The highest of these, Gunung Taitulu, rises approximately 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level, and from the top, nearby Wetar and Timor are easily seen.

The entire island is encircled by a series of rugged limestone cliffs that look like giant stairsteps rising from the coast.

An uplift rate of the island of approximately 0.5 mm/yr over the past several hundred thousand years has been calculated by obtaining ages of coral samples from the terraces.

[5] This series of islands formed when the northern edge of the Australian continent was upthrust in collision with southeast Asia.

The islands in the Banda Arc are arranged in a distinct horseshoe shape and represent a young, emerging mountain belt.

In 1665 the Dutch VOC built a military base and named the island after the Kisar word for white sand.

Surviving family names include: Frans, Parera, Joostenz, Wouthuysen, Caffin, Lerrick, Peelman, Lander, Ruff, Bellmin-Belder, Coenradi, van Delsen, Schilling and Bakker.

[8] The first Raja Cornelis Bakker, who also ruled Wetar, Roma and Leti island via his brothers[citation needed], was crowned ca.

The present Raja is well educated and for 5 years worked as a government official in nearby East-Timor, when part of Indonesia.

In 1928 the German Professor E. Rodenwaldt published his study "Die Mestizen auf Kisar", "Mikroskopische Beobachtungen an den Haaren der Kisaresen und Kisarbastarde".

The study shows a unique natural experiment spanning over two centuries and is considered an essential academic work in the area of human heredity.