Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Malukuprovince of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island.
Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km2 (6,860 sq mi).[1] It is the largest island of Indonesia outside the five main islands. It had a population of 162,728 in 1995; by 2010, it had increased to 449,938 for the island itself (excluding the tip which is considered part of the Joronga Islands, but including Gebe and Ju islands) and 667,161 for the island group (including all of South Halmahera and Tidore, but not Ternate).[2][3] Approximately half of the island's inhabitants are Muslim and half are Christian.
Sparsely-populated Halmahera's fortunes have long been closely tied to those of the smaller islands of Ternate and Tidore, both off its west coast. This island was the site of Sultanate of Jailolo, one of the four kingdoms of Maluku (Maloko Kië Raha, of Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, and Jailolo) in the era before Dutch East India Companycolonized the entire archipelago. The north of the island is also the base of Loloda Kingdom [id], one of the earlier 13th century Moluccan kingdom, but not recognized as one of the prominent four.[4]
In 1999 and 2000, Halmahera was the site of violence that began as a purely ethnic dispute between residents of (mainly Christian) Kao and (entirely Muslim) Malifut sub-districts and then took on a religious nature as it spread through much of the North Moluccas, called the Maluku sectarian conflict. Thousands of people on Halmahera were killed in the fighting between religious militias. In June 2000, about five hundred people were killed when a ferry carrying refugees from the fighting on Halmahera sank off the northeast tip of Sulawesi island. Conspiracy theories about this event abound. A memorial to this tragedy can be found in Duma village in North Halmahera district.
Today, much transportation to the rest of Indonesia is through connections on the provincial capital, Ternate island although Tobelo, the largest town on Halmahera, also has direct ferry and cargo sea links to Surabaya and Manado.[citation needed]
Particularly, since the inauguration of the first ever directly elected Bupati (Regent or District Head), Tobelo is undergoing rapid development and is aiming at rivaling Ternate's historical dominance.[citation needed] As it is surrounded by flat land, Tobelo has the potential for expansion.[citation needed] Ternate is limited by its size, being a small island which can be driven around in forty-five minutes. Also, in 2010, the provincial government has moved the provincial capital from Ternate City to Sofifi, a small village on the Halmahera coast opposite Tidore island.
The coastal area of Halmahera inhabited by the Tobelo people (or the O’Hoberera Manyawa (literally "people that live outside of the forest")),[5] while a small semi-nomadic related population living on the inner parts of Halmahera, the number of Togutil people (or the O'Hongana Manyawa (literally "people that live inside of the forest")) is estimated between 1500 and 3000 people (according to studies of ethnologists since 2001).[6]'[7] From 300 to 500, (also an estimatation), live in isolation in the forest in the Aketajawe-Lolobata National Park where they obtain their means of subsistence.[8] Uncontacted members are being threatened by a massive Indonesian mining project to produce nickel for electric car batteries.[9]
The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace visited Halmahera, as described in his 1869 book The Malay Archipelago. He considered the standardwingbird of paradise, Semioptera wallacii, to be his greatest prize.[12] It was in February 1858, on the island of Ternate (or perhaps while on Halmahera itself), between bouts of fever, that Wallace came to the idea of natural selection via the survival of the fittest. Wallace wrote his ideas during the next couple of days, and sent the historical letter to Darwin.
