Celebes

The island of Celebes (in Indonesian, Sulawesi, pronounced «sulavesi», as they use the Dutch version of «w») is a of the four largest islands of the Indonesian Sunda, between the Moluccas archipelago and the large island of Borneo.

Etymology

The first Europeans to reach the island were Portuguese navigators in 1512, and it was they who referred to this island as "Celebes". The meaning of this name is not certain; Originally it did not refer to the entire island, as the Portuguese thought that Celebes was an archipelago. The Bahasa Indonesian name, "Sulawesi", probably comes from the words sula (island) and besi (iron) and may refer to the Historic export of iron from the iron-rich deposits of Lake Matano.

Prehistory

Rupest paintings in Maros (Southern celebrities)

In the 1950s, samples of rock art were discovered in caves on the island that depicted animal figures and hand outlines. The first datings estimated them to be approximately 10,000 years old. In October 2014, the team led by the researcher Maxime Aubert presented a study that estimated them to be 40,000 years old, which would place them in the same time frame as the oldest known in Europe: those of Altamira and the Cantabrian cave of El Castillo in Spain or those of Lascaux in France.

There are more than 400 granite megaliths in the province of Central Sulawesi. The archaeological studies carried out date them between 3000 B.C. C. and 1300 AD. C. The purpose for which they were built is unknown. About 30 of these megaliths represent anthropomorphic figures.

Megalithic sculpture in the province of Célebes Central.

In January 2016, a study published in Nature by Gerrit van den Bergh, from the University of Wollongong, and other paleoanthropologists, details the discovery in Sulawesi of more than 200 stone tools near the town of Talepu dating back to at least 118,000 years. There are no Homo sapiens remains on the island from before 40,000 years, so these stone fragments indicate that an unknown human species inhabited the island.

History

The Mayapajit Empire conquered the island in the XIV century and held it until 1512. It was then owned by the Portuguese Empire between 1512 and 1667. From 1667 the island of Celebes was part of the Dutch East Indies, as present-day Indonesia was known under the colonial rule of the Dutch Empire. In 1941 it was conquered by the Empire of Japan, which owned it until 1945. From that year on, the island was disputed between the Netherlands and Indonesia, definitively passing to Indonesian power in 1949.

Geography

It is the eleventh largest island in the world, with an area of 174,600 km². It is bordered to the west by Borneo, to the north by the Philippines, to the east by the Moluccas, and to the south by Flores and Timor. The island has a very particular and distinctive shape, dominated by four large, narrow peninsulas. The central part is extremely mountainous, which is why the island's peninsulas are traditionally far from each other, since communications by sea are shorter than by roads on the island.

The island is divided into six provinces:

• Gorontalo, with capital in Gorontalo
• Western celebrities, with capital in Mamuju;
• Southern Célebes, with capital in Makassar;
• Célebes Central, with capital in Palu;
• South-Eastern Célebes, with capital in Kendari;
• Northern Célebes, with capital in Manado.

The most recent is Western Sulawesi, which was created in 2004 by separating it from Southern Sulawesi. The most populated cities on the island are Macassar on the southwestern coast and Manado on the northern peninsula.

Minor islands

The following main islands depend on the provinces of Celebes:

• Selayar Islands: depend on Southern Célebes.
• Sangihe Islands: depend on Northern Célebes.
• Talaud Islands: depend on Northern Célebes.
• Togian Islands: depend on Central Célebes.
• Banggai Islands: depend on Central Célebes.
• Buton Island: depends on South-Eastern Célebes.
• Muna Island: depends on South-Eastern Célebes.
• Kabaena Island: depends on South-Eastern celebrities.
• Wowoni Island: depends on South-Eastern Célebes.
• Tukangbesi Islands: depend on South-Eastern Célebes.

Flora and fauna

Tangkoko National Park in Northern Célebes.

The island of Celebes lies close to the Wallace line, making more than 50% of its species from Southeast Asia while the rest come from the Australasian region. 2,290 km² of the island are included in the Lore Lindu National Park.

There are 127 known species of mammals in Celebes, 72 of them, or 69% are endemic, such as the babirusa, the Celebes Ursine couscous, the crested black macaque or the Moorish macaque, which means that they are not found nowhere else in the world. The largest native mammal of Celebes is the anoa, a species of small buffalo.

In contrast, most of the bird species can be found on other islands, although 34% are also endemic.

Furthermore, the Malayan civet, common palm civet, Timor deer, and Javanese porcupine are all thought to have been introduced by humans.

Demographics

According to the census carried out in 2000, the population of Sulawesi is 14,946,488, which represents 7.25% of the total population of Indonesia. The population of the island according to the 2010 census is just over 17.3 million inhabitants.

Languages

Linguistically, Celebes is very diverse. With 114 cataloged languages, the branch of the Celebes languages is one of the largest of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages.

The main languages spoken are Gorontalo and Minahasa in the north of the island, Pamona in the center, Mandar in the west, Buginais, Makassar and Toraja in the south and Buton in the southeast.

The main ethnic groups of Celebes are the various Minahasa groups and the Gorontalos in the northern part, the Bugis, the Makassars and the Toraja in the southern part.

Religion

Islam is the majority religion in Sulawesi. The conversion to Islam of the southwestern lowlands of the peninsula (South Sulawesi) occurred in the early 17th century. The kingdom of Luwu, on the Bone Gulf, was the first to accept Islam in February 1605; the Makassar kingdom of Goa-Talloq, centered on present-day Makassar City, followed suit in September. However, the Gorontalo and Mongondow peoples of the north of the peninsula did not convert to Islam until the 19th century. Most Muslims are Sunni.

Christianity in Indonesia is a significant minority on the island. According to demographer Toby Alice Volkman, 17% of Sulawesi's population is Protestant and less than 2% is Roman Catholic. Christians are concentrated at the tip of the northern peninsula, around the city of Manado, inhabited by the Minahasa, a predominantly Protestant people, and in the northernmost Sangir and Talaud Islands. The Toraja people of Tana Toraja in Central Sulawesi have largely converted to Christianity since Indonesian independence. There are also considerable numbers of Christians around Lake Poso in Central Sulawesi, among the Pamona-speaking peoples of Central Sulawesi and near Mamasa.

Although most residents identify as Muslim or Christian, they also often adhere to local beliefs and deities. It is not uncommon for both groups to make offerings to the local gods, goddesses, and spirits.

Small communities of Buddhists and Hindus are also found on Sulawesi, usually among the Chinese-Indonesian, Balinese, and Indian-Indonesian communities.

Religious conflicts

Recently, Celebes has been the scene of sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims. The most serious incidents took place between 1999 and 2001, with the massive participation of Islamist militias such as the Laskar Jihad. More than a thousand people died in violence, riots and ethnic cleansing in the center of the island. The Malino II agreement, signed in Malino on February 13, 2002, did not end the violence. In the following years, tensions and systematic attacks continued. In 2003, thirteen Christian villagers were killed by masked gunmen in the Poso district. In 2005, Islamist militants beheaded three Christian schoolgirls in Poso. A message left near one of the heads reportedly read:

A life for a life. (A life for a life)

In September 2006, renewed unrest broke out in Christian areas of central Indonesia, as well as other parts of the country, following the execution by firearm of Fabianus Tibo, Domingus da Silva and Marinus Riwu, three Catholics convicted of leading Christian militants during the violence of the early XXI century. His supporters said that the Muslims who participated in the violence had themselves received light sentences, that none had been sentenced to death, and that the government had applied double standards. These riots were directed against the authorities, not against the Muslims.

Economy

Agriculture

Agriculture is a major component of the Sulawesi economy, employing more people than any other economic sector; according to a 2016 source, 30–40% of the GDP of Sulawesi's constituent provinces is linked to agriculture. Most of the island's agriculture is done locally on family-owned plots, although by the early 2010s more farmers were starting to grow commercial crops instead of traditional rice. Crops vary by region; In the mountainous north, trees such as cloves, coconuts, and nutmeg are grown, while in the flatter south, commercial products such as cocoa, tobacco, sugar, and rice are grown. Cattle also contribute to the economy of South Sulawesi.

Despite its large contribution to the island's economy, the agricultural sector was growing more slowly than the Indonesian national average as of 2016. Most agricultural production is highly localized and carried out on small plots.

Resource Extraction

A large part of Sulawesi's economy is based on resource extraction, primarily mining, forestry, and fishing. Being an island, Celebes has a long coastline and many of its inhabitants are engaged in the fishing industry.

Mining, quarrying, and other forms of mineral extraction contribute to the island's economic activity; Like other sectors of the economy, these industries are mainly concentrated in North and South Sulawesi. North Sulawesi has rich copper deposits and has recently invested in building nickel smelters. Chinese conglomerates Tsingshan Holding Group and Huafon Group plan to invest heavily in the island's nickel, aluminum and chemical industries.

Nickel

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, the international mining industry has become increasingly interested in the Morowali Regency (located in the Central Sulawesi province) and the high-quality nickel reserves of the region, vital for the production of lithium batteries. Indonesia banned the export of nickel ore in 2014, forcing international companies to refine the ore in Indonesia and thus increasing downstream investments in Indonesian companies. The thriving nickel industry in Morowali (as in the Morowali Industrial Park) has resulted in a large increase in the region's GDP (one source reports a 300% increase between 2013 and 2019), but the expansion of the industry Extractive mining has also caused environmental degradation. As of 2021, the largest foreign investors were American, Brazilian, Chinese, and Japanese companies, while the Indonesian government is attempting to build a domestic battery industry.