The Republic of Indonesia has been independent since 1945 after having been the Dutch East Indies for more than 350 years. It is a huge country, stretching along both sides of the Equator for more than 46 degrees of longitude (roughly 5100 km or 3200 miles). Comprised of some 17,000 islands (more than 6000 inhabited islands), it has hundreds of major aids to navigation. This is one of eight pages for lighthouses of Sulawesi (Celebes), a major island in the northern part of the country. Shaped like an artistically drawn letter K, Sulawesi consists mostly of four narrow peninsulas. The Makassar Strait separates Sulawesi from Kalimantan (Borneo) to the west. The Celebes Sea is north of the island, the Molucca Sea is on the northeast, the Banda Sea is to the southeast, and the Flores Sea is on the south. Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces and the provinces are subdivided into regencies (kabupaten). This page covers the mainland regencies of South Sulawesi Province, including the well-populated southern peninsula. The South Sulawesi Islands page covers a large number of islands in the Flores Sea, Java Sea, and Strait of Makassar that also belong to the province. More than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia. The official national language, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), was standardized from a form of Malay that served as a lingua franca across the archipelago. In Indonesian a lighthouse is a mercusuar or a menara suar. Tanjung is a cape, ujung is a headland or point of land, bukit is a hill, sungai is a river, kuala or muara is an estuary or river mouth, pulau is an island, karang is a reef, batu is a rock, laut is a sea, selat is a strait, teluk is a bay, pelabuhan is a harbor, and labuhan is a port. Aids to navigation in Indonesia are operated and maintained by the Directorate of Marine Navigation within the Directorate General of Sea Transportation. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volumes F and Q of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Gulf of Boni Lighthouses
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![]() Pelabuhan Siwa Light, Siwa, June 2017 Google Maps street view |
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![]() Bajoe Light, Bajoe, July 2019 Google Maps street view |
South Coast (Flores Sea) Lighthouses
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West Coast (Makassar Strait) Lighthouses
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![]() Pulau Samalona Light, Makassar, January 2019 contributed photo by Jim Smith; used by permission |
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![]() Agampencara Light, Makassar, January 2019 contributed photo by Jim Smith; used by permission |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Western Sulawesi | East: Southeastern Sulawesi | South: South Sulawesi Islands
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 18, 2008. Checked and revised August 11, 2024. Lighthouses: 50. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.