the island's major harbor, Murhum Harbor, in Baubau.

Geography

Its largest town is

Baubau Baubau is a city in Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The city is located on the southwest coast of Buton island. Baubau attained city status on 21 June 2001, based on Indonesian Law Number 13, for the year 2001. It covers an area of 294.9 ...

, where the

Wolio Wolio is an Austronesian language spoken in and around Baubau on Buton Island, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs to the Wotu–Wolio branch of the Celebic subgroup. Also known as Buton, it is a trade language and the former court lang ...

and

Cia-Cia Cia-Cia (''Bahasa Ciacia'', ''바하사 찌아찌아'', ''بهاس چيا-چيا''), also known as Buton or Butonese, is an Austronesian language spoken principally around the city of Baubau on the southern tip of Buton Island off the southeas ...

languages are spoken. Major nearby islands include Wawonii (to the north),

Muna Muna may refer to: Places * Muna (Mikulovice), a World War II POW camp and ammunition factory in the Czech Republic * Muna, Estonia, village in Rõuge Parish, Võru County, Estonia * Muna, Iran, village in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Mu ...

and

Kabaena Kabaena or Tokotua is an island in the Flores Sea, Indonesia, off the coast of Sulawesi. Most of it is a part of Bombana Regency within Southeast Sulawesi province, although the southernmost district (Talaga Raya) is administratively part of Cen ...

(to the west) and Siumpu (to the southwest). The

Tukangbesi Islands Tukangbesi Islands, is a group of islands off the coast of Sulawesi immediately east of Buton island in the Banda Sea region, and part of Sulawesi Tenggara. "Tukang Besi" literally means "iron worker" or "blacksmith" in Indonesian. There is a T ...

lie just to the east where Tukang Besi is spoken, and is separated by the Gulf of Kolowana Watabo (''Teluk Kolowana Watabo''). Batuatas Island is to the south. Also the ''Bouton Passage'' (as it was known in the pre-Independence era) was an important inter-island navigational location of the northern

Flores Sea The Flores Sea covers of water in Indonesia. The sea is bounded on the north by the island of Celebes and on the south by Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Geography The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea (to the west), Java ...

Ecology

The island is largely covered by

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

and is known for its wildlife. It is one of only two habitats of the

anoa Anoa, also known as dwarf buffalo and ''sapiutan'', are two species of the genus '' Bubalus'' endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia: the mountain anoa (''Bubalus quarlesi'') and the lowland anoa (''Bubalus depressicornis''). Both li ...

, a type of buffalo.

People

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Portret van een gezantschap van Buton Sulawesi TMnr 10020641

The languages spoken on Buton include

, various dialects of

, Tukang Besi, Kumbewaha, Lasalimu, Kamaru, Pancana, Busoa, Taloki, Kulisusu and Kioko. The

Indonesian language Indonesian ( ) is the official language, official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standard language, standardized variety (linguistics), variety of Malay language, Malay, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that has be ...

, the national language of Indonesia, is also widely used and taught in schools. In 2009, the

tribe in Baubau city began to use the Korean

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

alphabet for their language, based on textbooks created by the

Hunminjeongeum Society The Hunminjeongeum Society, sometimes called the "Hunminjeongeum Research Institute" in English-language newspaper accounts, is a private organization in Seoul dedicated to the propagation of Hangul to all the unwritten languages of the world.

, a linguistic society in Seoul., but in 2012 it was reported that adoption ultimately failed and has been abandoned.

Economy

The island has a massive reserve of natural

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

and several other minerals. Asphalt from Buton can be utilized as bitumen modifiers as well as a substitute for petroleum asphalt. As a result, natural asphalt can be used to reduce dependency on conventional fossil based resources.

Administration

Buton Island is administratively divided into five second level administrative divisions (''Daerah Tingkat II''):

City,

Buton Regency Buton Regency (''Kabupaten Buton'') is a regency of Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi Province, lying entirely on Buton Island. Until 2014 it had an area of 2,681.22 km2, and a population estimated at 276,944 (for January 2014). However, in 2014 ...

, (part of)

South Buton Regency South Buton Regency ( id, Kabupaten Buton Selatan) is a regency located in Southeast Sulawesi. This regency was formed from the southern part of Buton Regency, from which it was separated by Act No.16 of 2014, dated 23 July 2014. It covers an area ...

(which includes several smaller islands to the west and south of Buton),

North Buton Regency North Buton Regency (''Kabupaten Buton Utara'') is a regency of Indonesia's Southeast Sulawesi Province, which was separated from Buton Regency in accordance with Indonesia's Law Number 14 of 2007. The area of the regency, which covers the north p ...

and (part of)

Muna Regency Muna Regency (''Kabupaten Muna'') is a regency of Southeast Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, covering parts of the island of Muna as well as part of the neighbouring Buton Island and smaller islands off its coast. Until 2014 it had an area of 2,945. ...

. However, the eponymous archipelago is administered under an additional four regencies: the rest of

and

, together with

West Muna Regency West Muna Regency ( id, Kabupaten Muna Barat) is a new regency of Southeast Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Tenggara) is a province on the island of Sulawesi, forming the southeastern peninsula of that island, together with a numbe ...

Wakatobi Regency Wakatobi Regency is a group of ''ca.'' 150 islands forming an administrative regency located in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The four largest islands are Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Binongko and Tomia. The capital of the regency is located on Wangi- ...

Central Buton Regency Central Buton Regency ( id, Kabupaten Buton Tengah) is a new regency of Southeast Sulawesi established by separation from Buton Regency under Act No.15 of 2014, dated 23 July 2014. It covers an area of 837.08 km2 comprising the southern parts ...

(which does not include any portion of Buton Island), and (part of)

Bombana Regency Bombana Regency (''Kabupaten Bombana'') is a regency of Southeast Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It consists of part of the southeast peninsula of Sulawesi, together with most of the substantial offshore island of Kabaena to the south. It covers a ...

Notes

{{reflist Islands of Sulawesi Landforms of Southeast Sulawesi