Southwest Papua in the context of "Salawati"

New Guinea (Tok Pisin: Niugini; Hiri Motu: Niu Gini; Indonesian: Papua, fossilized Nugini, also known as Papua or historically Irian) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km (303,381 sq mi). It has the third-largest remaining rainforest globally, and the highest plant biodiversity of any island. Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre (81-nautical-mile; 93-mile) wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 because of the perceived resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.

The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the nation of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua. The two major cities on the island are Port Moresby and Jayapura.

Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. They were formerly called first-level provincial regions (provinsi daerah tingkat I), before the Reform era. Provinces have a local government, consisting of a governor (Gubernur) and a regional legislative body (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Provinsi, DPRD Provinsi). The governor and members of local representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms, but governors can only serve for two terms. Provincial governments have the authority to regulate and manage their own government affairs, subject to the limits of the central government. The average land area of all 38 provinces in Indonesia is about 49,800 km (19,200 sq mi), and they had an average population of 7,410,626 people in mid-2024.

Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terms for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translate to "special", or "designated". Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (formerly called second-level region regencies/cities, or kabupaten/kotamadya daerah tingkat II), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan). Proposals for the creation of additional provinces (by the splitting of existing ones) have been considered by the Indonesian government, but further action has been suspended since 2013 under a moratorium. However, in 2022, nine years later, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Southwest Papua were created and became the youngest provinces in the country. The enactment of the Law on State Capital in 2022 established a future provincial-level city, Nusantara, which would officially become the 39th province after a presidential decree on relocating the state capital is issued, and it would replace Jakarta as the nation's capital city.

Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea (Dutch: Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, Indonesian: Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1949 to 1962. It contained what are now Indonesia's six easternmost provinces, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua, which were administered as a single province prior to 2003 under the name Irian Jaya, and now comprise the Papua region of the country.

During the Indonesian Revolution, the Dutch launched politionele acties to capture territory from the Indonesian Republic. The harsh methods of the Dutch drew international disapproval. With international opinion shifting towards support of the Indonesian Republic, the Dutch managed in 1949 to negotiate for the separation of Dutch New Guinea from the broader Indonesian settlement, with the fate of the disputed territory to be decided by the close of 1950. The Dutch in the coming years stated at the UN that the indigenous population of Dutch New Guinea represented a separate ethnic group from the people of Indonesia and thus should not be absorbed into the Indonesian state. The Indonesian Republic, as successor state to the Netherlands East Indies, claimed Dutch New Guinea as part of its natural territorial bounds. The dispute over New Guinea was an important factor in the quick decline in bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia after Indonesian independence. The dispute escalated into low-level conflict in 1962 following Dutch moves in 1961 to establish a New Guinea Council.

Raja Ampat (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˌrad͡ʒa ˈ(ʔ)ampat̪̚]), or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off of the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals around the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.

The Raja Ampat archipelago is just south of the equator and forms part of the Coral Triangle, an area of Southeast Asian seas containing the richest marine biodiversity on earth. The Coral Triangle itself is an approximate area west-southwest of the Philippines, east-northeast and southeast of the island of Borneo, and north, east, and west of the island of New Guinea, including the seas in between. Thousands of species of marine organisms, from the tiniest cleaner shrimp and camouflaged pygmy seahorses to the majestic cetaceans and whale sharks, thrive in these waters.

Highland Papua (Indonesian: Papua Pegunungan, lit. 'Papua Mountains') is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of the Papuan customary region of Lano Pago (often shortened to La Pago). It covers an area of 51,213.33 km (19,773.58 sq mi) and had a population of 1,467,050 according to the official estimates as at mid 2024 (comprising 783,220 males and 683,830 females).

Formally established on 25 July 2022 from the central and mountainous former part of the province of Papua, it is located on the central highlands of Western New Guinea, where it is the first and only landlocked province in Indonesia. The capital of Highland Papua is in Jayawijaya Regency, in Hubikosi District. The legal provision for the province's establishment was approved by the People's Representative Council on 30 June 2022, with the bill signed into Law No. 16/2022 by President Joko Widodo on 25 July, making it one of Indonesia's three then-youngest provinces alongside Central Papua and South Papua (which were subsequently joined by the even newer Southwest Papua Province). It borders Papua New Guinea to its east, South Papua to its south, Central Papua to its west (and southwest) and the residual Papua Province to its north.

West Papua (Indonesian: Papua Barat), formerly Irian Jaya Barat (West Irian), is an Indonesian province located in Indonesia Papua. It covers most of the two western peninsulas of the island of New Guinea: the eastern half of the Bird's Head Peninsula (or Doberai Peninsula) and the whole of the Bomberai Peninsula, along with nearby smaller islands. The province is bordered to the north by the Pacific Ocean; to the west by Southwest Papua Province, the Halmahera Sea and the Ceram Sea; to the south by the Banda Sea; and to the east by the province of Central Papua and the Cenderawasih Bay. Manokwari is the province's capital and largest city. With an estimated population of 578,700 in mid-2024 (comprising 304,140 males and 274,560 females), West Papua is the second-least-populous province in Indonesia after South Papua, following the separation off in December 2022 of the western half of the Bird's Head Peninsula to create the new province of Southwest Papua, containing 52% of what had been West Papua's population. Its population density is similar to that of Russia.

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Dutch remained in New Guinea until 1962 when they transferred the control of the region to the Indonesian government as a part of the New York Agreement. West Papua was legally created as a province in 1999 (out of the original Papua Province), but it was not inaugurated until 2003. Consisting until 2022 of twelve regencies and one city, the province has a special autonomous status as granted by Indonesian legislation.

Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It is located in Eastern Indonesia, between Sulawesi and Western New Guinea, and comprises the central and southern regions of the Maluku Islands. It is directly adjacent to North Maluku, Southwest Papua, and West Papua in the north; Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi in the west; the Banda Sea, Australia, Timor-Leste, and East Nusa Tenggara in the south; and the Arafura Sea, Central Papua, and South Papua in the east. The land area is 46,158.26 km, and the total population of this province at the 2010 census was 1,533,506 people, rising to 1,848,923 at the 2020 census, and the official estimate in mid 2024 was 1,945,648 (comprising 983,943 males and 961,705 females). The largest city and capital of Maluku province is Ambon on the small Ambon Island.

Maluku has two main religions, namely Islam which at the 2020 census was adhered to by 52.85% of the population of the province and Christianity which is embraced by 46.3% (39.4% Protestantism and 7.0% Catholicism).

Tourism in Indonesia is an important component of the Indonesian economy as well as a significant source of its foreign exchange revenues. Indonesia was ranked at 20th in the world tourist industry in 2017, also ranked as the ninth-fastest growing tourist sector in the world, the third-fastest growing in Asia and fastest-growing in Southeast Asia. In 2018, Denpasar, Jakarta and Batam are among of 10 cities in the world with fastest growth in tourism, 32.7, 29.2 and 23.3 percent respectively. The tourism sector ranked as the 4th largest among goods and services export sectors.

In 2019, Indonesia recorded 16.10 million foreign tourist arrivals, seeing a 1.9% per cent increase than that of 2018. In 2015, 9.73 million international visitors entered Indonesia, staying in hotels for an average of 7.5 nights and spending an average of US$1,142 per person during their visit, or US$152.22 per person per day. Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, and Japan are the top five sources of visitors to Indonesia.