Raijua Island
Indonesia · Asia
About
Raijua is an island in Indonesia, part of the Lesser Sunda Islands and located in the Savu Sea. It is administratively part of the Sabu Raijua Regency of East Nusa Tenggara, forming a single district within the regency along with the uninhabited Dana Island. Raijua has an area of around 36 square kilometers, consisting largely of tropical savannas with limited water available.
The island is inhabited by over nine thousand people, largely of the Savu ethnic group. The population are largely Protestant Christian with a significant minority of the Jingitiu traditional religion. Local agriculture is centered around the production of seaweed, with traditional agricultural mainstays being sorghum and the lontar palm. It is also known for locally weaved tenun cloths and for the production of sea salt. The island is considered as an underdeveloped region by the Government of Indonesia, with PLN electricity only being introduced in 2013.
Throughout much of its history, Raijua had a single raja, in contrast to multiple polities on the larger neighboring island of Savu. European contact began in the seventeenth century but direct control or interaction with the Dutch colonial government was initially limited due to the island's remoteness. Raijua's raja maintained significant political autonomy throughout the nineteenth century. Colonial authority over the island gradually increased, and the island was subsumed into Savu administratively by 1918. Raijua became a standalone political unit again in 1992, when its current district was formed.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.