Alor
Encyclopedia
Alor is the largest island
in the Alor Archipelago
located at the eastern-most end of the Lesser Sunda Islands
that runs through southern Indonesia
, which from the west include such islands as Bali
, Lombok
, Sumbawa
, Komodo
, and Flores
.
To the east of the island across the Ombai Strait
lie the islands of Wetar
and Atauro, the latter belonging to East Timor
. To the south, across the Strait of Alor, lies the western part of Timor
. To the north lies the Banda Sea
. To the west lies Pantar
and the other islands of the Alor archipelago, and further yet the rest of the Sunda Islands
.
Kalabahi
is the only town on the island of Alor, with a metropolitan population of about 60,000. The variety of goods obtainable in Kalabahi is surprising considering its size and location.
Alor is of volcanic origin and has very rugged terrain. The region near Kalabahi is the only flat area. This is why the Dutch placed the capital and the main harbor (Alor-Kecil) of the area here in 1911.
"The best" snorkelling and diving
in Indonesia
can be found in the Alor archipelago. Due to intriguing and often very strong currents it is best to snorkel or dive with someone who knows the area well.
Transportation to Alor by TransNusa Trigana Air, from Kupang, Denpasar and Surabaya.
, tamarind
, almond
s and other nuts are cultivated. In the forests sandalwood
is cut down for trade.
The latest geological explorations have discovered valuable resources such as gipsum, kaolin, petroleum
, natural gas
, tin
, gold
, and diamonds.
Alor's highly-esteemed snorkeling and diving promise an increase in tourism in the future. Depletion of the fisheries has however damaged the coral reef
s in recent years.
s or in a few villages Roman Catholics. Animistic rites and traditions are still strongly practiced.
or non-Austronesian. These include Abui, Adang
, Hamap, Kabola, Kafoa, Woisika, Kelon, and Kui
. In addition, Alorese (Bahasa Alor; ISO 639-3
: aol) is a Malayo-Polynesian language which is spoken along the coast of the western and southern Bird's Head of Alor Island and in places on surrounding islands.
Many of the Papuan languages of Alor are endangered and are no longer being actively acquired by children. Some languages have fewer than 1000 speakers remaining. Significant linguistic documentation efforts have been undertaken recently by Leiden University.
The language of daily communication is Alor Malay, a unique Malay variety with some similarities to Kupang Malay. Indonesian
is taught in schools and used widely in media.
, Kalabahi is serviced by flights five times a week from Kupang
the provincial capital, using a [ATR42] 46 seat by TransNusa Trigana Air and Kasa
18-seat airplane. These flights are run by Merpati Airlines
. Most of them are simply Kupang–Kalabahi–Kupang, but mid-2003 a new flight Kupang–Kalabahi–Kisar
–Ambon, returning the next day, was introduced. The two Pelni passenger ships Serimau and Awu also pass through Kalabahi each week. Transport to Alor during the wet season
is sometimes disrupted due to high winds and large waves.
On 17 November 2006 Trigana Air suffered its first ever plane crash accident. The aircraft (a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300) struck a mountain in Puncak Jaya (Indonesia) seven minutes before it was scheduled to land in the remote Indonesian province of Papua. All 12 passengers on board died shortly after the incident.
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the Alor Archipelago
Alor Archipelago
The Alor Archipelago is located at the easternmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands.Alor is the largest island in the archipelago which is located at its eastern end. Other islands in the archipelago include Pantar, Kepa, Buaya, Ternate , Pura and Tereweng...
located at the eastern-most end of the Lesser Sunda Islands
Lesser Sunda Islands
The Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara are a group of islands in the southern Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up the Sunda Islands...
that runs through southern Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, which from the west include such islands as Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
, Lombok
Lombok
Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east...
, Sumbawa
Sumbawa
Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. It is in the province of West Nusa Tenggara....
, Komodo
Komodo (island)
Komodo is one of the 17,508 islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia. The island has a surface area of 390 km² and over 2000 inhabitants. The inhabitants of the island are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island and who have mixed themselves with the Bugis from...
, and Flores
Flores
Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population was 1.831.000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. Flores is Portuguese for "flowers".Flores is located east of Sumbawa...
.
To the east of the island across the Ombai Strait
Ombai Strait
The Ombai Strait is the strait which separates the Alor Archipelago from the islands of Wetar, Atauro, and Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands. Wetar is part of the Maluku Province of Indonesia, the Alor Archipelago and the western part of Timor are part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara,...
lie the islands of Wetar
Wetar
The tropical island of Wetar belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Barat Daya Islands . It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which include nearby Alor and Timor, but it is politically part of the Maluku Islands...
and Atauro, the latter belonging to East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
. To the south, across the Strait of Alor, lies the western part of Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
. To the north lies the Banda Sea
Banda Sea
The Banda Sea is a sea in the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, technically part of the Pacific Ocean but separated from it by hundreds of islands, as well as the Halmahera and Ceram Seas...
. To the west lies Pantar
Pantar
Pantar is the second largest island in the Indonesian Alor Archipelago, after Alor. To the east is the island of Alor and other small islands in the archipelago; to the west is the Alor Strait, which separates it from the Solor Archipelago. To the south is the Ombai Strait, and 72 km away,...
and the other islands of the Alor archipelago, and further yet the rest of the Sunda Islands
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...
.
Geography
Alor has an area of about 2800 km², making it the largest island of the Alor archipelago.Kalabahi
Kalabahi
Kalabahi is a town on Alor Island and it is the capital of Alor Regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia....
is the only town on the island of Alor, with a metropolitan population of about 60,000. The variety of goods obtainable in Kalabahi is surprising considering its size and location.
Alor is of volcanic origin and has very rugged terrain. The region near Kalabahi is the only flat area. This is why the Dutch placed the capital and the main harbor (Alor-Kecil) of the area here in 1911.
"The best" snorkelling and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
can be found in the Alor archipelago. Due to intriguing and often very strong currents it is best to snorkel or dive with someone who knows the area well.
Transportation to Alor by TransNusa Trigana Air, from Kupang, Denpasar and Surabaya.
Economy
The island's infrastructure is only weakly built. The inhabitants practice mainly subsistence agriculture. The government seeks to change this with the help of international organizations. In the villages vanillaVanilla
Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...
, tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
, almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s and other nuts are cultivated. In the forests sandalwood
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
is cut down for trade.
The latest geological explorations have discovered valuable resources such as gipsum, kaolin, petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
, natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
, tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, and diamonds.
Alor's highly-esteemed snorkeling and diving promise an increase in tourism in the future. Depletion of the fisheries has however damaged the coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
s in recent years.
Religion
Over 168,000 people live on Alor. Three-fourths are protestants, the rest are either MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s or in a few villages Roman Catholics. Animistic rites and traditions are still strongly practiced.
Language
More than 15 different indigenous languages are spoken on Alor, the majority of them classified as PapuanPapuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
or non-Austronesian. These include Abui, Adang
Adang language
The Adang language is spoken on the island of Alor in Indonesia. According to Ethnologue the language has 31,814 speakers . The language is agglutinative-Further reading:...
, Hamap, Kabola, Kafoa, Woisika, Kelon, and Kui
Kui language (Indonesia)
Kui is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken by 4,240 people in several enclaves on Alor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia....
. In addition, Alorese (Bahasa Alor; ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3
ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
: aol) is a Malayo-Polynesian language which is spoken along the coast of the western and southern Bird's Head of Alor Island and in places on surrounding islands.
Many of the Papuan languages of Alor are endangered and are no longer being actively acquired by children. Some languages have fewer than 1000 speakers remaining. Significant linguistic documentation efforts have been undertaken recently by Leiden University.
The language of daily communication is Alor Malay, a unique Malay variety with some similarities to Kupang Malay. Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
is taught in schools and used widely in media.
Transportation
During the dry seasonDry season
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
, Kalabahi is serviced by flights five times a week from Kupang
Kupang
Not to be confused with Tanjung Kupang in JohoreKupang is the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara province in southeast Indonesia....
the provincial capital, using a [ATR42] 46 seat by TransNusa Trigana Air and Kasa
Kasa
Kasa may refer toThings*Gasa , a form of Korean poetry*Kasa-obake, a spirit or monster in Japanese folklore*Kasa , a Japanese hatPlaces*Kasa, Sweden, a village in northern Sweden...
18-seat airplane. These flights are run by Merpati Airlines
Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Merpati Nusantara Airlines is a commuter airline based in Central Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a major domestic airline operating scheduled services to more than 25 destinations in Indonesia, as well as scheduled international services to East Timor and Malaysia. Its main base is...
. Most of them are simply Kupang–Kalabahi–Kupang, but mid-2003 a new flight Kupang–Kalabahi–Kisar
Kisar
Kisar, also known as Yotowawa, is a small island in the Southwestern Moluccas in Indonesia.-Description:It is located to the northeast of Timor Island in an area of great tectonic activity....
–Ambon, returning the next day, was introduced. The two Pelni passenger ships Serimau and Awu also pass through Kalabahi each week. Transport to Alor during the wet season
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...
is sometimes disrupted due to high winds and large waves.
On 17 November 2006 Trigana Air suffered its first ever plane crash accident. The aircraft (a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300) struck a mountain in Puncak Jaya (Indonesia) seven minutes before it was scheduled to land in the remote Indonesian province of Papua. All 12 passengers on board died shortly after the incident.
External links
- Alor and Pantar Languages Project
- Van Galen's Memorandum on the Alor Islands in 1946 http://lnu.se/polopoly_fs/1.24684!HumaNetten%2C%20Nr%2025%2C%20v%C3%A5ren%202010.pdf