Manado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 417,548 inhabitants. The municipality of Manado is divided into nine districts: Malalayang, Sario, Wanea, Wenang, Tikala, Mapanget, Singkil, Tuminting and Mapanget.
History
The Dutch East India Company built a fortress in Manado in 1658. As with regions in eastern Indonesia, Manado has undergone Christianization by Dutch missionaries, including Riedel and Schwarz. The Javanese prince Diponegoro (national hero) was exiled to Manado by the Dutch government in 1830. The English biologist Alfred Wallace visited Manado in 1859, and praised the town for its beauty.
In 1919, the Apostolic Prefecture of Celebes was established in the city. In 1961, it was promoted as the Diocese of Manado.
The city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II. In 1958, the headquarters of the rebel movement Permesta were moved to Manado. When Permesta confronted the central government with demands for political, economic and regional reform, Jakarta responded in Manado by bombing the city in February 1958, and then invading in June 1958.
A rare Coelacanth fish (Ikan Raja Laut) was caught by a fisherman in Manado in July 2007 and there are plans to display its preserved body in a museum in Manado. Unfortunately, there is no museum or any representative place to exhibit preserved marine organism specially the rare species found in Manado. This is the remaining problem for the local government to face on.
World Ocean Conference (WOC) and Coral Triangle Initiatives (CTI) were successfully hosted in Manado on 11th to 15th May 2009. The WOC summit was participated by 56 countries and the CTI was consisted of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands.
Sail Bunaken 2009 held on 12-20 August 2009 was participated by ships and yachts from 33 countries of which 15 countries sent their warships including from the USA, USS George Washington. In Manado Bay also a world record on scuba-diving was created with 2,486 divers entitled as The Most Scuba Diving Simultaneously.
Tourism and Places of interest
As the largest city in the region, Manado is a key tourist transit point for visitors. Sam Ratulangi International Airport of Manado is one of the main entry ports to Indonesia. In 2005, no less than 15,000 international passengers entered Indonesia via Sam Ratulangi International Airport.
Ecotourism is the biggest attraction in Manado. Scuba diving and snorkelling on the nearby Bunaken National Park including the island of Bunaken are popular attractions. Ban Hin Kiong Temple is another tourism spot in the city, especially during the Chinese new year celebration. Souvenirs shops are located on B.W. Lapian street. Other places of interest are nearby Lake Tondano, also some volcanoes sites are at Mount Lokon, Mount Klabat and Mount Mahawu .
Church-tourism. Manado is a Christian majority region. Contrary with other regions in Indonesia, in Manado you can find easily many church buildings of different denominations.
Blessing Jesus Statue in Asia. The white-robed Jesus with upraised hands stands on a 32-metre high hill in a residential estate in Manado. This 30-meter statue is the tallest Jesus Christ statue is Asia (if not the second tallest in the world after Rio)
Shopping Malls and Hotels. It is easy to find places to shop around Manado, since many of the shopping malls are located on Piere Tendean Boulevard. There are four recent shopping malls there, namely Mega Mall, Manado Town Square, Boulevard Mall and IT Center. Traffic jam usually occurs at Piere Tendean Boulevard because of the existence of the shopping malls. Hotels are located in the centre of the city ranging from budget, standard to deluxe (five-star).
Website of Manado Tourism and Culture Office: www.manadokota.go.id
Also, you can read more of Manado at www.visit-manado.com
If you’re interested to see some amateur photos of Manado and its surroundings, please visit our family’ pictures in Facebook at butje-liuba lasut. Or, send us an email at butje_liubovi@hotmail.com.
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