Biak

Biak lies at the entrance to Cenderawasih Bay on the northern coast of New Guinea. Its island communities were accomplished seafarers, maintaining contacts across the bay and westward towards Raja Ampat and the Maluku Islands. Biak oral traditions recall movements from Cenderawasih Bay towards Raja Ampat, where relationships with the Sultan of Tidore brought titles and foreign goods. By 1616 Dutch visitors found Chinese porcelain and Indian coral beads on Biak, signs of connections reaching far beyond New Guinea.