Bacan Timur - Babang, Bori, Goro-Goro, Kaireu, Nyonyifi, Sabatang, Sali Kecil, Sayoang, Timlonga and Wayamiga.

Bacan Selatan - Gandasuli, Kampung Makian, Kubung, Kupal, Mandaong, Panamboang, Papaloang, Sawadai, Tembal and Tuokona.

Bacan Barat - Indari, Kokotu, Kusubibi, Nang, Nondang, Tawabi and Wiring.Batang Lomang's single district comprises 8 villages as follows: Bajo, Batutaga, Kampung Baru, Paisumbaos, Prapakanda, Sawangakar, Tanjung Obit and Toin.

The fleet's commander, Captain Antonio de Miranda Azevedo, left seven men on Bacan to buy cloves for the following year's expedition.

During the mid-19th century Moluccan travels of British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, Christians in the Moluccas were called Orang Sirani (lit.

"Nazarene People"), a term regularly applied to locals of European ancestry in the Malay Archipelago, thought to have been descended from the Portuguese.

They had dressed in white and black and Wallace reports they dance "quadrilles, waltzes, polkas, and mazurkas with great vigour and much skill".

[8] In 1705, the sergeant in charge of the fort and the sultan captured the English explorer William Dampier, seized his ship, looted its cargo, and threatened all aboard with execution.

When the sergeant's Dutch superiors heard of the incident, Dampier was released, his ship restored and the English provided with sumptuous hospitality in Ternate.

Bacan is of irregular form, consisting of two distinct mountainous parts, united by a low isthmus, which a slight subsidence would submerge.

[citation needed] The prevailing rocks are sandstone, coralline limestone, and pebbly conglomerate, although hot springs attest to volcanic activity as well.

[3] "Amasing Hill" on the northern half consists of three small andesitic volcanoes: Cakasuanggi, Dua Saudara, and Mount Sibela.

The highest elevation on the southern half is Gunong Sabella[3] or Labua (6,950 ft or 2,120 m),[2] which the locals traditionally considered the seat of evil spirits.

[3] During the 19th and early 20th century, large portions of the island were richly wooded, with indigenous sago, coconuts and cloves abundantly produced.

[3][2] The Dutch purposefully exterminated the native nutmeg trees: a large grove still remained as late as the 1870s[3] but it had disappeared by the onset of World War I.

[3] They consisted of the Christian descendants of Portuguese sailors (Sirani), of Malays and Papuans, of Galelas from northern Halmahera, and of Tomore people from Sulawesi's Bay of Tolo.

[citation needed] During the era of steam power, an attempt was made to establish coal mining on the island[3] using Japanese convicts imprisoned by the Dutch.

From 1882, an Amsterdam merchant cleared plantations for vanilla, coffee, tobacco and potatoes, however, his land was unsuitable and the crops succumbed to floods, drought, rot, insects and rodents.