The Sangihe Islands Regency () is a regency of North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. It comprises a group of islands situated to the North of Sulawesi. It covers a land area of 736.98 km2, and had a population of 126,100 at the 2010 Census and 139,262 at the 2020 Census. The principal island is also named Sangihe, on which lies the main town of Tahuna. Minor island groups within the Regency include the Marore group considerably to the north of Sangihe Island, the Tatoareng group to the south, and the Nusa Tabukan group off the northeast coast of Sangihe Island. It borders the Philippines in the north, making it one of Indonesia's border regions. History Prior to rapid decentralization after the fall of Suharto, all of the archipelago to the north of the Minahasa Peninsula was administered as a single regency named Sangihe Islands and Talaud Regency. In 2002, it was split into two regencies, one for the Sangihe Islands and the other for the Talaud Islands, based on Law Number 8 of 2002. In 2007, several islands from the Sangihe Islands Regency were split off to create another new regency – the Sitaro Islands Regency – giving the Sangihe Islands its current status based on Law Number 15 of 2007. It is believed that inhabitants of the Sangihe Islands migrated from the Philippines archipelago, especially from Mindanao. The culture of the native people in the islands has been influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism, and later, when the region was under Spanish hegemony, Christianity such as Kingdom of Manganitu under Bataha Santiago. Several native kingdoms existed such as Kendar Kingdom and Tabukan Kingdom, which later in the 18th and 19th centuries were described as partly influenced by Islam. Geography Total area of the regency including water area is 11,863.58 square kilometers, from which only 736.98 square kilometers are land or 6.2% of total area of the regency. It is divided into 15 districts (kecamatan), the biggest being North Tabukan district, consisting of 15.82% of the regency's total land area and the smallest being Nusa Tabukan district with only 2% of total land area in the regency. Topography of the islands mostly consists of hills and steep topography for bigger islands such as Sangihe and Siau. Around 55.4% of land area in the regency has slope above 40%. Soil composition consist of alluvium, which mostly used for residential areas. Elevation varies from 0