- Lembata
Pulau Lembata (the
island of Lembata), formerly known as Pulau Lomblen, is the largest island of theSolor Archipelago , in theLesser Sunda Islands ,Indonesia . It forms part of the province ofNusa Tenggara Timur . The length of the island is about 80 km from the Southwest to the Northeast and the width is about 30 km from the West to the East. It rises to a height of 1533 m.To the west lie the other islands in the archipelago, most notably
Solor andAdonara , and then the larger island ofFlores . To the east is theAlor Strait , which separates this archipelago from theAlor Archipelago . To the south across theSavu Sea lies the island ofTimor , while to the north the western branch of theBanda Sea separates it fromButon and the other islands ofSoutheast Sulawesi .Geography
The capital city
Lewoleba (also known as Labala) is found on the Western part of the island alongside a huge bay facing the Ilê Apevolcano in the North. Ships frequently connect the coastal towns and surrounding islands, but the only bigger harbour exists at Lewoleba in the North of the island. From Lewoleba there are daily connections toLarantuka , Flores, and Waiwerang on the neighbouring island of Adonara.Like the other Lesser Sunda Islands, and indeed much of Indonesia, Lembata is volcanically active. It has three volcanoes,
Ililabalekan ,Iliwerung , andLewotolo .History
The south part of Lembata was the site of the state of
Labala .People
The people of Lembata are, like many other inhabitants of Eastern Indonesia, famous for their handmade
ikat weavings.The national language, Indonesian, is known by many people of all ages, but like on other islands the national language coexists with many local languages. The most widespread of these is probably
Lamaholot (anotherlingua franca inside theSolor archipelago ). Lamaholot is spoken as a native language on EasternFlores and WesternSolor , and is itself divided into ten or more sublanguages (and many more dialects). It is spoken by 150.000 or more people in the region.On the South coast of Lembata, the village of
Lamalera (pop. 2.500) is known for its whale hunting. Lamalera and Lamakera (on the neighbouring island of Solor) are the last two remaining Indonesian whaling communities.External links
* http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1134/is_8_110/ai_79051531
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