Pagai Islands
| Pagai Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| Geographical location | 2 ° 42 ′ S , 100 ° 5 ′ E | |
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| Total land area | 6,011.35 km² | |
| Residents | 20,974 (2000) | |
The Pagai Islands ( Pageh ) are an Indonesian group of islands off the west coast of Sumatra . They form the south of the Mentawai Islands .
geography
Overview
The Pagai Islands form the district ( Kecamatan ) Pagai Utara Selatan , which belongs to the administrative district ( Kabupaten ) Mentawai Islands formed in 1999 . It is part of the Western Sumatra Province .
The main islands are North Pagai and South Pagai . They are separated by the Strait of Sikakap . Both islands are relatively flat. The highest point is on North Pagai at 336 m . The Gunung Muntai on South Pagai reaches 302 m .
Settlements on northern Pagai are Pasapuat in the north, Sikakap in the southeast and Betumonga in the southwest. On South Pagai are Seai in the north, Simakalo and Mapooepooe in the east, Tiop in the south and Bulasat and Baleraksok in the west.
Flora and fauna
The islands are partly covered by tropical rainforests. Some endemic animal species live on them , including the Pagai macaque , whose population is now endangered.
population
In 2000, there were 20,974 inhabitants on North and South Pagai. The inhabitants, who are called Mentawai, differ in language and customs from the inhabitants of Sumatra. They developed complex tattoos that are believed to be some of the oldest in the world.
history
After the last ice age, the island was separated from Sumatra by rising sea levels. Before 1000 BC South Pagai was settled from the north via Sipura and North Pagai.
In the middle of the 18th century there was possibly an attempt by the British to build a settlement on two islands off the southern Pagai in order to grow nutmeg or pepper . Reports of a ship belonging to the British East India Company are available from 1792. It was not until July 1864 that the Dutch took possession of the archipelago and made them part of the Dutch East Indies . In 1901 German missionaries founded a station on the south coast of northern Pagai, but it was not until 1915 that the first islander accepted the Christian faith after they had killed the first missionary.
From the mid-1990s, Australians discovered the region for surfing .
In 1797 and 1833 the region was hit by strong seaquakes . After the great earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 , seismic activity among the islands increased sharply. After the earthquake on September 12, 2007 (cGPS) stations on South Pagai found a displacement of 1.5 meters to the southwest, an uplift of 0.6 meters on the west coast and a decrease of 0.1 meters on the east coast. Some offshore islands were enlarged and six new islands were created.
On February 11, 2010 another seaquake occurred 32 km southwest of South Pagai with a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale. Another seaquake followed in the southwest on October 25, triggering a tsunami that hit both islands in full. On northern Pagai, among other things, the village of Muntei Baru was 80% destroyed, on southern Pagai the wave penetrated up to 600 m into the interior of the island.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Narendra S. Bisht: Encyclopaedia of the South East Asian Ethnography. Global Vision, 2004, ISBN 9788187746966 , p. 431. Limited preview in Google Book Search
- ↑ UNEP Islands (English)
- ↑ Bing Maps - driving directions, traffic information and road conditions. In: bing.com. Retrieved January 2, 2015 .
- ^ Siberut National Park In: indonesiatraveling.com
- ↑ Mentawai ( Memento of September 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: mentawaiblue.com
- ↑ George Pararas-Carayannis: INDONESIA - THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI OF 1833 OFF THE COAST OF CENTRAL SUMATRA. In: drgeorgepc.com. December 26, 2004, accessed January 2, 2015 .
- ^ Emergence of South Pagai Island Observed by SAR. In: gsi.go.jp. June 21, 2007, accessed January 2, 2015 .
- ↑ Crustal Deformation of Benkulu and Pagai Island Observed by SAR. In: gsi.go.jp. September 12, 2007, accessed January 2, 2015 .
- ↑ We Couldn't Outrun Killer Wave: Villager. (No longer available online.) In: thejakartaglobe.com. October 28, 2010, archived from the original on October 30, 2010 ; accessed on January 2, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
