Balabalagan Islands

Balabalagan Islands (also spelled Balabalangan and historically known as Little Paternoster Islands) are an archipelago in the Makassar Strait off the east coast of Kalimantan (Borneo), halfway between it and Sulawesi, Indonesia.

In the 19th century, the islands were recorded as numbering 14, with the largest named Sebunkatang; the channels were shallow and unnavigable, but provided a fertile fishing ground for the island natives, called Biajoo. [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YCMDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA384&dq=balabalagan&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1#PPA385,M1
title=A New and Comprehensive Gazetteer
author=George Wright
year=1834
publisher=Thomas Kelly] The islands rest on a coral reef, itself placed on an undersea bank which extends out from Kalimantan, presenting a major hazard to navigation; the "Admiralty Pilot" has warned that "No vessel should venture among [them] without local knowledge." [cite book
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=hM-9joPZMj8C&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=%22little+paternoster+islands%22&source=web&ots=S_nIXdIVYw&sig=KLAbS36K9jDuItv9P8kUMMlZXDE
title=International Straits of the World: Malacca Singapore and Indonesia
author=Michael Leifer
year=N/A
publisher=Sijthoff & Nordhoff Note that Google Books has mislabeled book.]

References

External links

* [http://www.mapplanet.com/?do=loc&country=ID&adm1=14&loc=5342564 List of alternate names]