Buru
Buru is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province and includes the Buru and South Buru regencies. Their administrative centers, Namlea and Namrole, respectively, have ports and are the largest towns of the island, served by Namlea Airport and Namrole Airport respectively.
About a third of the population is indigenous, mostly the Buru, but also the Lisela, Ambelau, Kayeli, Masarete, Rana, Wai Apu, and. The rest of population are immigrants from Java and nearby Maluku Islands. Religious affiliation is evenly split between Christianity and Sunni Islam, with some remnants of traditional beliefs. While local languages and dialects are spoken within individual communities, the national Indonesian language is used among the communities and by the administration. Most of the island is covered with forests rich in tropical flora and fauna. From the present 179 bird and 25 mammal species, about 14 are found either on Buru only or also on a few nearby islands, the most notable being the wild pig Buru babirusa. There is little industry on the island, and most population is engaged in growing rice, maize, sweet potato, beans, coconuts, cocoa, coffee, clove and nutmeg. Other significant activities are animal farming and fishing.
The island was first mentioned around 1365. Between 1658 and 1942, it was colonised by the Dutch East India Company and then by the Crown of the Netherlands. The Dutch administration relocated many local villages to the newly built island capital at Kayeli Bay for working at clove plantations. It also promoted the hierarchy among the indigenous people with selected loyal rajas placed above the heads of the local clans. The island was occupied by the Japanese forces between 1942 and 1945 and in 1950 became part of independent Indonesia. During former president Suharto's New Order administration in the 1960s–1970s, Buru was the site of a prison used to hold thousands of political prisoners. While held at Buru, writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer wrote most of his novels, including Buru Quartet.
Geography and geology
Buru island lies between two seas of the Pacific Ocean – Seram Sea on the north and Banda Sea to the south and west. To the east, it is separated by the Manipa Strait from Seram Island. With an area of, Buru is the third largest among the Maluku Islands after Halmahera and Seram.Buru is shaped like an oval, elongated from west to east. The maximum length is about from east to west and from north to south. The coastline is smooth, with the only major indentation being Kayeli Bay located on the eastern coast. The bay also has a smooth, oval shape. It extends into the island to 8–12 km and has a maximum width of 17 km; the width decreases to 9 km at the mouth; the coastal length of the bay is about 50 km. At the northern part of the mouth stands Namlea, the largest town of the island.
The highest point on the island is the peak of Mount Kapalatmada. Off the coast of Buru there are several smaller islands; those permanently inhabited are Ambalau and Tengah. The largest uninhabited islands are Fogi, Oki and Tomahu.
The island is mostly mountainous, especially in the central and western parts. Of the 9,505 km2 of the island area, 1,789 km2 lie 900 m above mean sea level, 872 km2 above 1,200 m and 382 km2 above 1,500 m. Flat areas are located in narrow strips near the coast and along the banks of river Apo. There they form a valley of the same name. Much of the island is covered with tropical rain forest.
The Apo River is the longest river of Buru. It flows nearly straight to the north-east and empties into Kayeli Bay; however, its bed is very winding for hundreds of meters, with loops all along its length. Two other permanent rivers are Geren and Nibe; the rest are intermittent rivers with discontinuous flow. The river discharge varies significantly through the year, reaching a maximum in the rainy season. Indonesian sources often include wae before the river names; thus Apo is often referred to as Waeapo or Wae Apo, or Apu in some local dialects. In the center of the island, at an altitude of, lies freshwater Lake Rana. This is the only significant lake on Buru; it has a nearly rectangular shape with the length of about 4.3 km, width of about 2.7 km and an area of
The crust consists of several types of deposits. It is dominated by Cenozoic sedimentary rocks, probably originating from the Australian continent; Also present are younger volcanic rocks and more recent alluvial deposits. Sedimentary deposits in the form of silt, peat, sand and mud are mostly found in the river valleys. Metamorphic rocks of slate, schist and arkose dominate the northern part of the island. Very few mineral deposits of Buru have industrial value, and only limestone is mined commercially. However, significant reserves of oil and gas were discovered in the shelf in 2009. There are numerous coral reefs around the island. The soil mostly consists of yellow-red Podsol, Organosol, Grumosol and various mixtures.
Climate
The climate is equatorial monsoonal, wet, and in general typical for the Maluku Islands. The rainy season extends from October to April with the highest rainfall in December–February. Despite the relatively small size of the island, its mountainous terrain results in several climatic zones. Apart from temperature reduction with altitude, the temperature variations across these zones are negligible, with the annual average of about 26 °C, However the annual precipitation differs and amounts to 1,400–1,800 mm in the north, 1,800–2,000 mm in the center, 2,000–2,500 mm in the south and 3,000–4,000 mm in the mountains, at elevation above 500 m.Flora and fauna
As Buru is located at the boundary between the biogeographic zones of Australia and Asia, its flora and fauna are unique and are the subject of national and international scientific research. Of 25 species of mammals found on the island, at least four are endemic to Buru and closest to it islands. The local species of the wild pig named Buru babirusa is distinguished from the other Babyrousa species by having relatively long and thick body-hair. It also has very low fat content in their meat and is regarded as a delicacy among the local population, which favours it to other wild pigs or deer in terms of texture and flavour. Also endemic to Buru are three types of bats: Moluccan flying fox, Seram fruit bat Pteropus ocularis and lesser tube-nosed bat.Of the 178 recorded species of birds, 10 are endemic to Buru and nearby islands: Buru racket-tail, black-lored parrot, blue-fronted lorikeet, Buru honeyeater, Buru cuckooshrike, Buru jungle flycatcher, madanga, Buru white-eye, tawny-backed fantail and Buru monarch. Among those, the rufous-throated white-eye is regarded as endangered and the black-lored parrot and vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; both species were observed only in very limited areas of Buru island. There are another 19 birds that are near-endemic to Buru: rufous-necked sparrowhawk, dusky megapode, Moluccan megapode, white-eyed imperial pigeon, long-tailed mountain pigeon, red lory, Moluccan hawk-owl, Moluccan masked owl, Wakolo myzomela, Buru friarbird, drab whistler, white-naped monarch, dark-grey flycatcher, black-eared oriole, pale cicadabird, Buru thrush, cinnamon-chested flycatcher, Buru bush warbler and Buru flowerpecker. Among butterflies, 25% of the Pieridae and 7% of the Papilionidae found on Buru are endemic to the island.
The vegetation is characteristic of tropical lowland evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forests, with the dominant family of Dipterocarpaceae, genera of Hopea, Shorea and Vatica, and the individual species of Anisoptera thurifera, Hopea gregaria, Hopea iriana, Hopea novoguineensis, Shorea assamica, Shorea montigena, Shorea selanica and Vatica rassak. Some of these trees may grow to more than and are usually bound by thick lianas and other epiphytes. Open forest, woodland, and savanna areas also exist on Buru. The fire-resistant paper bark tree is common in dry areas. The northwestern part of the island has steep limestone cliffs covered by mixed forests that include Shorea trees, and stunted Dacrydium novo-guineense is present at the mountain tops.
Primary forests constitute 60% of the island and are mostly found in the areas of Air Buaya and Waeapo. There is only 0.51% of secondary forests, in the district Batabual, and 0.9% of mangroves, at Waeapo, Air Buaya, Batabual and Namlea. A significant part of the island is taken by shrubs, and only 5.83% is open land, which is spread over most districts of Buru.
Administrative division
The island belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku. Until 1999, it was part of the Central Maluku Regency and then became a separate regency of the same name. In 2008, it was split into Buru Regency and South Buru Regency.Buru Regency has an area of 7,595.58 km2 and the administrative center at Namlea. It is divided into 10 districts: Namlea, Waeapo, Waplau, Batubual, Teluk Kaiely, Waelata, Lolong Guba, Lilialy, Air Buaya and Fena Leisela. The governor is Husni Hentihu and Vice Regent is Ramli Umasugi.
South Buru Regency has an area of 5,060 km2 and includes Ambelau island southeast of Buru. Its governing structure had not been completed as of February 2010, and the current acting Regent was then A. R. Uluputti. The regency is divided into 6 districts: Namrole, Kepala Madan, Leksula, Fena Fafan, Waesama, and Ambalau ; the last district is entirely located on the island of Ambalau.
Population
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the islands administered as Buru was 161,828 people; at the 2020 Census this had risen to 210,648 with about 64.2% in the northern regency and 35.8% in the southern; the official population estimate at-mid 2022 was 215,277. The southern regency included the smaller island of Ambalau to the southeast of Buru. In the early 2020s, most of the population was concentrated in the coastal areas, and comprised the following major groups: indigenous Buru, Lisela, Ambelau, Kayeli, Masarete, Rana, Wai Apu, and ; migrants from Java, and migrants from other Maluku Islands. The migration to Buru was stimulated by the Dutch colonial administration in the 1900s, and by Indonesian authorities in the 1950s–1990s. The local communities speak Buru, Lisela, and Ambelau in everyday life, however, the national Indonesian language is used as a means of international communication and is also used for writing. Also common is Ambonese Malay. The latter is widely used in the Maluku Islands as a second language and is a simplified form of Indonesian language with additions of the local lexicon. Some local dialects, such as the Hukumina, Palumata, and Kayeli, became extinct in the second half of the 20th century.Religious composition of the population is heterogeneous: the number of islanders practising Sunni Islam and Christianity and the rest – mainly residents of remote mountain areas – still follow traditional local cults or do not have a clear religious affiliation. The economical crisis of the 1990s resulted in frequent conflicts among Buru people over religious grounds. In December 1999, 43 people were killed and at least 150 houses burned in the Wainibe village.