Sula Islands Regency

The Sula Islands Regency (Kabupaten Kepulauan Sula) is one of the regencies in North Maluku province of Indonesia. It was originally formed on 25 February 2003, when it encompassed the three large islands comprising the Sula Archipelago, together with minor adjacent islands. However, the largest and most westerly of the three, Taliabu, was split off from the Sula Islands Regency on 14 December 2012 to form a separate regency.

The remaining two islands which now comprise the Regency are Sulabesi (formerly Sanama) and Mangoli (formerly Mangole). The residual regency covers a land area of 5,213.55 km2 and had a population of 85,215 at the 2010 Census and 104,082 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 105,095 (comprising 52,697 males and 52,398 females). The administrative capital is at the town of Sanana on the north part of the east coast of Sulabesi Island.

History
The Dutch built a fort on Sanana in 1652. Wallace visited the islands during an ornithological expedition in 1862.



Pre-Indonesian Independence saw the Sula Islands also known as the Xulla Islands, with Taliabo as Xulla Taliabo, Sulabesi (originally Sanana Island) as Xulla Bessi, and Mangoli as Xulla Mangola.

Administration
Sula Islands Regency comprises twelve districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2023. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages (all classed as rural desa) in each district, and its post code.

Note: (a) including offshore islands of Pulau Dodoku and Pulau Mancaril.

Economy
According to government data, Sula Islands Regency's food crops include vegetables, groundnuts, cassava, sweet potatoes, durian, mangosteen and mango. the area of agriculturally active land was 24743.56 hectares with production amounting to 33,608.62 tons per year. Taliabu-Sanana District is the main producer of cloves, nutmeg, cocoa, copra and other coconut products. Fishery production is very diverse with and estimated sustainable potential of 40,273.91 tonnes per year of which only 22.8 percent is currently exploited. Forestry is considered a potential industry with the natural forest-based Classification Map TGHK RTRWP suggesting a forest area of 471,951.53 hectares, but much of this is protected or hard to access, due to steep slopes and transportation logistics, and the islands' main plywood company, PT Barito Pacific Timber Group (in Falabisahaya, West Mangoli) has closed. Industrial activity is very limited. There is a gold mine in East Mangoli District (at Waitina and Kawata) and coal mines are located in the peninsula of West Sulabesi District, East Taliabu and Sub Sanana (Wai Village Ipa). Reserves of coal are estimated around 10.4 million tonnes.

Tourism
The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism (Kemenpar) is ready to support the promotion of tourism destination potential on Sula Islands. Demographically located between the crossroads of Wakatobi and Raja Ampat tourist areas, it is ideally developed as marine tourism and special interest tourism for diving enthusiasts.

One of the support is Maksaira Festival at Wai Ipa Beach to Bajo Village Beach. On 2018 the festival as a cultural and marine tourism attraction event has entered the third year and will be listed as MURI record breaking for the largest grouper fishing participant targeted by 3000 participants in 2018, where year 2017 followed by 1700 participants.

Fauna
The following species are native to the Sula Islands:
 * Buru babirusa Babyrousa babyrussa
 * Banggai cuscus Strigocuscus pelengensis
 * Sula rat Rattus elaphinus
 * Sulawesi flying fox Acerodon celebensis
 * Lesser short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis
 * Greenish naked-backed fruit bat Dobsonia viridis
 * Long-tongued nectar bat Macroglossus minimus
 * Pallas's tube-nosed bat Nyctimene cephalotes
 * Ashy-headed flying fox Pteropus caniceps
 * Sulawesi rousette Rousettus celebensis
 * Swift fruit bat Thoopterus nigrescens
 * Small Asian sheath-tailed bat Emballonura alecto
 * Fawn leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros cervinus
 * Small bent-winged bat Miniopterus pusillus
 * Sula megapode Megapodius bernsteinii (Gosong Sula), status vulnerable

Introduced species include:
 * Asian house shrew
 * Wild boar (Sus scrofa)
 * Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans)