Flores

Related Category: Indonesian Political Geography

(flôr´ĕs), island, 6,627 sq mi (17,164 sq km), E Indonesia, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Flores is heavily wooded, rugged, and mountainous, rising to 7,872 ft (2,399 m). The inhabitants are predominantly Christian, mainly Roman Catholic; those in the west are chiefly Malayans, and those in the east are Papuans. Corn and coconuts are grown. Ende (1990 pop. 48,966) is the chief town and port. The Flores Sea is north of the island and S of Sulawesi.

Among the prehistoric inhabitants of the island were small-proportioned humans that some scientists consider a separate human species, which they classified as Homo floresiensis in 2004; the individuals lived on Flores as recently as 13,000 years ago. Other scientists, however, believe that the ancient remains that have been found on Flores are those of microcephalic modern humans who also suffered from dwarfism. Much later under the rule of the princes of Sulawesi, Flores came under Dutch influence c.1618. The Dutch gradually gained control of the island, although Portugal held the eastern end until 1851 and the natives were not completely subjugated until 1907.