Galela is the most populous Papuan language spoken west of New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, with some 80,000 speakers, or 95,000 if Loloda (85% intelligibility) is counted as a dialect. Other dialects are Kadai (41,000), Morotai (24,000), Kadina (10,000), and Sopi (4,000).

Galela is spoken on the northern tip of Halmahera

Halmahera

Halmahera is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia.Halmahera has a land area of 17,780 km² and a population in 1995 of 162,728...

 island (in Galela

Galela

Galela is a small town on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera. It is located in the North Halmahera Regency, part of the province of North Maluku. It is connected by a palm tree lined road to Tobelo in the south. Views of Mount Tarakan can be seen from the scenic coast...

 town, around Galela Bay), on Morotai Island to the north, on the Bacan and Obi

Obi Islands

The Obi Islands are a group of islands in the Indonesian province of Maluku. They lie north of Buru and Ceram....

 islands to the south of Halmahera, and in scattered settlements along the southwest coast. All located in North Maluku

North Maluku

North Maluku is a province of northeastern Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...

 province of Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

.