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Nias

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'''Nias''' (Indonesian language Indonesian: '''Pulau Nias''', Nias language: '''Tanö Niha''') is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located in a chain of islands parallel to the coast that are separated from Sumatra by the Mentawai Strait; Simeulue is located about 140 km northwest, and the Batu Islands are located about 80 km southeast. This chain, which resurfaces in Nusa Tenggara in the mountainous islands of Sumba and Timor, is the forearc of the South Sumatra Basin along the Sunda Trench subduction zone. At Nias the oceanic plate is being obliquely subducted under the Asian Plate at the rapid rate of 52 mm a year (Milsom). Nias Island lies on latitude 1° 30' north and longitude 97° 98' east. It covers an area of 4, 771 km² which is mostly lowland area of ± 800 m above sea level.

Administration
Nias is the largest of the islands off Sumatra that are part of North Sumatra province. This area consists of 131 islands and Nias Island is the biggest. The population in this area is about 639,675 people (including Ono Niha - the native inhabitant of the Island, Malay, Batak, and Overseas Chinese Chinese). Administratively it was a ''kabupaten'' (regional government) of the province North Sumatra. In 2003 it was split into two regencies, '''Kabupaten Nias''' (Northern Nias) and '''Kabupaten Nias Selatan''' (Southern Nias). Telukdalam is the capital of Kabupaten Nias Selatan. Gunungsitoli is the capital city of Nias and it is the center of administration and business affairs of the regency. There are several travel agencies hotels, public busses and rental cars to support tourism here. There are also some government and private banks available.

Sights
The main tourist/surfing area is Lagundri Bay, close to the town of Teluk Dalam, on the southern tip. Enclosed by the beaches of Lagundri and Sorake, the bay has both left and right-hand breaks. As they wait for waves, surfers can often see sea turtles swimming below. Nias was part of the famous Hippie trail of the 1960s, particularly travelled by surfers, which lead to Bali. Some claim that the waves at the southern beach of Sorake are better than the ones in Maui. It has been the site of several international surfing competitions in the past, particularly before the 1998 Indonesian Reformation Movement. Image:Nias_shield.jpg thumb|100px|An old Nias ceremonial shield

Culture
Nias is home not only to a unique human culture but also endemic fauna which differ from other areas of North Sumatra because of the island's remote location separate from Sumatra. Some have cited local culture as one of the few remaining Megalithic cultures in existence today, a culture some experts say is fast disappearing in the prominent world trend of technological diffusion and the spread of global culture. However, Gunung Sitoli is home to Nias' only museum, the Museum Pusaka Nias, which houses over 6000 objects related to Nias' cultural heritage. The museum had recently built a new building and had improved their storage and exhibitions when the 2004 earthquake and tsunami occurred. The museum suffered some damage to the grounds and collections [http://nias-portal.org/np/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=105], but museum staff are working to recover from this devastating event. The predominant religion is Protestantism Protestant Christianity, Six out of seven Niasans are Protestant; the remainder are about evenly divided between Muslim (mostly immigrants from elsewhere in Indonesia) and Catholic. The Christian religion was firstly brought to Nias by the Catholic mission from France, which is the "Missions Etrangers de Paris", but their work took place just a short period of time, from 1832-1835. The Protestan mission was begun during 1865 by the German evangelist, E. Ludwig Denninger from Rheinische Missions-Gesselschaft (RMG) on September 27 1865. This mission body was for the time being issued from Kalimantan. At the time the inhabitants of the island embraced the ancestors's religion. Till 1900, when the colonial Dutch government entered, the growth of the church in Nias was very slow. The first baptism was carried out in 1874. Around 15 years afterwards (1890), the number of Christians who was baptised just reached 706 people. This number improved through to 20 000 people in 1915. From 1915-1920 Christian communities in Nias experienced the big spiritual awakening, and religion then spreaded in a very quick fashion. During 1921 already 60 000 people were baptised - in five years the amount of believers increased of 40 000 people. During 1936 the BNKP Synod that first was formed and till 1940 was led by a German missionary. The spiritual awakening following (1938-1942, 1945-1949) only did not produce the growth but also church dissension (Fa’awösa khö Geheha and Fa’awösa khö Jesu). In the meantime in Nias developed also the Advent Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless BNKP continued to be the biggest Church, that included 60% from all over the inhabitants. Therefore, this Church was the important factor in various aspects of the life of the community in the island. This church might be said joined the Nias community to one ethnic unity and the language. The Nias language north was made the Holy Scripture language and the Church. The complete holy scripture was published in 1913 in Nias language. At this time, from around 500 000 inhabitants, around 73% religious Christian Protestan, 18% Roman Catholic, and 7% religious Islam, while the rest of them embraced the ancestors's religion. The 1,000 rupiah Indonesian bank note in the 1990s featured a Nias stone-jumper performing the traditional activity of jumping a stone wall.

Transportation
To reach Nias, there is a weekly ship from Jakarta to Gunung Sitoli; there were ferries from Sibolga to Gunung Sitoli, Teluk Dalam, or Lahewa every day; before the crisis hit Indonesia, there was a daily flight from Medan to Gunung Sitoli, however it is less frequent nowadays. Since the 1998 Reformation, however, transport links on and to the island have become poor. Internally, the road system is in a very bad condition. Externally the air and ferry links are unreliable. There are two ferry terminals (Gunung Sitoli and Teluk Dalam) and an airport (Binaka, near G. Sitoli [http://www.fallingrain.com/icao/WIMB.html]) on the island, serviced mainly from Sibolga and Medan, Indonesia Medan respectively. However, local ferry companies regularly go out of business (or their boats sink), so only one terminal may be active at any given time. Commercial air travel is equally unreliable.

Tsunami and earthquakes of 2004 and 2005
On December 26, 2004 the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck a few kilometers north of the island, creating tsunamis as high as 10 meters. 122 people were killed and hundreds more rendered homeless. On March 28, 2005, the island was again hit by the 2005 Sumatran earthquake, initially presumed to be an aftershock following the 2004 quake, but now regarded as the List of earthquakes second-most powerful earthquake in the world since 1965 and twelfth-most powerful ever recorded. At least 800 people are reported dead, with the possibility of more than 2,000 casualties. Hundreds of buildings have toppled, and many thousands have been made homeless.

See also
* Islands of Indonesia

External links

- Nias Island Website
- Yaahowu Website
- Nias Info on SurfingSumatra
- artyfakt research site
- John Milsom, "Seismology and Neotectonics" in ''Geology of Sumatra'', ''Geological Society Memoir'' no. 27 Nias humanitarian associations and foundations: *[http://www.howu-howu.org/] *[http://asso.faomasi.free.fr/] Category:Islands of Indonesia ar:نياس da:Nias de:Nias fi:Nias fr:Île de Nias id:Nias ja:ニアス島 ms:Nias nl:Nias no:Nias pl:Nias

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