Waigeo is an island in the Southwest Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and New Guinea, and about from the northwest coast of the latter. The Dampier Strait (a.k.a. Augusta's Strait) separates it from Batanta, and the Bougainville Strait (not to be confused with the similarly-named Bougainville Strait in the Solomon Islands) from the Kawe islands (Kawe, Wayag and Sayang) to its northwest. The "inner sea" that nearly cleaves the island in two is Mayalibit Bay (Teluk Mayalibit), also known as the Majoli Gulf.
The land area of the island is , although with the many hundreds of outlying islands ond islets the total becomes ; the highest elevations are the Buffalo Horn (Gunung Nok) and Serodjil. From west to east, the island measures approximately , northâÂÂsouth about .
The town of Waisai in the south of the island is the capital of the Raja Ampat Regency, and holds more than half of the population of the island.
Waigeo was physically connected to Gam and Batanta during most of the Pleistocene period, forming an island called Waitanta. Waitanta was first inhabited by humans over 50,000 years ago and excavations at Mololo Cave indicate people were making tree resin artefacts and hunting native animals. The first pottery-making communities were present around Waigeo about 3500âÂÂ3000 years ago and may have brought Austronesian languages to the area.
Jorge de Menezes, a Portuguese explorer, may have landed on Waigeo Island in 1526âÂÂ27.
Islam first arrived in the Raja Ampat archipelago in the 15th century due to political and economic contacts with the Bacan Sultanate, coinciding with Biak migrations to the region. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Sultanate of Tidore had close economic and familial ties with the island as Gurabesi, the Biak ruler of the island married Tidore Sultan's daughter. His descendant then migrated out of Mayalibit Bay, becoming the Ma'ya kings of the other Raja Ampat Islands. During this period, Islam became firmly established, as local chiefs began adopting Islam.
Alfred Russel Wallace spent some time on the island and studied the flora and fauna during the late 1850s while on his scientific exploration trip.
Since 1997, the island has been the site of a substantial pearl farming operation owned by the Australian company Atlas Pacific.
The island is surrounded by numerous smaller islands and islets, of which the largest are Pulau Gaman to the south, Pulau Gag and Pulau Munsung to the west (in West Waigeo Islands District), and Pulau Kawe, Pulau Wayag and Pulau Sayang forming a chain to the northwest (in West Waigeo District). Altogether there are 165 islands included in West Waigeo District, 21 in West Waigeo Islands District, 157 in South Waigeo District and 22 in East Waigeo District. The Ayau Islands to the north of Waigeo add amother 32 named islands. Including these, the area and 2025 populations of the districts comprising northern Raja Ampat is as follows:
Note: (a) the Ayau Islands (including Ayau District) lie some distance to the north of Waigeo.
Since 2010, the new Waisai district has been created from part of Waigeo Selatan District, the new Tiplol Mayalibit District has been created from part of Teluk Mayalibit District, the new Supnin District has been created from part of Waigeo Utara District, and the new Ayau District has been created from part of Kepulauan Ayau District.
Languages spoken on Waigeo include Papuan Malay, Biak, Ma'ya, and Ambel. Their distributions within the island are given below.