Mapun Island

About

Mapun, officially the Municipality of Mapun (Tagalog: Bayan ng Mapun), is a municipality in the province of Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 29,218 people. It was formerly known as Cagayan de Sulu until 1984, then as Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi until 1988. Mapun is an island municipality in the Sulu Sea on the south-western extreme of the Philippines, located very close to Sabah, Malaysia as well as to Palawan. The people inhabiting the island are known as Jama Mapun or "people of Mapun". Their local language is Pullun Mapun, which means "Mapun language". Due to an administrative error in the Treaty of Paris, while the remainder of the Philippines was ceded to the United States, Sibutu and Cagayan de Sulu were retained under Spanish Sovereignty until they were formally ceded to the United States upon the ratification of the Treaty of Washington on March 23, 1901. In 1946, the Philippines became an independent country, including Mapun island as part of it.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.