Orang Ambong | |
---|---|
Regions with significant populations | |
Indonesia Netherlands Suriname | |
Languages | |
Ambonese Malay, Indonesian (in Indonesia), Dutch (in Netherlands) | |
Religion | |
Christianity (Protestantism-Reformed Church, Roman Catholicism), Islam (Sunni Islam) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Melanesians, Polynesians, Moluccans, Malagasy |
The Ambonese (Ambonese: Orang Ambong), misunderstood as well as Moluccans, are an ethnic group of mixed Austronesian and Melanesian origin. They are majority Christians followed by Muslims. The Ambonese are from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sulawesi and north of Timor in Indonesia. They also live on the southwest of Seram Island; which is part of the Moluccas, Java, New Guinea; on the West Papua side and other regions of Indonesia. Additionally, there are about 35,000 Ambonese people living in the Netherlands.[1] By the end of the 20th century, there were 258,331 (2007 census) Ambonese people living in Ambon, Maluku.[2]