island of Indonesia, in the Malay Archipelago, east of Borneo: 73,057 sq mi (189,217 sq km); pop. 12,521,000
See Sulawesi in American Heritage Dictionary 4
An irregularly shaped island of central Indonesia on the equator east of Borneo. The Portuguese first visited the island in 1512 but were ousted by the Dutch in the 1600s. Noted for its rare species of fauna, it joined the Republic of Indonesia in 1950.