WELCOME TO NORTH SULAWESI GENERAL INFORMATION OF PROVINCE The Province of North Sulawesi is one of the most prosperous and spectacularly scenic areas of Indonesia. Much of the beauty and fertility of region from its towering volcanoes. Many area extinct or dormant, but Mt. Lokon near Tomohon last eruption in 1986. earth Soputan in central Minahasa the last eruption at 1989. earth tremos are not at all uncommon here in North Sulawesi. Volcanoes are only one aspect of a geologically active complex that includes fumarotes and hot spring in the Minahasa district. Studies have beed carried out to ascertain the feasibility of generating electricity from geothermal energy here. More importantly, the volcanoes are responsible for the exceptionally fertile soils that are the province’s major economic asset. MINAHASA as the hinterland of Manado is the most heavily populate and highly developed district. Only 20 percent of its land remains under forest cover, and the population density has soared to over 300 persons per square kilometers less than half than Java population, but still very high. The Minahasa area is extremely mountainous (Mt. Klabat, the highest peak, stands at 1995 meters) but have a narrow coastal fringe where coconuts thrive, and an interior plateau around lake of Tondano (altitude 600 meter, surface area 46 sq meters), where irrigated rice fields provide abundant harvests. The upland hills are covered in clove trees, while in the cool highland areas to the south, near the border with Bolaang Mongondow vegetables such as potatoes, carrots and cabbages are grown. Minahasans and other peoples of the province have a different sort of original story; the myth of Toar and Lumimuut. The primal ancestors Lumimuut was born out of foam from a coral rock thrown up from the sea and impregnated by the wind. She her son Toar set out in different directions to search for mates. Years later they met but did not recognize one other and so married, giving birth to many children/ Its said that Lumimuut gathered her off spring at a secret stone called “ Watu Pinabetengan” and allocated different parts of the real to them. This stone, with its undeschiperred pictographic carving is still in situ near the town of Langowan. At the time the first European visit in North Sulawesi was inhabited largely by inland and upland people who practiced shifting cultivation. The Minahasans were not organized in states, coastal kingdoms had been established in Gorontalo, as a result of Islamic influence emanating from Bugis Kindoms to the South and From the Sultanate of Ternate to the east. The first westerners to visit this area were the Portugesse in the mid-1500s, when they sent a priest to spreat the faith. In the 1650s the Dutch, under the aegis the United ast Indies Company (VOC), supplanted the Spanish and established a post at the site of present day Manado. In 1673 the Dutch constructed fort Amsterdam here which bombed during the second world war and unfortunately later razed to the ground. Christian become an emble of Minahasan culture and identity and helped reinforce a local attachment to European culture, as well as in some cases and identification wit Dutch interests. The Church and the Dutch administrations were instrumental in spreading education and basic health service throughout the area. By the run of the century, there was a school for every 1,000 people in Minahasa, where as in Java the ration was one to 50.000. Thus by 1930, Minahasa registered the highest literacy rate (Malay as well as Dutch) in the country. BUNAKEN MARINE PARK The prime tourist attraction in North Sulawesi is the spectacular sea garden located in Bunaken Island, less than an hour by boat from Manado port. It contains anbelievable abundance of marine life, in one of the world’s most impressive diving spots. A day tour starts in every morning coffee or tea at a beachside restaurant. A motorboat takes visitors to two of the five islands-Bunaken and Manado Tua- which make up the government protected, 75,265 hectares marine reserve. The latter id a dormant volcanoe that rises majestically out of the ocean. A submarine trench reaching the depths of 1,200 meter separates these islands from the mainland, shielding them from the population and silt generated in Manado and near by coastal villages. The reserve is protected by low from spearfishing and coral or fishing collectiong, as well as from dynamite fishing. The development of tourist facilities is banned on the islands for environmental reasons, so most people stay in Manado or with their tour company in one of several diving resort that have sprung up around the city. The safest and most popular dive site is sheltered south cove of Bunaken island, where the coral rees starts just below the surface and plunges vertically to 3,000 feet, with download visibility of up to 30 meters... AND FOR YOUR FURTHER INFO, PLEASE CALL : Arnold Tasiringan (HP:085240002945) e-mail : lirung@lycos.com