The original census of the population of Sulawesi Island was 14, 946,488 which is just over 7 percent of the total population of the country of Indonesia. During the next conducted census in 2010, it reached a total population of about 17.3 million. As of the census conducted in 2020, the population was just under 20 million and is estimated to currently be well over 2.1 million souls on the island. The largest city in Sulawesi is Makassar.
Like most of Indonesia, the dominant religion in Sulawesi is Islam. The conversion to Islan occurred in the 17th century, starting with the kingdom of Luwu in the Gulf of Bone. This was recorded in February of 1605, and the region surrounding the modern-day city of Makkasar followed suit in September of the same year. The people of the northern peninsula were one of the slowest to adopt Islam, as it took until the late 19th century. Within the Muslim population, most observe the Sunni religion.
Christianity forms a substantial minority on the island, making up one-fifth of the population. Most of the Christians on the island identify with the protestant faith and are concentrated at the top of the northern peninsula around Manado, a major city. Although most of the people living within Sulawesi identify themselves largely with these two Abrahamic religions, the cultural influence of the native population has kept intact some local traditions, which include the original folklore and religious deities.
Sulawesi is one of the four islands found in the Greater Sunda and is governed by the sovereign nation of Indonesia. Sulawesi is the world's 11th largest island and is located east of Borneo and west of the Maluku islands. Within the country of Indonesia, only Borneo, Papua, and Sumatra are larger in the territory. Sulawesi is the third most populous island, with only Sumatra and Java having more inhabitants.
The landmass of Sulawesi includes four peninsulas which are separated by three gulfs. The strait of Makassar, which is the namesake of the capital city of the island, separates it from the nearby island of Borneo.
In central Sulawesi, it was rumored that the Portuguese host of that section of the island had a fort in Parigi in 1555. The Kalili was a group that was critically based in the Palu valley and related to the Toraja. The Dutch were the other major colonial power in the area, which had attempted to pacify the local populations of the kail groups. The Dutch colonial government intervened in the situation. In the late 19th century, Sarasins made their way through the Palu valley to bring the Kaili under Dutch rule.
There is a huge environmental disaster happening in Sulawesi and some of the surrounding islands. Mass deforestation has been cleared out to expand resource exports to grow the region's wealth. As a result, 99 percent of Sulawesi's wetlands have been damaged or lost entirely.