Banggai Islands Regency

The Banggai Archipelago (Indonesian: Kepulauan Banggai) is a group of islands located at the far eastern end of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It makes up a regency (kabupaten) of Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, created on 4 October 1999 by splitting the existing Banggai Regency into a residual Banggai Regency situated on the mainland of Sulawesi (capital, Luwuk) and a new Banggai Islands Regency (Kabupaten Banggai Kepulauan) then comprising the entire archipelago (with its capital at Banggai town). On 14 December 2012 a splitting of the Banggai Islands archipelago took place with the removal of the more southerly seven districts (including Banggai Island itself, together with smaller islands to its southwest and southeast) from the 13-year-old regency to form a separate Banggai Laut Regency.

The reduced Banggai Islands Regency thus consists almost entirely of the main island of Peleng, together with various small offshore islands, of which the largest is Bangkalan Island off the north coast of Peleng. It covers an area of 2,488.79 km2 and had a population of 109,384 at the 2010 census and 120,142 at the 2020 census; the official population estimate as at mid 2024 was 130,008 (comprising 65,973 males and 64,035 females). The archipelago is surrounded by the Banda Sea's Gulf of Tolo (Teluk Tolo), and the Molucca Sea. The Peleng Straits (Selat Peleng) separate Peleng from the mainland of Sulawesi.

Administrative districts

The Banggai Islands Regency is divided into twelve districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024. The table also includes the location of the district headquarters, the numbers of administrative villages (totalling 141 rural desa and 3 urban kelurahan) and of offshore islands in each district, and its postal codes.

Notes: (a) including the kelurahan of Salakan. (b) including the kelurahan of Bulagi (town). (c) including the kelurahan of Sabang.

Transportation

Merpati Nusantara Airlines served the islands from Palu (the capital of Central Sulawesi Province).[citation needed] There is also a bus service via Luwuk and thence by boat or ship to Banggai.

Endangered Banggai Cardinalfish

The Banggai Islands is home to the Banggai cardinalfish. This species has an extremely limited geographic range (5,500 km2) and small total population size (estimated at 2.4 million). The Banggai cardinalfish is composed of isolated populations concentrated around the shallows of 17 large and 10 small islands within the Banggai Archipelago. It is threatened by extinction due to collection for the aquarium trade.

Climate

Salakan has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall from August to January and heavy rainfall from February to July.