Ligitan Islands , Ligitan Islands ( Malay. Kepulauan Ligitan , English Ligitan group of islands ) - a group of islands , sand banks and coral reefs in the Sulawesi Sea , which is part of the Malay Archipelago . Belongs to Malaysia , belongs to the territory of Sabah .
| Ligitan islands | |
|---|---|
| Malaysian Kepulauan Ligitan Ligitan group of islands | |
 | |
| Specifications | |
| total area | 1 km² |
| Highest point | 12 m |
| Population | 2000 people (1999) |
| Population density | 2000 people / km² |
| Location | |
| Archipelago | Malay archipelago |
| Water area | Sea Sulawesi |
| A country |
|
| Region | Sabah |
The land area - less than 1 km² - is unstable given the periodic disappearance of some reefs and cans. The largest islands are Ligitan and Mabul . The population is about 2000 people, concentrated on the island of Mabul. Sea resorts are equipped on many islands; diving has become widespread.
Physico-geographical characteristics
Geographical position
Geographic coordinates - [1]
The Ligitan Islands are located in the Sibuco Bay of the Sulawesi Sea at the southeastern tip of Kalimantan (the distance to the nearest point of Kalimantan is about 15 km), are part of the Malay Archipelago. From Kalimantan and groups of coastal islands and reefs are separated by the Ligitan Strait . The archipelago stretches from east to west, tapering in this direction. The length is about 60 km, the distance from north to south in the widest, eastern part is about 20 km. Being a Malaysian territory, it is located in close proximity to the Malaysian-Indonesian maritime border [1] [2] .
The archipelago includes several islands, the largest of which are Ligitan (0.076 km² [3] ), which names the entire island group, and Mabul (0.21 km²). In addition, it contains sand banks, the tops of which appear on the surface only during low tides (for example, Kapalay ), as well as numerous coral reefs. The archipelago should not be confused with one of its reefs, also called Ligitan or Ligitan Reef (located in the western part of the archipelago) [1] [2] [4] .
Climate
The climate is equatorial , humid, generally typical of the north-eastern part of Kalimantan. The average annual temperature maximum is +39 ° C, the minimum is +17 ° C. The average daily temperature is + 27–29 ° C. The difference between the maximum and minimum daily temperatures is small - an average of 5 ° C [5] [6] .
Natural conditions
A significant part of the archipelago is coral reefs. A few islands, also usually surrounded by reefs, are made of sand [7] . On the largest - Ligitan and Mabul - there is tropical vegetation: palm trees and shrubs. The fauna of the islands proper is rather poor - there are no large animals , several species of rodents , reptiles and amphibians are found . At the same time, the water area of the archipelago is characterized by great natural diversity - various species of sharks , anglerfish ( lat. Lophiiformes ), gobies ( lat. Gobiidae ), trigle ( lat. Triglidae ), octopuses ( lat. Octōpoda ), squid ( lat. Teuthida ), shrimp ( Latin Caridea ), crabs , cuttlefish , sea snakes [5] [8] [9] .
Territorial and administrative affiliation
In the administrative plan, the Ligitan Islands belong to the Semporna region ( Malaysian. Daerah Semporna ), which is part of the Tawau County ( Malaysian. Bahagian Tawau ), which, in turn, is part of the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah ( Malaysian. Negeri Sabah ) [4] [ 10] .
The sovereignty over the island of Ligitan, which is part of the archipelago, has long been disputed by Malaysia and Indonesia: both states justified their claims by various legal and cartographic sources inherited from the former metropolises - Great Britain and the Netherlands , respectively (except Ligitan, the neighboring island of Sipadan was the subject of a dispute) [10] . In 1997, the parties agreed to refer the territorial affiliation of Ligitan and Sipadan to the UN International Court of Justice , which in December 2002 decided in favor of Malaysia, declaring both islands to be its territory [3] [11] . The verdict of the Court was unconditionally recognized by the Indonesian authorities [10] [12] .
Population
The only permanently inhabited island of the archipelago is Mabul: according to the results of the 1999 census , about 2,000 people lived there. There are two villages on Mabul - Mabul ( Malaysk. Kampung Mabul - Mabul village ) and Musu ( Malaysian. Kampung Musu ), located, respectively, in the southern and northern parts of the island. It is noteworthy that their population, despite the small area of the island, is heterogeneous in origin: the inhabitants of the village of Mabul are mainly descendants of immigrants from the Philippine archipelago of Sulu , the inhabitants of Musu are immigrants from various Malaysian islands. Believers - Muslims - Sunnis (there is a mosque on the island) [5] [13] .
On some other islands, workers of hotels located there and other objects of socio-economic infrastructure, who, as a rule, are residents of the neighboring regions of Kalimantan, have been living for a long time.
Economics
The islanders' traditional activities are fishing and coconut cultivation. Since the 1970s, the tourism industry began to develop in the archipelago - primarily, with an emphasis on diving , snorkeling and other types of sea recreation. The activation of the influx of tourists was later promoted by the peaceful settlement of the Malaysian-Indonesian dispute over sovereignty over Ligitan and Sipadan, which contributed to the general improvement of the situation and, in particular, the intensification of maritime navigation in this part of the Sulawesi Sea [10] .
In the 2000s, the Ligitan Islands established themselves as one of the most popular resort areas of East Malaysia. The main elements of the local tourist infrastructure are the hotel and resort complexes Sipadan-Mabul Resort and Sipadan-Kapalay Dive Resort, located respectively on the island of Mabul and the bank of Kapalay, as well as on the island of Sipadan that is not related to it [8] [14] .
Transport
The main maritime communication with the archipelago is through the port of the city of Semporna . From there, in particular, speedboats daily arrive on islands of resort importance, providing transportation of tourists, part of service personnel and necessary goods. Some islands have helipads [5] [14] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Borneo - Northeast Coast (English) (PDF). Date of treatment October 2, 2011. Archived on August 29, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Ligitan . - Map of the Ligitan Islands and the surrounding area on the TopoMapper website. Date of appeal September 30, 2011. Archived August 30, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Endy M. Bayuni. Sipadan / Ligitan Row: A matter of national pride (inaccessible link) . The Jakarta Post (December 16, 2002). - The electronic version of the Jakarta Post newspaper. Date of treatment October 2, 2011. Archived on August 29, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Other Interesting Places - Pulau Sipadan & Ligitan Islands . Date of appeal September 30, 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Sipadan Dive Islands - Mabul Island (English) . Capslock Sdn Bhd. Date of treatment October 7, 2011. Archived February 27, 2012.
- ↑ Semporna . WEATHER2. Date of treatment October 7, 2011. Archived February 27, 2012.
- ↑ Information about Mabul (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment January 24, 2010. Archived February 27, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Sipadan Kapalai Dive Resort (inaccessible link) . - The site of the hotel and resort complex "Sipadan-Kapalay dive resort." Date of treatment October 5, 2011. Archived August 30, 2012.
- ↑ Sabah: Kapalai Island (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment October 5, 2011. Archived August 30, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Penyelesaian Perselisihan Kasus Sipadan Ligitan Melalui Mahkamah Internasional (indonesian) . - The history of the consideration of the territorial affiliation of the Sipadan and Ligitan Islands in the UN International Court of Justice. Date of treatment October 7, 2011. Archived on August 29, 2012.
- ↑ Case Concerning Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indonesia v. Malaysia) (Merits) (English) (PDF) (link not available) . International Court of Justice (December 17, 2002). - Summary of the decision of the International Court of Justice of the United Nations on the territorial affiliation of the islands of Litan and Sipadan. Date of appeal September 30, 2010. Archived on August 29, 2012.
- ↑ Other Interesting Places - Pulau Sipadan & Ligitan Islands . Date of treatment October 7, 2011.
- ↑ Native Community (English) (inaccessible link - history ) . Date of treatment October 7, 2011.
- ↑ 1 2 Sipadan-Mabul Resort Location . - The site of the hotel and resort complex "Sipadan-Mabul Resort". Date of treatment January 24, 2010. Archived February 27, 2012.
Topographic maps
- Map sheet B-50-G . Scale: 1: 500,000 . The Ligitan Islands are at the bottom of the sheet.
Links
- mabulresort.com/index.php (English) - the official site of the Sipadan-Mabul Resort hotel and resort complex (Retrieved October 8, 2011)
- sipadan-kapalai.com (English) - the official site of the Sipadan-Kapalai Dive Resort hotel and resort complex (Retrieved October 8, 2011)