East Nusa Tenggara

East Nusa Tenggara is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the north. It consists of more than 500 islands, with the largest ones being Sumba, Flores, and the western part of Timor; the latter shares a land border with the separate nation of East Timor. The province is subdivided into twenty-one regencies and the regency-level city of Kupang, which is the capital and largest city. A Christian-majority region, East Nusa Tenggara is the only Indonesian province where Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion (but now it is one of two provinces with a Roman Catholic majority in 2022, the other being South Papua, located on the island of New Guinea, where the native Papuans are mostly adherents of the said Christian denomination as the other provinces in the island are Protestant-dominated with Catholic minorities among its Christian majority populace). The province has a total area of 47,931.54 km2 and had a population of 4,683,827 at the 2010 Census and 5,325,566 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2022 was 5,466,285. Economically, East Nusa Tenggara still remains one of the least developed provinces in Indonesia. It currently focuses on expanding the tourism sector, with the most well-known attractions including Labuan Bajo, Komodo National Park and Mount Kelimutu. History After the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, the eastern part of Indonesia declared the State of East Indonesia. The state was further included in the United States of Indonesia as part of the agreement with the Dutch contained in the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia in 1949. In 1950, United States of Indonesia dissolved itself into a unitary state and began to divide its component area into provinces. In 1958, by Indonesian law (Undang-Undang) No. 64/1958, three provinces were established in the Lesser Sunda Islands: Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara. The area of East Nusa Tenggara province included the western part of Timor island, Flores, Sumba and many smaller islands in the region. The province was originally sub-divided into twelve regencies, but on 11 April 1996, the City of Kupang, was separated from Kupang Regency and given regency-level status.