The Ambonese, also known as South Moluccans, are an Indonesian ethnic group of mixed Austronesian-Papuan origin. They are mostly Christians or Muslims. Ambonese are from Ambon Island in Maluku, an island group east of Sulawesi and north of Timor in Indonesia. The predominant language of the island is Ambonese Malay, also called Ambonese language. It developed as the trade language of central Maluku, and is spoken elsewhere in Maluku as a second language. Bilingualism in Indonesian is high around Ambon City. They are an ethnic mixture of Southeast Asians and Melanesians people of New Guinea, as they speak a Malayo-Polynesian language.