Celebes, Indonesian Sulawesi, one of the four Greater Sunda Islands, Indonesia. A curiously shaped island with four distinct peninsulas that form three major gulfs—Tomini (the largest) on the northeast, Tolo on the east, and Bone on the south—Celebes has a coastline of 3,404 miles (5,478 km). Area including adjacent islands, 72,789 square miles (188,522 square km). Pop. including adjacent islands (2000) 14,946,488; (2010) 17,371,782.
The island is highly mountainous, with some active volcanoes, but there are large plains on the southern peninsula and in the south-central part of the island on which rice is grown. The highest peak is Mount Rantekombola, or Mario, at 11,335 feet (3,455 metres). Major deep lakes (danau) are Towuti, Poso, and Matana, the latter having been sounded to 1,936 feet (590 metres). The rivers are short and unimportant.
Celebes lies between the two shelves of the Australian and Asian continents. The broad central block is a complex of igneous rocks, in the southeastern corner of which is a broad band of volcanic detritus, known as tuff, more than 65 million years old; it is fringed occasionally by coral limestone. The southern ridge of Celebes has an axis of schist and quartzite, while the volcanic Minahasa area differs structurally from any other part of the island. The climate is hot but tempered by sea winds; annual rainfall varies from 160 inches (4,060 mm) in Rantepao (southwest-central section) to 21 inches (530 mm) in Palu (a rift valley near the western coast).
Generally, the fauna is more Asian than Australian. Species unique to Celebes include the babirusa, or pig deer; the black-crested baboon; and the anoa, or dwarf buffalo. A distinct difference exists between the freshwater fish of Borneo and Celebes. Much of Celebes is still heavily forested, showing many floral resemblances to the Philippines but more Asian in the west and more Australian in the east.
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