The contorted island of Sulawesi lies in the middle of the archipelago's sweep, north of Flores and reaching almost to the Philippines. Formerly-and on some maps, still-called the Celebes, the island offers some of the most stunning scenery in all of Indonesia, both above and below water.

The people of Sulawesi are culturally diverse, ranging from the cosmopolitan Bugis of Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi's largest city and the hub of eastern lndonesia, to the traditional Toraja of the highlands.

Shaped by Fire

The island took its unusual shape about 3 million years ago, when a chunk of land that had split from western New Guinea and drifted eastward (Sulawesi's eastern and southeastern peninsulas) collided with a volcanic island that had formed along a fault line east of Borneo (the south and the northern peninsula). The force of collision spun the two islands and left them joined in middle.

The great majority of Sulawesi’s 227,000 square kilometers is higher than 500 meters. The province has 17 active volcanoes, concentrated in North Sulawesi and in the Sangihe Islands. In the past few years, Lokon near Manado and Siau Island's Karangetang have been the most active.

Exquisite Reefs

Because of its unique shape, no part of the island is more than 100 kilometers from the sea, and Sulawesi has a whopping 6,000 kilometers of coastline. More than 110 small offshore islands are also part of the Sulawesi group. Most of this coastline ringed with reef.

Although too disturbed to be of interest to divers, the 16,000 square kilometers of reef off Ujung Pandang supports one the most productive fisheries the world. In the north, the near pristine reefs off Manado are famous for their sheer walls and abundance of fish life.

Perhaps the best diving in t island remains inaccessible: the Togian Islands in Tomini Bay, famous for displaying in a very small area every known type coral reef; Taka Bone Rate, southeast of Selayar Island in south and the third-largest atoll in the world (see map page 18) and the Tukang Besi Islands southeast Sulawesi, rumored have moved Jacques Cousteau who recently passed through Indonesia-to declare them the finest diving site in the world.

Because it straddles the Asian and Australian biogeographical zones and offers a wide range of habitats, Sulawesi has a great number endemic species. Discounting bats, fully 98 persen of the island’s mammals are found nowhere else. Among the most unusual of these are the babirusa-literally "pig deer"-a wild pig with huge, curving tusks; the rare anoa, a water buffalo the size of a dog, and the tiny tarsier, a big-eyed primate the size of a hamster. Some 34 percent of the non-migratory birds 88 species-are endemic.

Famous Entrepot

Although the Gowanese and Bugis developed their own writing systems, adapted from an Indian alphabet, the early texts are concerned chiefly with myths of origin and royal genealogies. Until the Europeans arrived the 16th century, little is known of the island's history.

The Portuguese pioneered the European trade route to the Spice Islands, and Makassar (now Ujung Pandang) was a regular stop on the route from Malacca to the nutmeg and clove islands of Maluku. At the time, the Gowanese and Bugis sailed the monsoon winds as far as Australia in search of trepang a other sea products.

The king of Gowa petitioned the Portuguese for missionaries, but these never arrived. The proselytizers of Islam were more responsive, however, and by the early 17th century South Sulawesi-both the Gowanese and the Bugis-had become a Muslim stronghold.

The Dutch arrived at this time, and quickly muscled the Portuguese out of the spice trade. Although Holland used force of arms to insist that sellers accept low prices, spices continuted to "escape" to Makassar, where sellers got a fair return. To save their monopoly, the Dutch fought the famous "Battle of Makassar," defeating Gowa by allying with the Bugis.

The People of Sulawesi

Among the 11.5 million people living on Sulawesi are dozens of ethnic groups, of which the Bugis, Makassarese and Madarese of the south, the Minahasans of the north, and the Torajans of the interior are the best known.

The Muslim Bugis have always been famous seafarers, and their distinctive wooden pinisi-schooner-shape boats now fitted with diesel engines-still serve as the vehicles for much of the inter-island cargo carried around the archipelago.

The people of Manado and the Minahasa region in the north are predominantly Christians,

having converted during the early 19th century. Good relations with the Dutch led to the region being blessed with schools and other perquisites of colonial favor.

The most famous of Sulawesi’s ethnic groups among visitors are the Toraja, who live in the beautiful highlands north of Makale. The Torajans’ tall, sway-backed tongkonan, or ancestral houses, graced by huge stacks of water buffalo horns, are the archipelago’s most distinctive architectural feature.

Even Torajans working in the big cities of western Indonesia return home for an important funeral of one of their kinsmen. At these grand events, in which the entire community participates, hundreds of very valuable water buffalo are Slaughtered.