Flores ( ) is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is , similar to Shikoku or Jamaica. Including Komodo and Rinca islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the population was 1,878,875 in the 2020 Census (including various offshore islands); the official estimate as of mid-2024 was 2,014,110.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2025, Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur Dalam Angka 2025 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.53) The largest towns are Ende and Maumere. The name Flores is of Portuguese origin, meaning "Flowers".
Flores is located east of Sumbawa and the Komodo Islands, and west of the Solor Islands and the Alor Archipelago. To the southeast is Timor. To the south, across the Sumba Strait, is Sumba Island, and to the north, beyond the Flores Sea, is Sulawesi.
Among all islands containing Indonesian territory, Flores is the 10th most populous after Java, Sumatra, Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi, New Guinea, Bali, Madura, Lombok, and Timor, and also the 10th biggest island of Indonesia. Flores is among the 40 most populous islands in the world, with a population similar to Manhattan or Xiamen (Amoy).
Until the arrival of modern humans, Flores was inhabited by Homo floresiensis, a small archaic human.
Etymology Unlike most islands in the Indonesian archipelago, the modern name Flores was given by the Portuguese. According to Sareng Orin Bao (1969), the oral tradition of the Sikka region gave the island the original name of Nusa Nipa, meaning 'Dragon island' or Snake island. (Nipa nai means "ascending snakes"; kaju nipa nai is the name of an unidentified tree with a bark resembling snake skin, but it can also mean "driftwood", or any sort of wood washed up in a flood.) Forth says that "'Nusa Nipa' is a designation which at present is widely accepted on Flores as the indigenous name for the entire island. Despite the argument of Sareng Orin Bao (1969) who adduces a variety of evidence favoring this interpretation, it remains uncertain whether this was in a fact a traditional usage, or at any rate one that was known throughout Flores". The names Tandjoeng Bunga or Tanjung Bunga and Pulau Bunga are also mentioned.
The eastern part of the island, originally called Kopondai, was called Cabo de Flores (Cape of Flowers) by the Portuguese because of the flowering flamboyant trees (Delonix regia) found there. That name remained.
History
Prehistory
Before the arrival of modern humans, Flores was occupied by Homo floresiensis, a small archaic human. The ancestors of Homo floresiensis arrived on the island between 1.3 and 1 million years ago.
As of 2015, partial remains of fifteen individuals have been found by a joint Australian-Indonesian research team, headed by Mike Morwood and Thomas Sutikna, and the dominant consensus is that these remains do represent a distinct species due to anatomical differences from modern humans. The most recent evidence shows that Homo floresiensis likely became extinct 50,000 years ago, around the time of modern human arrival to the archipelago.
Modern history
Flores was most likely first inhabited by Melanesians at least since 30,000 BC.
Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 16th century, mainly to Larantuka and Sikka. Their influence is still discernible in Sikka's language, culture, and religion. The first Portuguese visit took place in 1511, through the expedition of António de Abreu and his vice-captain Francisco Serrão, en route through the Sunda islands.
The Dominican order played an important role on this island, as well as on the neighbouring islands of Timor and Solor. When the Dutch attacked the fortress of Solor in 1613, the population of the fort, led by the Dominicans, moved to the harbor town of Larantuka on the eastern coast of Flores. This population was mixed, of Portuguese and local islander descent and Larantuqueiros, Topasses, or, as the Dutch knew them, the 'Black Portuguese' (Zwarte Portugezen).
The Larantuqueiros, also known as Topasses, became the dominant sandalwood trading people of the region for the next 200 years. This group was observed by William Dampier, an English privateer visiting the Island in 1699:
In the western part of Flores, the Manggarai came under the control of the Sultanate of Bima, in eastern Sumbawa. The Dutch effectively established their administration over western Flores in 1907. In 1929, the Bimanese sultanate ceded any control over Manggarai.
In 1846, the Dutch and Portuguese initiated negotiations to delimit their territories, but these negotiations led nowhere. In 1851, Lima Lopes, the new governor of Timor, Solor, and Flores, agreed to sell eastern Flores and the nearby islands to the Dutch in return for a payment of 200,000 Florins to support his impoverished administration. Lima Lopes did so without the consent of Lisbon and was dismissed in disgrace; however, his agreement was not rescinded. In 1854, Portugal ceded all its historical claims on Flores. After this, Flores became part of the territory of the Dutch East Indies.
During World War II, Great Britain, the Netherlands East Indies, and the United States imposed on Japan an embargo on rubber and oil and froze Japan's overseas funds. This was a strong incentive for Japan to get hold of the prosperous colonies of South East Asia, and its Operation "S" targeted the Lesser Sunda Islands – including Flores. On 14 May 1942, Labuan Bajo was the theatre of an amphibious landing by the Japanese Army landing force, and a Japanese Navy Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) landed at Reo. Japan occupied Flores until the end of the Pacific War. During that time, the Japanese administration and forces saw Christians as suspected Dutch sympathizers. They were exceedingly heavy-handed towards them in general, but not so much on Flores, where Christians were treated notably less harshly than in the neighbouring islands of Timor and Sumba. Remarkably, in Flores, the European priests and nuns were neither interned nor evicted throughout the occupation. According to Paul Webb (1986), this is because Florenese Christians were "too many to ignore": nearly half the population of Flores was Catholic and the Japanese, who could not afford to increase the size of their small occupation forces on the island, allowed European priests and sisters to stay at their posts rather than risking a general rebellion., cited in
After the war, Flores became part of independent Indonesia.
On 12 December 1992, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale killed 2,500 people in and around Maumere, including islands off the north coast.
In 2017, two men were killed in Flores due to land disputes between warrior clans; the Mbehel, a West Manggarai mountain tribe, and the Rangko from Sulawesi island, who helped build Manggarai and were given land near Labuan Bajo by the Manggarai king.
On 15 August 2026, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Flores, killing at least 53 people and injured 135 others while generating tsunamis of 1.61 meters (5 ft. 3 in.) in height.
Administration
Flores is part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. The island along with smaller minor islands is split into eight regencies (local government divisions); from west to east these are Manggarai Barat (West Manggarai),Manggarai Barat District includes islands like Komodo and Rinca to the west of Flores Manggarai (Central Manggarai), Manggarai Timur (East Manggarai), Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende, Sikka and part of Flores Timur (East Flores).Flores Timur District includes islands like Adonara and Solor to the east of Flores, for which the figures are excluded. Flores has 35.24% of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial population , and is the largest of all islands in the province, with the second-largest population (Timor has slightly more people).
The eight regencies are listed below from east to west, with their areas and their populations at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official estimates as of mid-2024.
Kode Wilayah Name ofCity orRegency Statute (including year when established) Areainkm2 Pop'n 2010 Census Pop'n 2020 Census Pop'n mid 2024 Estimate Capital HDI2022 estimate 53.06 East Flores Regency(Flores Timur) (part of) (a) UU 69/1958 1,056.49101,060116,398121,388 Larantuka 0.6493 () 53.07 Sikka Regency UU 69/1958 Maumere 0.6606 () 53.08 Ende Regency UU 69/1958 Ende 0.6797 () 53.16 Nagekeo Regency UU 2/2007 Mbay 0.6622 () 53.09 Ngada Regency UU 69/1958 Bajawa 0.6826 () 53.19 East Manggarai Regency (Manggarai Timur) UU 36/2007 Borong 0.623 () 53.10 Manggarai Regency (Manggarai Tengah) UU 69/1958 Ruteng 0.6583 () 53.15 West Manggarai Regency (b) (Manggarai Barat) UU 8/2003 Labuan Bajo 0.6492 () Totals
Notes (a) only the eight districts of this regency situated on Flores Island are included in these figures; the three districts comprising Solor Island and the eight districts on Adonara Island are excluded. (b) West Manggarai Regency includes Komodo and Rinca islands off the west coast of Flores; these islands are part of a National Park and thus poorly inhabited.
The main towns on Flores are Maumere, Ende, Ruteng, Larantuka, and Bajawa, listed with their populations as of mid-2023.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, Provinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.53)
Ende: 87,723 inhabitants (sum of populations of four districts) Maumere: 77,909 inhabitants (excluding populations on offshore islands) Ruteng: 65,694 inhabitantsBadan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Langke Rembong Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.53103110) Larantuka: 41,642 inhabitantsBadan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Larantuka Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.5309030) Bajawa: 40,259 inhabitants
Flora and fauna
The Komodo dragon is endemic to Flores and surrounding islands and has been continuously present on Flores for at least 1.4 million years. Today, it is confined to a handful of small areas on Flores itself. Varanus hooijeri is a smaller extinct species of monitor lizard which occurred on Flores into the Holocene.
The endemic fauna of Flores includes some rats (Murinae), some of which are now extinct, ranging from small-sized forms such as Rattus hainaldi, Paulamys, and the Polynesian rat (which possibly originated on the island), medium-sized such as Komodomys, and Hooijeromys, and giants such as Spelaeomys and Papagomys, the largest species of which, the still-living Papagomys armandvillei (Flores giant rat) is approximately the size of a rabbit, with a weight of up to .
Flores was also the habitat of several extinct dwarf forms of the proboscidean (elephant relative) Stegodon, the most recent (Stegodon florensis insularis) of which disappeared approximately 50,000 years ago. The island before modern human arrival was also inhabited by the giant stork Leptoptilos robustus and the vulture Trigonoceps.
Seismology