Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. Including Komodo and Rinca islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 14,731.67 km2, and the population was 1,878,875 in the 2020 Census (including various offshore islands); the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 1,962,405. The largest towns are Maumere and Ende. The name Flores is of Portuguese origin, meaning “Flowers”.
Flores is located east of Sumbawa and the Komodo Islands, and west of the Solor Islands and the Alor Archipelago. To the southeast is Timor. To the south, across the Sumba Strait, is Sumba Island, and to the north, beyond the Flores Sea, is Sulawesi.
Among all islands containing Indonesian territory, Flores is the 10th most populous after Java, Sumatra, Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi, New Guinea, Bali, Madura, Lombok, and Timor, and also the 10th biggest island of Indonesia. Until the arrival of modern humans, Flores was inhabited by Homo floresiensis, a small archaic human.
Etymology
Unlike most islands in the Indonesian archipelago, the modern name Flores was given by the Portuguese. According to Sareng Orin Bao (1969), the oral tradition of the Sika region gave the island the original name of Nusa Nipa, meaning ‘Dragon Island or Snake Island. (Nipa nai means “ascending snakes”; kaju nipa nai is the name of an unidentified tree with a bark resembling snakeskin, but it can also mean “driftwood”, or any sort of wood washed up in a flood. Forth says that “’Nusa Nipa’ is a designation which at present is widely accepted on Flores as the indigenous name for the entire island. In spite of the argument of Sareng Orin Bao (1969) who adduces a variety of evidence favoring this interpretation, it remains uncertain whether this was in a fact a traditional usage, or at any rate one that was known throughout Flores”. The names Tandjoeng Bunga or Tanjung Bunga and Pulau Bunga are also mentioned. The eastern part of the island, originally called Kopondai, was called Cabo das Flores (Cape of Flowers) because of the flowering flamboyant trees found there. That name remained.
History
Prehistory
Before the arrival of modern humans, Flores was occupied by Homo floresiensis, a small archaic human. The ancestors of Homo floresiensis arrived on the island between 1.3 and 1 million years ago. As of 2015, partial remains of fifteen individuals have been found, and the dominant consensus is that these remains do represent a distinct species due to anatomical differences from modern humans. The most recent evidence shows that Homo floresiensis likely became extinct 50,000 years ago, around the time of modern human arrival to the archipelago.
Modern History
Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 16th century, mainly to Larantuka and Sikka. Their influence is still discernible in Sikka’s language, culture, and religion. The first Portuguese visit took place in 1511, through the expedition of António de Abreu and his vice-captain Francisco Serrão, en route through the Sunda islands.
The Dominican order played an important role on this island, as well as on the neighbouring islands of Timor and Solor. When the Dutch attacked the fortress of Solor in 1613, the population of the fort, led by the Dominicans, moved to the harbor town of Larantuka on the eastern coast of Flores. This population was mixed, of Portuguese and local islander descent and Larantuqueiros, Topasses, or, as the Dutch knew them, the ‘Black Portuguese’ (Zwarte Portugezen).
The Larantuqueiros or Topasses became the dominant sandalwood trading people of the region for the next 200 years. This group was observed by William Dampier, an English privateer visiting the Island in 1699:
These [the Topasses] have no Forts, but depend on their Alliance with the Natives: And indeed, they are already so mixt, that it is hard to distinguish whether they are Portuguese or Indians. Their Language is Portuguese; and the religion they have, is Romish. They seem in Words to acknowledge the King of Portugal for their Sovereign, yet they will not accept any Officers sent by him. They speak indifferently the Malayan and their native Languages, as well as Portuguese.
In the western part of Flores, the Manggarai came under the control of the Sultanate of Bima, in eastern Sumbawa. The Dutch effectively established their administration over western Flores in 1907. In 1929, the Bimanese sultanate ceded any control over Manggarai.
In 1846, the Dutch and Portuguese initiated negotiations towards delimiting the territories but these negotiations led nowhere. In 1851 Lima Lopes, the new governor of Timor, Solor and Flores, agreed to sell eastern Flores and the nearby islands to the Dutch in return for a payment of 200,000 Florins to support his impoverished administration. Lima Lopes did so without the consent of Lisbon and was dismissed in disgrace, but his agreement was not rescinded and in 1854 Portugal ceded all its historical claims on Flores. After this, Flores became part of the territory of the Dutch East Indies.
During World War II, Great Britain, the Netherland East Indies and the United States imposed on Japan an embargo on rubber and oil and froze Japan overseas funds. This was a strong incentive for Japan to get hold of the rich colonies of Southeast Asia, and its operation “S” targeted the Lesser Sunda Islands – including Flores. On 14 May 1942 Labuan Bajo was the theatre of an amphibious landing by the Japanese Army landing force; and a Japanese Navy Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) landed at Reo. Japan occupied Flores until the end of the Pacific War. During that time, the Japanese administration and forces saw Christians as suspected Dutch sympathizers and were exceedingly heavy-handed towards them in general; but not so much on Flores, where Christians were treated notably less harshly than in the neighbouring islands of Timor and Sumba. Remarkably, in Flores the European priests and nuns were neither interned nor evicted throughout the occupation. According to Paul Webb (1986), this is because Florenese Christians were “too many to ignore”: nearly half the population of Flores was catholic and the Japanese, who could not afford to increase the size of their small occupation forces on the island, allowed European priests and sisters to stay at their posts rather than risking a general rebellion. After the war, Flores became part of independent Indonesia. On 12 December 1992, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale killed 2,500 people in and around Maumere, including islands off the north coast.
Administration
Some fishing boats on Flores
Flores is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. The island along with smaller minor islands is split into eight regencies (local government divisions); from west to east these are Manggarai Barat (West Manggarai), Manggarai (Central Manggarai), Manggarai Timur (East Manggarai), Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende, Sikka and part of Flores Timur (East Flores). Flores has 35.24% of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial population as of 2023 and is the largest of all islands in the province, with the second-largest population (Timor has slightly more people).
The eight regencies are listed below from east to west, with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2023.
Kode
Wilayah | Name of
City or
Regency | Statute
(including year
when established) | Area
in
km2 | Pop’n
2010
Census | Pop’n
2020
Census | Pop’n
mid 2023
Estimate | Capital | HD
2022 estimate |
|---|
| 53.19 | East Manggarai Regency
(Manggarai Timur) | UU 36/2007 | 2,391.45 | 252,744 | 275,603 | 290,790 | Borong | 0.623 (Medium) |
| 53.16 | Nagekeo Regency | UU 2/2007 | 1,416.96 | 130,120 | 159,732 | 166,063 | Mbay | 0.6622 (Medium) |
| 53.15 | West Manggarai Regency (b)
(Manggarai Barat) | UU 8/2003 | 3,141.47 | 221,703 | 256,317 | 270,917 | Labuan Bajo | 0.6492 (Medium) |
| 53.10 | Manggarai Regency
(Manggarai Tengah) | UU 69/1958 | 1,343.83 | 292,451 | 312,855 | 328,758 | Ruteng | 0.6583 (Medium) |
| 53.09 | Ngada Regency | UU 69/1958 | 1,620.92 | 142,393 | 165,254 | 171,736 | Bajawa | 0.6826 (Medium) |
| 53.08 | Ende Regency | UU 69/1958 | 2,085.19 | 260,605 | 270,763 | 278,581 | Ende | 0.6797 (Medium) |
| 53.07 | Sikka Regency | UU 69/1958 | 1,675.36 | 300,328 | 321,953 | 335,360 | Maumere | 0.6606 (Medium) |
| 53.06 | East Flores Regency
(Flores Timur)
(part of)(a) | UU 69/1958 | 1,056.49 | 101,060 | 116,398 | 120,200 | Larantuka | 0.6493 (Medium) |
| Totals | | 14,731.67 | 1,701,404 | 1,878,875 | 1,962,405 | | |
Notes: (a) only the eight districts of this regency actually on Flores Island are included in these figures; the three districts comprising Solor Island and the eight districts on Adonara Island are excluded.
(b) West Manggarai Regency includes Komodo and Rinca islands off the west coast of Flores; these islands are part of a National Park and thus poorly inhabited.
The main towns on Flores are Maumere, Ende, Ruteng, Larantuka, and Bajawa, listed with their populations as of mid-2023.
- Ende, 87,723 inhabitants (sum of populations of four districts)
- Maumere, 77,909 inhabitants (excluding populations on offshore islands)
- Ruteng, 65,694 inhabitants
- Larantuka, 41,642 inhabitants
- Bajawa, 40,259 inhabitants
Flora and Fauna
Komodo National Park
The Komodo dragon is endemic to Flores and surrounding islands and has been continuously present on Flores for at least 1.4 million years. Today, it is confined to a handful of small areas on Flores itself.
The endemic fauna of Flores includes some rats (Murinae), some of which are now extinct, ranging from small-sized forms such as Rattus hainaldi, Paulamys, and the Polynesian rat (which possibly originated on the island), medium-sized such as Komodomys, and Hooijeromys, and giant such as Spelaeomys and Papagomys, the largest species of which, the still-living Papagomys armandvillei (Flores giant rat) is approximately the size of a rabbit, with a weight of up to 2.5 kilograms.
Flores was also the habitat of several extinct dwarf forms of the proboscidean (elephant-relative) Stegodon, the most recent (Stegodon florensis insularis) disappearing approximately 50,000 years ago.The island before modern human arrival was also inhabited by the giant stork Leptoptilos robustus and the vulture Trigonoceps.
Seismology
Flores Island is bounded by active tectonic regions, with the Sunda Trench to the south and the Flores back-arc thrust fault to the north. As a result, the island experiences many earthquakes each year and on occasion, tsunamis. The largest recorded earthquake in the region was the 1992 Flores earthquake and tsunami, a magnitude 7.8 event that caused Severe shaking on the Mercalli intensity scale. The Flores back-arc thrust is of particular interest to researchers as it is believed to accommodate the transition between the Sunda Trench in the west and the subduction of the Australian plate in the east. The Flores Thrust is approximately 450 km long and consists of a deep-rooted basal fault and many overlying imbricate thrust faults. The system is highly active, with more than 25 earthquakes of a magnitude 6 or above since 1960. In 2018, a large sequence of earthquakes (such as on the 5th of August and in July) in Lombok ruptured sections of the Flores Thrust. The dip of the main thrust fault of approximately 2–3° compared to the 3–4° dip of the subducting plate on the Sunda Trench leads some to believe that the fault could someday be the site of a subduction polarity reversal and begin subducting.
Culture
Saint Angela Church in Labuan Bajo
Languages
Many languages are spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the Austronesian family. In the west Manggarai is spoken; Riung, often classified as a dialect of Manggarai, is spoken in the north-central part of the island. In the centre of the island in the districts of Ngada, Nagekeo, and Ende, there is what is variously called the Central Flores dialect chain or linkage. Within this area, there are slight linguistic differences in almost every village. At least six separate languages are identifiable: from west to east, Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio, and Palu’e, which is spoken on the island with the same name off the north coast of Flores. Locals would probably also add So’a and Bajawa to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha. To the east, Sika and Lamaholot can be found.
Djawanai (1983) precises that Ngadha somewhat deviates from Austronesian norms, in that words do not have clear cognates and the grammatical processes are different; for example, the Austronesian family of languages makes an abundant use of prefixes or suffixes (which form new words by adding extensions either before or after root-words, such as [per-]form or child[-hood]), whereas the Ngadha and Keo languages use no prefixes or suffixes.
Social organisation
The traditional social structure is based on complex extended family ties, where patrilinear and matrilinear lineages are at play and determine a strict social hierarchy within villages. It is similar to that in Lembata, East Nusa Tenggara; and is reflected in the spiderweb disposition of the rice fields around Cancar (16 km west of Ruteng): started as a pie centered on the point where buffaloes are sacrificed, the allotments originally shaped as pie slices were later divided transversally by the heirs.
Religion
Religion in Flores (2023)
Roman Catholic (83.56%)
Protestantism (1.17%)
Islam (15.21%)
Hinduism (0.05%)
Buddhism (0.01%)
Others (0.00%)
The native peoples of Flores are mostly Roman Catholic Christians, whereas most other Indonesians are Muslim. As a consequence, Flores may be regarded as surrounded by a religious border. The prominence of Catholicism on the island resulted from its colonisation by Portugal in the east and early 20th-century support by the Dutch in the west. In other parts of Indonesia with significant Christian populations, such as the Maluku Islands and Sulawesi, the geographical divide is less rigid and Muslims and Christians sometimes live side by side. Flores thereby also has less religious violence than that which has sporadically occurred in other parts of Indonesia. There are several churches on the island. On 26 May 2019, Flores’ St. Paul Catholic University of Indonesia was formally inaugurated by Indonesian Education Minister Mohamad Nasir, becoming the first Catholic university in Flores. Aside from Catholicism, Islam also has a presence on the island, especially in some coastal communities.
Textiles
Ngada women with spinning rods, loom and spinning wheel.
Weaving on Flores makes use of cotton grown in the low-lying zones of the island. Each ethnic group on Flores has its own tradition of dyeing, weaving and trading in textiles.
Tourism
The most famous tourist attraction in Flores is the 1,639-metre-high (5,377-foot) Kelimutu volcano, containing three colored lakes, located in the district of Ende close to the town of Moni, although there is also the Inierie volcano near Bajawa. These crater lakes are in the caldera of a volcano, and fed by a volcanic gas source, resulting in highly acidic water. The colored lakes change colors on an irregular basis, depending on the oxidation state of the lake from bright red to green and blue.
There are snorkeling and diving locations along the north coast of Flores, most notably Maumere and Riung. However, due to the destructive practice of local fishermen using bombs to fish, and locals selling shells to tourists, combined with the after-effects of a devastating tsunami in 1992, the reefs have slowly been destroyed.
Labuan Bajo, located on the western tip, is often used by tourists as a base to visit Komodo and Rinca islands. Labuan Bajo also attracts scuba divers, as whale sharks inhabit the waters around Labuan Bajo.
The Luba and Bena villages include traditional houses in Flores. Bena is also noted for its Stone Age megaliths.
Larantuka, on the isle’s eastern end, is known for its Holy Week festivals.
In recent years, local tourist firms around Kelimutu have begun promoting cycling tours around Flores, some of which take up to five or six days depending on the particular program.
Economy
In addition to tourism, the main economic activities on Flores are agriculture, fishing and seaweed production. The primary food crops being grown on Flores are rice, maize, sweet potato and cassava, while the main cash crops are coffee, coconut, candle nut and cashew. Flores is one of the newest origins for Indonesian coffee. Previously, most Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) from Flores was blended with other origins. Now, demand is growing for this coffee because of its heavy body and sweet chocolate, floral and woody notes.
In the 1980s, cotton crops have been encouraged to generate income for the poorer subsistence farmers. It is planted in low-lying areas of the island. Jackfruit, which occurs throughout the Indonesian archipelago – and elsewhere -, is specifically cultivated in Manggarai and Sikka regencies, and probably in every other regency.
