Physiography
Flores is part of one of the strings of islands east of Bali, formally known as the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Größere Kartenansicht
Flores Island lies in Nusa Tenggara, between the Sumbawa, Komodo and Rinca islands to the west and Solor, Lembata and Alor island to the east.
The capital of Nusa Tenggarra is at Kupang in West Timor.
Flores itself is divided into 6 districts, from west to east; Manggarai, Ngada, Ende-Lio, Sikka and
Flores Timur and Lembata with their capitals: Ruteng, Bajawa, Ende, Maumere, Larantuka and Lewoleba.
The island of Flores - 14.125 square Km - is highly mountainous. With its wide in between 26 and 270 KM
and length 360 KM. The narrowest part is in Maumere. Flores lies in the volcanic belt, which runs all the
way down from Sumatra through Java, Bali up to Banda Sea (the inner arc). It has a turbulent geological
past, which gave a complicated relief and rugged landscape.
Characteristically, they are considerable
differences in altitude between the mountain range (with peaks between 2100 and 2445 m) and deep sea
at some places down to 5000 m. The island has 14 active volcanoes, with recent significant eruption
as follows; Mt. Lewotobi (East Flores)1938, Mt. Lerek (Lembata) 1948, Mt. Rokatenda (PaluE) 1964)
and Mt. Ia (Ende) 1969. Evidence of the high degree of crusted instability is the frequency with
which earthquakes hit the island. The latest was on December 12, 1992, which was the most devastating
of the last 100 years killing more than 2000 people.
Flora & Fauna
Lying to the east of the Wallace line, and west of Weber line, no large Asian mammals are found,
although many Asian birds, insects and reptiles are found, the most significant is Komodo Dragon.
Fossils of tusks found at some places indicated that certain species of pygmy elephants have been
roaming through the ranges of Flores.
But most important is the very rich marine life, coral reefs
as well as fish species. Mr. Rudie Kuiter in a two-week survey in 1987 listed 850 species in 82 families,
and he expected to discover still many new species, which are new to science. Indications are that it may
be one of the richest coral reefs in the world.
Climate
This is a typical monsoon area. The period of the N.W. monsoon (December - April) with prevailing
wind from west to northwest brings rain, while the period of S.E monsoon (June-September/October)
is the dry season, with prevailing wind east to southeast.
The two seasons are separated by
intermediate months (November and May) when winds may come from any direction. According to the island's rainfall
pattern, Flores can be divided into three zones: 1. The dry north coast with less than 1000 mm annual
rainfall, 2. The central mountains with over 2000 mm annual rainfall and 3. The southern flanks which
benefit from bimodal rainfall.
Actual weather in Indonesia and the weather forecast for the next days you can find on www.weatheronline.co.uk
Population
The population of Flores is of mixed ethnic origin, with considerable linguistic differences.
Recent archeological findings indicate Flores is associated with Paleolithic Malay culture,
besides having Melanesian cultural characteristics. In Flores, there are many descendants of the Portuguese.
On the small islands in the Flores Sea and in villages scattered on the north coast, live the Bajau,
Bugis and Butonese who originate from Sulawesi.
As mentioned earlier, Flores is divided into 6 districts, each speaking a different language,
although all belonging to the Austronesian family. Of the 2 million population of Flores,
approximately 254.000 live in Kabupaten Sikka. Population of the town of Maumere is + 20.000.
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