Located off the northwest tip of Bird’s Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia‘s West Papua province, Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.

Raja Ampat Regency is a new regency which separated from Sorong Regency in 2004. It encompasses more than 40,000 km² of land and sea, which also contains Cenderawasih Bay, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. It is a part of the newly named West Papua (province) of Indonesia which was formerly Irian Jaya. Some of the islands are the most northern pieces of land in the Australian continent.

Information supplied by Wikipedia

Raja Ampat regency is part of the West Irian Jaya province consisting of four major islands namely Pulau Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool and more than 600 small islands. Central government was situated in Waisai, District of South Waigeo. The islands are located in the westernmost of main island of Papua, Indonesia stretching over an area of approximately 4.6 million hectares.

• History – The name of Raja Ampat comes from local mythology that tells about a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of the seven eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of Raja Ampat biggest islands whilst the other three become a ghost, a woman, and a stone.History shows that Raja Ampat was once a part of Sultanate of Tidore, an influential kingdom from Maluku. Yet, after the Dutch invaded Maluku, it was shortly claimed by the Netherlands.The English explorer William Dampier gave his name to Dampier Strait, which separates Batanta island from Waigeo island. To the east, there is a strait that separates Batanta from Salawati. In 1759 Captain William Wilson sailing in the East Indiaman Pitt navigated these waters and named one strait Pitt strait, after his vessel; this was probably the channel between Batanta and Salawati.
• Population – 42,000

 

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