Ambonese

The Ambonese, also known as South Moluccans, are an Indonesian ethnic group of mixed Malay-Papuan origin. They are mostly Christians or Muslims. Ambonese are from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sulawesi and north of Timor in Indonesia. The predominant language of the island is Ambonese Malay, also called Ambonese. It developed as the trade language of central Maluku, and is spoken elsewhere in Maluku as a second language. Bilingualism in Indonesian is high around Ambon City. An ethnic mixture of Southeast Asians and Melanesian people of New Guinea, they speak a Malayo-Polynesian language.

A typical Ambonese village consists of about 1,500 people who live in houses of woven sago leaves or plastered bamboo on stone foundations; they cultivate surrounding hillsides.

The Ambonese have been heavily influenced by Islam and Christianity, and indigenous customs have largely disappeared.