Sulawesi (formerly more commonly known as Celebes) is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia lying between Kalimantan and Maluku. Sulawesi is the world's eleventh-largest island. It has a distinctivly contorted shape, dominated by four large peninsulas. The central part of the island is ruggedly mountainous, such that the island's peninsulas have traditionally been remote from each other, with better connections by sea than by road.
Sulawesi straddles Wallace's Line meaning that it has a mix of both Asian and Austronesian species. There are 127 known mammalian species in Sulawesi 62% (79 species) of which are endemic to Sulawesi. The island is renowned for its stunning coastline, mountain scenery and the diverse cultures of its people including the Toraja.
The 2000 census population of the provinces of Sulawesi was 14,946,488, about 7.25% of Indonesia's total population. Though Islam is the religion of the majority of Sulawesi's people, in large regions of the islan Christians form a substantial minority. (Read more...)