The nameSulawesi possibly comes from the wordssula ("island") andbesi ("iron") and may refer to the historical export ofiron from the richLake Matanoiron deposits.[3] The name came into common use in English followingIndonesian independence.
The nameCelebes was originally given to the island byPortuguese explorers. While its direct translation is unclear, it might be considered a Portuguese rendering of the native name "Sulawesi".[4]
Sulawesi is theworld's eleventh-largest island,[5] covering an area of 186,216.16 km2 (71,898 sq mi) (including minor islands administered as part of Sulawesi). The central part of the island is ruggedly mountainous, such that the island's peninsulas have traditionally been remote from each other, with better connections by sea than by road. The three bays that divide Sulawesi's peninsulas are, from north to south, theTomini, theTolo and theBoni.[n 1] These separate theMinahasa or Northern Peninsula, theEast Peninsula, theSoutheast Peninsula and theSouth Peninsula.
TheSelayar Islands make up a chain stretching southwards from Southwest Sulawesi into theFlores Sea are administratively part of Sulawesi. TheSangihe Islands andTalaud Islands stretch northward from the northeastern tip of Sulawesi, whileButon andMuna Islands and their neighbors lie off its southeast peninsula, theTogian Islands are in the Gulf of Tomini, andPeleng Island and theBanggai Islands form a cluster between Sulawesi andMaluku. All the above-mentioned islands and many smaller ones off the coasts of Sulawesi are administratively part of Sulawesi's six provinces.[10][11]
The island slopes up from the shores of the deep seas surrounding the island to a high, mostly non-volcanic, mountainous interior. Active volcanoes are found in the northernMinahasa Peninsula, stretching north to theSangihe Islands. The northern peninsula contains several active volcanoes such asMount Lokon,Mount Awu,Soputan andKarangetang.
According toplate reconstructions, the island is believed to have been formed by the collision ofterranes from theAsian Plate (forming the west and southwest) and from theAustralian Plate (forming the southeast andBanggai), withisland arcs previously in the Pacific (forming the north and east peninsulas).[12] Because of its several tectonic origins, variousfaults scar the land and as a result the island is prone toearthquakes, including the deadly2018 and2021 quakes.
Off the eastern coast of Sulawesi, the North Banda Sea was created through subduction rollback during the early Miocene. Evidence for this tectonic event lies with the extensive interconnected fault network found in the area, a volcanic seamount with its surrounding ridges, and an accretionary wedge. Off the coast of east Selawesti and Banggai is an accumulation of carbonate rocks from the late Miocene. These carbonates are likely pinnacle reefs and the carbonate platform has a total thickness of around 180–770 meters.[13]
Sulawesi, in contrast to most of the other islands in thebiogeographical region ofWallacea, is not truly oceanic, but a composite island at the centre of the Asia-Australiacollision zone.[14] Parts of the island were formerly attached to either theAsian orAustralian continental margin and became separated from these areas byvicariant processes.[14] In the west, the opening of theMakassar Strait separated West Sulawesi fromSundaland in theEocene c. 45 Mya.[14] In the east, the traditional view of collisions of multiplemicro-continental fragments sliced from New Guinea with an active volcanic margin in West Sulawesi at different times since theEarly Miocene c. 20 Mya has recently been replaced by the hypothesis that extensional fragmentation has followed a single Miocene collision of West Sulawesi with the Sula Spur, the western end of an ancient folded belt ofVariscan origin in the Late Paleozoic.[14]
The Bone Basin lies between the south-eastern and southern arms of Sulawesi. According to recent studies, the basin has been opened up due to extensional forces.[15] The basin is bounded by normal faults on each side of the basin with each side of the basin surrounded by uplifted basement rock with young sediments found in the middle.[citation needed] The past geological history has allowed for a large accumulation of carbonates which could lead to a higher potential of oil and gas occurrences. However, the faults present in the basin makes it a very complicated system.[citation needed]
The oldest evidence for humans on Sulawesi are stone tools produced byarchaic humans, dating to at least 1.04 million years ago and possibly as old as 1.48 million years ago, found at the Calio site near the village of Ujung in Lilirilau district ofSoppeng Regency, southwestern Sulawesi.[16] Other archaic human produced stone tools, dating to over 200,000 to 100,000 years ago, have been found at the Talepu site near Cabenge village, which is also located in the Lilirilau district.[17]
Before October 2014, the settlement of South Sulawesi by modern humans had been dated toc. 30,000 BC on the basis of radiocarbon dates obtained from rock shelters inMaros.[18] No earlier evidence of human occupation had at that point been found, but the island almost certainly formed part of the land bridge used for the settlement of Australia andNew Guinea by at least 40,000 BC.[19] There is no evidence ofHomo erectus having reached Sulawesi; crude stone tools first discovered in 1947 on the right bank of theWalanae River atBarru (now part ofBone Regency), which were thought to date to the Pleistocene on the basis of their association with vertebrate fossils,[20] are now thought to date to perhaps 50,000 BC.[21]
A typical dwelling, taken between 1900 and 1940.
Following Peter Bellwood's model of a southward migration ofAustronesian-speaking farmers (AN),[22] radiocarbon dates from caves in Maros suggest a date in the mid-second millennium BC for the arrival of a group from east Borneo speaking a Proto-South Sulawesi language (PSS). Initial settlement was probably around the mouth of the Sa'dan river, on the northwest coast of the peninsula, although the south coast has also been suggested.[23]
Subsequent migrations across the mountainous landscape resulted in the geographical isolation of PSS speakers and the evolution of their languages into the eight families of the South Sulawesi language group.[24] If each group can be said to have a homeland, that of theBugis – today the most numerous group – was around lakesTémpé andSidénréng in the Walennaé depression. Here for some 2,000 years lived the linguistic group that would become the modern Bugis; the archaic name of this group (which is preserved in other local languages) was Ugiq. Despite the fact that today they are closely linked with theMakassarese, the closest linguistic neighbors of the Bugis are theTorajans.
Pre-1200 Bugis society was most likely organized intochiefdoms. Someanthropologists have speculated these chiefdoms would have warred and, in times of peace, interbred. Further, they have speculated that personal security would have been negligible and head-hunting an established cultural practice. The political economy would have been a mixture of hunting and gathering and swidden or shifting agriculture. Speculative planting ofwet rice may have taken place along the margins of the lakes and rivers.
In Central Sulawesi, there are more than 400 granitemegaliths (Behoa ValleyPokekea Megalithic Site,Bada and Napu valleys within theLore Lindu National Park), which various archaeological studies have dated to be from 3000 BC to AD 1300. They vary in size from a few centimeters to approximately 4.5 meters (15 ft). The original purpose of the megaliths is unknown. Approximately 30 of the megaliths represent human forms. Other megaliths are in form of large pots (Kalamba) and stone plates (Tutu'na).[25][26]
A burial of a woman associated with the hunter-gathererToalean culture dating to 7,000 years ago has yielded DNA that has provided rare insight into early migrations in and through the region.[27][28]
In October 2014, it was announced thatcave paintings in Maros had been dated as being approximately 40,000 years old. One of a hand was 39,900 years old,[29] which brings it among the oldest knownhand stencils in the world (the record is detained so far by a 64,000 years-old stencil hand made by aNeanderthal inMaltravieso cave,Cáceres, Spain).[29]
Stencils of right hands in Pettakere Cave in Maros are among the oldest known examples of human artwork
Dr. Maxime Aubert, ofGriffith University inQueensland,Australia, said that was the minimum age for the outline in Pettakere Cave inMaros, and added: "Next to it is a pig that has a minimum age of 35,400 years old, and this is one of the oldest figurative depictions in the world, if not the oldest one."[30]
On 11 December 2019, a team of researchers led by Dr. Maxime Aubert announced the discovery of the oldest hunting scenes in prehistoric art in the world that is more than 44,000 years old from thelimestone cave of Leang Bulu' Sipong 4. Archaeologists determined the age of the depiction of hunting a pig and buffalo thanks to the calcite 'popcorn', different isotope levels of radioactiveuranium andthorium.[31][32][33]
In March 2020, two small stone 'plaquettes' were found byGriffith University archaeologists in the Leang Bulu Bettue cave, dated to a time between 26,000 and 14,000 years ago.[34] While one of the stones contained ananoa (water buffalo) and what may be a flower, star, or eye, another depicted astronomic rays of light.[35][36][37]
Researchers discovered cave art in Leang Tedongnge, Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2021, estimated to be at least 45,500 years old, making it the world's oldest known representational artwork.
In January 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of cave art that is at least 45,500 years old in a Leang Tedongnge cave. According to thejournalScience Advances, the cave painting of a warty pig is the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region. An adult male pig, measuring 136 cm x 54 cm and what is likely a Sulawesi orCelebes warty pig (Sus celebensis), was depicted with horn-like facial warts and two hand prints above its hindquarters.[38] According to co-author Adam Brumm, there are two other pigs that are partly preserved and it appears the warty pig was observing a fight between the two other pigs.[39][40][41][42]
A bronzeAmaravathi statue was discovered atSikendeng, South Sulawesi nearKarama river in 1921 which was dated to 2nd–7th century AD by Bosch (1933).[43] In 1975, small locally made Buddhist statues from 10th-11th century were also discovered in Bontoharu, on the island ofSelayar, South Sulawesi.[44]
Starting in the 13th century, access to prestige trade goods and to sources of iron started to alter long-standing cultural patterns and to permit ambitious individuals to build larger political units. It is not known why these two ingredients appeared together; one was perhaps the product of the other.
In 1367, several identified polities located on the island were mentioned in the Javanese manuscriptNagarakretagama dated from theMajapahit period. Canto 14 mentioned polities including Gowa, Makassar,Luwu and Banggai. It seems that by the 14th century, polities in the island were connected in an archipelagic maritime trading network, centered in the Majapahit port in East Java. By 1400, a number of nascent agricultural principalities had arisen in the western Cenrana valley, as well as on the south coast and on the west coast near modern Parepare.[45]
The first Europeans to visit the island (which they believed to be an archipelago due to its contorted shape) were thePortuguese sailors Simão de Abreu in 1523, andGomes de Sequeira (among others) in 1525, sent from the Moluccas in search of gold, which the islands had the reputation of producing.[46][47] A Portuguese base was installed in Makassar in the first decades of the 16th century, lasting until 1665, when it was taken by the Dutch. The Dutch had arrived in Sulawesi in 1605 and were quickly followed by the English, who established afactory in Makassar.[48] From 1660, the Dutch were at war withGowa, the major Makassar west coast power. In 1669, Admiral Speelman forced the ruler, Sultan Hasanuddin, to sign theTreaty of Bongaya, which handed control of trade to theDutch East India Company. The Dutch were aided in their conquest by the Bugis warlord Arung Palakka, ruler of the Bugis kingdom ofBone. The Dutch built a fort at Ujung Pandang, while Arung Palakka became the regional overlord and Bone the dominant kingdom. Political and cultural development seems to have slowed as a result of the status quo.
Toraja burial site.Tau-tau, the statue representing the buried people, can be seen in niches on the cliff.
The Portuguese were rumoured to have a fort in Parigi in 1555.[51] The Kaili were an important group based in thePalu valley and related to the Toraja. Scholars relate[citation needed] that their control swayed under Ternate and Makassar, but this might have been a decision by the Dutch to give their vassals a chance to govern a difficult group. Padbruge commented that in the 1700s the Kaili population was significantly high and were a highly militant society. In the 1850s, a civil war erupted between the Kaili groups, including the Banawa, in which the Dutch colonial government decided to intervene.[52]
In the late 19th century, the Sarasins journeyed through the Palu valley as part of a major initiative to bring the Kaili under Dutch rule. Some very surprising and interesting photographs were taken of shamans called Tadulako. Further Christian religious missions entered the area to make one of the most detailed ethnographic studies in the early 20th century.[53] A Swede by the name ofWalter Kaudern later studied much of the literature and produced a synthesis. Erskine Downs in the 1950s produced a summary of Kruyts and Andrianis work: "The religion of the Bare'e-Speaking Toradja of Central Celebes," which is invaluable for English-speaking researchers. One of the most recent publications is "When the bones are left," a study of the material culture of central Sulawesi,[54] offering extensive analysis. Also worthy of study are the brilliant works of Monnig Atkinson on the Wana shamans who live in the Mori area.
Population of Sulawesi by province (2020 Census)[55]
South Sulawesi (45.6%)
Central Sulawesi (15.0%)
Southeast Sulawesi (13.2%)
North Sulawesi (13.2%)
West Sulawesi (7.13%)
Gorontalo (5.89%)
At the 2000 census, the population of the provinces of Sulawesi was 14,946,488, about 7.25% of Indonesia's total population.[56] By the 2010 Census, the total had reached 17,371,782, and the 2020 Census recorded a total of 19,896,951.[57] The official estimate for mid-2023 was 20,568,411.[58] The largest city on Sulawesi isMakassar.
Islam is the majority religion in Sulawesi. The conversion of the lowlands of the south western peninsula (South Sulawesi) to Islam occurred in the early 17th century. The kingdom of Luwu in the Gulf of Bone was the first to embrace Islam in February 1605; the Makassar kingdom of Gowa-Talloq, centred on the modern-day city ofMakassar, followed suit in September.[61] However, theGorontalo and theMongondow peoples of the northern peninsula largely converted to Islam only in the 19th century. Most Muslims areSunnis.
Christians form a substantial minority on the island. According to thedemographer Toby Alice Volkman, 17% of Sulawesi's population isProtestant and less than 2% isCatholic. Christians are concentrated on the tip of the northern peninsula around the city ofManado, which is inhabited by theMinahasa, a predominantly Protestant people, and the northernmostSangir andTalaud Islands. TheToraja people ofTana Toraja in South Sulawesi have largely converted to Christianity since Indonesia's independence. There are also substantial numbers of Christians aroundLake Poso in Central Sulawesi, among thePamona speaking peoples of Central Sulawesi, and near Mamasa.
The island was administered as one province between 1945 and 1960. In 1960 it was divided into two provinces – North and Central Sulawesi, and South and Southeast Sulawesi. In 1964 both of these were again divided, the former into North Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi, and the latter into South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi. Today, it is subdivided into sixprovinces:Gorontalo,West Sulawesi,South Sulawesi,Central Sulawesi,Southeast Sulawesi, andNorth Sulawesi. Among these, the newest provinces are Gorontalo, established in 2000 from part of North Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi, established in 2004 from part of South Sulawesi.
The largest cities on the island are the provincial capitals ofMakassar,Manado,Palu,Kendari, andGorontalo (the provincial capital of West Sulawesi – the town of Mamuju – is not a city); there are six other cities – Bitung, Palopo, Bau-Bau, Parepare, Kotamobagu and Tomohun.
Early in the Pleistocene, Sulawesi had adwarf elephant and adwarf form ofStegodon, (an elephant relative,S. sompoensis);[66] later both were replaced by larger forms.[67][68] A giantsuid,Celebochoerus, was also formerly present.[69] It is thought that many of the migrants to Sulawesi arrived via thePhilippines, while Sulawesi in turn served as a way station for migrants toFlores.[70] A Pleistocene faunal turnover is recognized, with the competitive displacement of several indigenous tarsiers by more recently arriving ones and ofCelebochoerus by other medium-sized herbivores like thebabirusa,anoa andCelebes warty pig.[71]
By contrast, Sulawesian bird species tend to be found on other nearby islands as well, such asBorneo; 31% of Sulawesi's birds are found nowhere else. One endemic (also found on small neighboring islands) is the largely ground-dwelling, chicken-sizedmaleo, amegapode which sometimes uses hot sand close to the island's volcanic vents to incubate its eggs. An international partnership of conservationists, donors, and local people have formed the Alliance for Tompotika Conservation,[73] in an effort to raise awareness and protect the nesting grounds of these birds on the central-eastern arm of the island. Other endemic birds include the flightlesssnoring rail, thefiery-browed starling, theSulawesi masked owl, theSulawesi myna, thesatanic nightjar and thegrosbeak starling. There are around 350 known bird species in Sulawesi.
Sulawesi island was recently the subject of an Ecoregional Conservation Assessment, coordinated byThe Nature Conservancy. Detailed reports about the vegetation of the island are available.[91] The assessment produced a detailed and annotated list of 'conservation portfolio' sites. This information was widely distributed to local government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Detailed conservation priorities have also been outlined in a recent publication.[92]
The lowland forests on the island have mostly been removed.[93] Because of the relative geological youth of the island and its dramatic and sharp topography, the lowland areas are naturally limited in their extent. The past decade has seen dramatic conversion of this rare and endangered habitat. The island also possesses one of the largest outcrops ofserpentine soil in the world, which support an unusual and large community of specialized plant species. Overall, the flora and fauna of this unique center of global biodiversity is very poorly documented and understood and remains critically threatened.
The islands of Pepaya, Mas, and Raja islands, located in Sumalata Village –North Gorontalo Regency (about 30 km fromSaronde Island), have been named a nature reserve since the Dutch colonial time in 1936. Four of the only seven species ofsea turtles can be found in the islands, the world's best turtle habitat. They include penyu hijau (Chelonia midas), penyu sisik (Eretmochelys imbricata), penyu tempayan (Caretta caretta) and penyu belimbing (Dermochelys coriacea). In 2011, the habitat was threatened by human activities such as illegal poaching and fish bombing activities; furthermore, many coral reefs, which represent a source of food for turtles, have been damaged.[94]
The largest environmental issue in Sulawesi isdeforestation. In 2007, scientists found that 80 percent of Sulawesi's forest had been lost or degraded, especially centered in the lowlands and the mangroves.[95] Forests have been felled for logging and large agricultural projects. Loss of forest has resulted in many of Sulawesi's endemic species becoming endangered. In addition, 99 percent of Sulawesi's wetlands have been lost or damaged.
Other environmental threats included bushmeat hunting and mining.[96]
The island of Sulawesi has six national parks and nineteen nature reserves. In addition, Sulawesi has three marine protected areas. Many of Sulawesi's parks are threatened by logging, mining, and deforestation for agriculture.[96]
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^abD. L. Hoffmann; C. D. Standish; M. García-Diez; P. B. Pettitt; J. A. Milton; J. Zilhão; J. J. Alcolea-González; P. Cantalejo-Duarte; H. Collado; R. de Balbín; M. Lorblanchet; J. Ramos-Muñoz; G.-Ch. Weniger; A. W. G. Pike (2018)."U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art".Science.359 (6378):912–915.Bibcode:2018Sci...359..912H.doi:10.1126/science.aap7778.hdl:10498/21578.PMID29472483. "we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil inMaltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship."
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^"Jumlah Penduduk Menurut Agama" (in Indonesian).Ministry of Religious Affairs. 31 August 2022. Retrieved29 October 2023.Muslim 241 Million (87), Christianity 29.1 Million (10.5), Hindu 4.69 million (1.7), Buddhist 2.02 million (0.7), Folk, Confucianism, and others 192.311 (0.1), Total 277.749.673 Million
^Noorduyn, J (1956). "'De Islamisering van Makasar.'Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 112: 247–66; Caldwell, I. 1995. 'Power, state and society in pre-Islamic South Sulawesi.'".Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde.151:394–421.
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^abvon Rintelen, K., and Y. Cai (2009).Radiation of endemic species flocks in ancient lakes: systematic revision of the freshwater shrimp Caridina H. Milne Edwards, 1837 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Atyidae) from the ancient lakes of Sulawesi, Indonesia, with the description of eight new species. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 57: 343–452.
^abChia, O.C.K. and P.K.L. Ng (2006).The freshwater crabs of Sulawesi, with descriptions of two new genera and four new species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura: Parathelphusidae). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 54: 381–428.
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