Ambon Island

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For the city on the island, see Ambon, Maluku.
Ambon
Ambon and Lease Islands (Uliasers) en.png
Ambon (left) and the Lease Islands
Ambon is located in IndonesiaAmbonAmbon
Location in Indonesia
Geography
Location South East Asia
Coordinates 3�38'17?S 128�07'02?ECoordinates: 3�38'17?S 128�07'02?E
Archipelago Maluku Islands
Area 803.9 km2 (310.4 sq mi)
Highest elevation 1,225 m (4,019 ft)
Highest point Salahutu
Administration
Indonesia
Province Maluku
Largest settlement Ambon
Demographics
Population 501,364 (2014)
Pop. density 623.66 /km2 (1,615.27 /sq mi)
Languages Ambonese Malay
Ethnic groups Ambonese
Additional information
Time zone
EIT (UTC+09:00)

Ambon island in the center of Maluku Islands

Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of
775 km2 (299 sq mi) and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island
consists of two territories - the city of Ambon to the south and various districts
(kecamatan) of the Central Maluku Regency to the north. The main city and seaport
is Ambon (with a 2014 population of 368,987), which is also the capital of Maluku
province, while those districts of Maluku Tengah Regency situated on Ambon Island
had a 2014 population of 132,377.[1] Ambon has an airport and is home to the
Pattimura University and Open University (Universitas Terbuka), state universities,
and a few private universities, which include Darussalam University (Universitas
Darussalam, UNDAR) and Universitas Kristen Indonesia Maluku (UKIM).

Contents
1 Geography
2 Climate
3 Economy
4 Demographics
5 History
5.1 Colonial era
5.2 Conflicts since independence
6 See also
7 References
8 Sources
9 Further reading
10 External links
Geography
Ambon Island lies off the southwest coast of the much larger Seram island. It is on
the north side of the Banda Sea, part of a chain of volcanic islands that encircle
the sea. It is 51 kilometres (32 miles) long and is of very irregular shape, being
almost divided in two. The southeastern and smaller portion, a peninsula (called
Leitimor) is united to the northern (called Hitoe) by a narrow neck of land. The
bay thus formed cuts about 20km into the island with the airport on the northern
shore and the city of Ambon on the southern side. The city of Ambon covers the
entirety of Leitimor, with its centre on the northwest coast of Leitimor, facing
Hitoe, and has a safe harbor on Amboina Bay.

The highest mountains, Wawani at 1,100 metres (3,600 feet) and Salahutu at 1,225
metres (4,019 feet), have hot springs and solfataras. They are volcanoes, and the
mountains of the neighboring Lease Islands are extinct volcanoes. Granite and
serpentine rocks predominate, but the shores of Amboina Bay are of chalk and
contain stalactite caves.

Wild areas of Ambon Island are covered by tropical rainforest, part of the Seram
rain forests ecoregion, together with neighboring Seram. Seram, Ambon, and most of
Maluku are part of Wallacea, the group of Indonesian islands that are separated by
deep water from both the Asian and Australian continents and have never been linked
to the continents by land.

As a result of this isolation, Ambon has few indigenous mammals; birds are more
abundant. The insect diversity of the island, however, is rich, particularly in
butterflies. Seashells are obtained in great numbers and variety. Tortoise shell is
also exported.

The population of the island (administered as Kota Ambon, Kecamatan Leihitu,

Kecamatan Leihitu Barat, and Kecamatan Salahutu), including a tiny sparsely
populated island to the north, is just below 441,000 in the 2010 Census.[2]

Climate
The average temperature is 27 �C (81 �F), rarely falling below 22 �C (72 �F).
Rainfall can be heavy, especially after the eastern monsoons, and the island is
vulnerable to violent typhoons. The wet season (October to April) coincides with
the period of the west monsoon.

Economy
Cassava and sago are the chief crops, which also include breadfruit, sugarcane,
coffee, cocoa, pepper and cotton. In addition to these, hunting and fishing
supplement the local diet. Nutmeg and cloves were once the dominant export crops
but are now produced in limited quantities. Copra is also exported. Amboina wood,
obtained from the angsana tree and highly valued for ornamental woodwork, is now
mostly grown on Seram. The main employers in Ambon Island are the Gubernatorial
Office (PEMDA), the Mayoral Office (PEMKOT), Raiders 733 (Indonesian military
unit), and Ambon City Center (the only mall in Ambon Island). The whole economy of
Ambon Island is starting to shift out of the "Old Towne" (Kota Lama) toward Passo,
which is the newly appointed central business district of the island region. The
economy of Ambon Island was recently boosted by the investment made by Ciputra
Group in creating a whole new satellite city in Lateri, Kotamadya Ambon, Maluku:
Citraland Bay View City. Furthermore, the new international standard shopping
center, Ambon City Center, opened in 2012.

Demographics

A woman in traditional attire from the Southeastern Maluku Islands

The Ambonese are of mixed Malay-Papuan origin. They are mostly Christians or
Muslims. The predominant language of the island is Ambonese Malay, also called
Ambonese. It developed as the trade language of central Maluku and is spoken
elsewhere in Maluku as a second language. The old creole trade language called
Portugis has died out. Bilingualism in Indonesian is high around Ambon City. There
have been strong religious tensions on the island between Muslims and Christians[3]
and ethnic tensions between indigenous Ambonese and migrants from Sulawesi,
primarily Butonese, Bugis and Makassarese migrants.

History
Colonial era
See also: Governorate of Ambon
In 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to land in Ambon, and it became
the new centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku following their expulsion from
Ternate.[4] The Portuguese, however, were regularly attacked by native Muslims on
the island's northern coast, in particular Hitu, which had trading and religious
links with major port cities on Java's north coast. They established a factory in
1521 but did not obtain peaceable possession of it until 1580. Indeed, the
Portuguese never managed to control the local trade in spices and failed in
attempts to establish their authority over the Banda Islands, the nearby centre of
nutmeg production. The creole trade language Portugis, however, was spoken well
into the 19th century, and many families still have Portuguese names and claim
Portuguese ancestry, for example Muskita and De Fretes. [5]

Coat of arms of Amboina during Dutch colonial era. The charge in the lower half of
the arms represents Fort Victoria.[6]
The Portuguese were dispossessed by the Dutch in 1605, when Steven van der Hagen
took over the fort without a single shot. Ambon was the headquarters of the Dutch
East India Company (VOC) from 1610 to 1619 until the founding of Batavia (now
Jakarta) by the Dutch.[7] About 1615 the English formed a settlement on the island
at Cambello, which they retained until 1623, when the Dutch destroyed it. Frightful
tortures inflicted on its unfortunate inhabitants were connected with its
destruction. In 1654, after many fruitless negotiations, Oliver Cromwell compelled
the United Provinces to give the sum of 300,000 gulden, as compensation to the
descendants of those who suffered in the "Ambon Massacre", together with Manhattan.
[8] In 1673, the poet John Dryden produced his tragedy Amboyna; or the Cruelties of
the Dutch to the English Merchants. The British, under Admiral Rainier, captured
Ambon in 1796, but they restored it to the Dutch at the Peace of Amiens in 1802.
They retook the island in 1810 but once more restored it to the Dutch in 1814.
Ambon used to be the world center of clove production; until the nineteenth
century, the Dutch prohibited the rearing of the clove tree on all the other
islands subject to their rule, in order to secure the monopoly to Ambon.[citation
needed]

Ambonese burghers congregating at the church in Ambon town.

Under the Dutch Empire, Ambon city was the seat of the Dutch resident and military
commander of the Moluccas. The town was protected by Fort Victoria, and a 1902
Encyclop�dia characterized it as "a clean little town with wide streets, well
planted".[9] The population was divided into two classes: orang burger or citizens
and orang negri or villagers, the former being a class of native origin enjoying
certain privileges conferred on their ancestors by the old Dutch East India
Company. There were also, besides the Dutch, some Arabs, Chinese and a few
Portuguese settlers.

Ambon city was the site of a major Dutch military base that Imperial Japanese
forces captured from Allied forces in the World War II Battle of Ambon in 1942. The
battle was followed by the summary execution of more than 300 Allied PoWs in the
Laha massacre.

A large Far East prisoner of war camp was situated in the north near Liang. This
was made up of British men of the 77th HAA, 3rd Kings Own Hussars and some RAF
volunteers. The c.1000 men arrived in April 1943 and were marched from Ambon town
over two days without food or water (see 1000 men of Liang to follow).

The FEPOWs built the camp including a water pipeline. They were ordered to build an
airfield and runway alongside the beach and cleared coconut trees for the task.
They did all they could to sabotage construction.

Conditions were horrendous and many men died due to disease, starvation and ill
treatment by the Japanese. Many men also suffered blindness due to working chipping
at the coral.(More information and pictures to follow)

Conflicts since independence

Indonesia won its independence in 1945�49. As a consequence of ethnic and religious
tensions, and President Sukarno making Indonesia a unitary state, Ambon was the
scene of a revolt against the Indonesian government, resulting in the rebellion of
the Republic of South Maluku in 1950.

In April and May 1958 during the Permesta rebellion in North Sulawesi, the USA
supported and supplied the rebels. Pilots from a Taiwan-based CIA front
organisation, Civil Air Transport, flying CIA B-26 Invader aircraft, repeatedly
bombed and machine-gunned targets on Ambon. From 27 April until 18 May there were
CIA air raids on Ambon city. Also, on 8 May 1958 CIA pilot Allen Pope bombed and
machine-gunned the Indonesian Air Force base at Liang in the northeast of the
island, damaging the runway and destroying a Consolidated PBY Catalina.[10] The
Indonesian Air Force had only one serviceable fighter aircraft on Ambon Island, a
North American P-51 Mustang at Liang. Pope's last air raid was on 18 May, when an
Indonesian pilot at Liang, Captain Ignatius Dewanto, was scrambled to the P-51.[11]
Pope had attacked Ambon city before Dewanto could catch him, but Dewanto
intercepted him just as Pope was attacking one of a pair of troop ships in an
Indonesian fleet west of Ambon Island.[12] The B-26 was brought down by fire from
both Dewanto and shipborne anti-aircraft gunners.[13] Pope and his Indonesian radio
operator bailed out and were captured,[14] which immediately exposed the level of
CIA support for the Permesta rebellion. Embarrassed, the Eisenhower administration
quickly ended CIA support for Permesta and withdrew its agents and remaining
aircraft from the conflict.[15]

Between 1999 and 2002, Ambon was at the centre of sectarian conflict across the
Maluku Islands. In 2007, Ambon resident Leonard Joni Sinay was sentenced to fifteen
years' imprisonment for treason after he and other activists protested a visit by
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with a dance and a raising of the banned
regional flag; both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for his
release, the latter organization designating him a prisoner of conscience.[16][17]

See also
E. U. Pupella
References
Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2015.
Kabupaten Maluku Tengah (pdf). Hasin Sensus Penduduk 2010 Agregat Data per
Kecamatan. Ambon: Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupatan Maluku Tengah.
Mardai, Gadis (30 January 1999). "Ambon rioting leaves 100 dead in Indonesia".
World Socialist Website. Archived from the original on 15 December 2006. Retrieved
10 January 2007.
Ricklefs 1999, p. 25.
Sneddon, James (2003). The Indonesian language: its history and role in modern
society. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. p. 80.
"Maluku". www.hubert-herald.nl.
Ricklefs 1999, p. 28.
Milton, Giles (2000). Nathaniel�s Nutmeg: How one man's courage changed the course
of history. Sceptre. p. not cited. ISBN 0-374-21936-2.
Encyclop�dia Britannica. Article "Amboyna" island and town: The Times, London.
1902. p. 351.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 122.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 136.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 138.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 139.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, pp. 139, 141.
Conboy & Morrison 1999, p. 143.
"Indonesia: Surging Sectarian Violence, Papua Crackdown". Amnesty International.
24 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August
2012.
"Prisoner of Conscience Beaten". Amnesty International. 24 August 2012. Retrieved
24 August 2012.
Sources
Conboy, Kenneth; Morrison, James (1999). Feet to the Fire CIA Covert Operations in
Indonesia, 1957�1958. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-193-9.
Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300 (2nd ed.).
London: Macmillan. pp. 25, 28. ISBN 0-333-57689-6.
Further reading
Kahin, Audrey R; Kahin, George McT (1997) [1995]. Subversion as Foreign Policy The
Secret Eisenhower and Dulles Debacle in Indonesia. Seattle and London: University
of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-97618-7.
External links
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ambon.
Ambon Banda Island Tourism
History
vte
Islands of Maluku
North Maluku province
Bacan Halmahera Kayoa Moti Makian Morotai Obi Sula Ternate Tidore
Maluku province
Ambelau Ambon Aru Boano Buru Babar Banda Damar Haruku Kai Kelang Leti Liran Manipa
Manuk Nila Nusa Laut Romang Saparua Seram Serua Tanimbar Tayandu Watubela Wetar
Authority control Edit this at Wikidata
NDL: 00628197 VIAF: 256242786 WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 256242786
Categories: Former Portuguese coloniesBanda SeaIslands of the Maluku
IslandsPortuguese colonialism in IndonesiaOuter Banda Arc
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