Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1500 small islands, cays, and shoals in the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, off the north-eastern coast of Indonesia's West Papua province. The archipelago’s four main islands are Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.
Comprising of mostly uninhabited islands, Raja Ampat has some of the best diving spots in the world. The sparsely populated islands are also great for bird-watching and just exploring the sublime scenery of steep jungle-covered islands, white-sand beaches, hidden lagoons, spooky caves, weird mushroom-shaped islets and pellucid waters.
However, it is under the water where one finds the most amazing creatures in abundance. There are more than 1500 species of fish, 537 species of coral and 699 mollusc species. A remarkable 96 percent of all stony corals recorded from Indonesia are likely to be found in these islands and 75 percent of all species that exist in the world.
The name of Raja Ampat comes from local mythology about a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of the seven eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of Raja Ampat’s biggest islands, while the other three become a ghost, a woman, and a stone. History shows that Raja Ampat was once a part of Sultanate of Tidore, an influential kingdom from Maluku. Yet, after the Dutch invaded Maluku, it was briefly claimed by the Netherlands. The main occupation for people around this area is fishing since the area is dominated by the sea. They live in a small colony of tribes that spreads around the area.
