Raja Ampat Islands

Located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's West Papua province, Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays and shoals surrounding the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau. Raja Ampat Regency is new regency which separated from Sorong Regency at 2004. It encompasses more than 40,000 km² of land and sea, which also contains Cenderawasih Bay, the largest marine national park in Indonesia. It is a part of the newly named West Papua (province) of Indonesia which was formerly Irian Jaya. The islands are the most northern pieces of land in the Australian continent. The name of Raja Ampat is from local myth that tells about a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of seven eggs hatches that become kings those occupy four of Raja Ampat biggest islands when the other three become a ghost, a woman, and a stone.