Gura Besi


Gura Besi was a hero of the mythology of the island of Biak in the Indonesian province of Papua. Thanks to his trips to the west, the Raja Ampat Islands were colonized west of Papua by residents of Biak. The myth surrounding Gura Besi is based on historical facts.

Gura Besi ended at the court of the first sultan of Tidore spices in the Moluccas. This first sultan, Jamaluddin, ruled from 1495 to 1512, was attacked by a force of robbery from a jailolo warship on Halmahera. Gura Besi defeated the fleet thanks to his courage and strategic insight. The grateful sultan married his daughter, princess Boki Tabai, to Gura Besi, and gave the islands between the Moluccas and Papua, the Raja Ampat Islands, to Gura Besi gift. However, Gura Besi remained in charge of Tidore sultan.

Gura Besi settled with Boki Tabai on the northern island of the Raja Ampat Islands, Waigeo. The couple received four sons, who would later have one of the four islands of the archipelago, namely the islands of Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. The island group derives from this name the name Raja Ampat Islands: Frog Islands.

The patronage of the islands and large parts of Papua to the sultan of Tidore was used by the president of Indonesia Soekarno between 1948 and 1962 as an argument to support Indonesian claims in the area. The Raja Ampat Islands belonged to Dutch New Guinea until 1962, but became a part of the Indonesian province of Western New Guinea, nowadays Papua.

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