Berbagai suku asli (indigenous people) dan pendatang, yang kemudian berbaur dengan penduduk lokal Raja Ampat hidup tersebar di pulau-pulau Raja Ampat. Keragaman ini mewarisi kekayaan budaya Raja Ampat, baik yang berwujud maupun yang tidak benda.

Warisan Budaya Benda

Peninggalan benda-benda bersejarah di Raja Ampat memiliki keunikan yang telah diturunkan sejak zaman prasejarah – berupa seni-lukisan batu/dinding (diduga dibuat 4.000 tahun yang lalu) yang ditemukan di geosites, Sumalelen, Pef dan Selpele, hingga benda keramat yang diyakini sebagai bukti kebenaran cerita rakyat tentang asal usul Raja Ampat – berupa batu telur di sungai Raja – Wawiyai.

Warisan Budaya Tak Benda

Tidak hanya peninggalan benda-benda bersejarah, Raja Ampat juga kaya akan warisan budaya takbenda berupa tarian dan upacara adat yang menggambarkan keterkaitan masyarakat lokal dengan alam sekitarnya.

Kisah-kisah legenda dan Cerita rakyat

One of the common and well-known stories of the origin of the indigenous people of Raja Ampat is the Legend of the Kings, which relates to one of Raja Ampat's heritage objects that still exists today, namely the king's egg stone. Here's the story;

Once upon a time, a husband and wife named Alyab Gaman and Bukudeni Kapatlot lived in a place called Waigi for gardening. Around the land they cleared, they found a pile of eggs, which were approximately seven in number. Because of the location of their garden, they both live far from the beach and there are no side dishes, so the husband of Bukudeni Kapatlot, Alyab Gaman, offered his wife to eat some of the eggs. However, Bukudeni Kapatlot rejected her husband's offer and suggested that the seven eggs be kept. Bukudeni Kapatlop feels that these eggs are not random eggs, because after living there for so long, he has not found any birds or other animals that are able to lay eggs and live around his residence and garden. Her husband also agreed to the request.

Over time, one by one the eggs hatched and what came out of the shell was a human. Of the seven eggs, only six hatched, and one of them has not yet hatched. This Raja Egg is then sacred by the entire community of Raja Ampat, who then performs a special ritual every 5 years, which invites traditional leaders throughout Raja Ampat for this Raja's egg.

Of the six eggs that hatch, one of them is female and the rest are male. At that time, these six kings decided to move and build a village in a place called Tip Nukari. In the Mayan language, Tip Nukari is a combination of two words, namely 'Tip' which means bay and 'Nukari' which means coconut tree. The bay with thick coconut trees can be found until now because it is still located in the Kali Raja area in the Wawiyai tourist village.

The life of the kings in Tip Nukari's village is mainly about keeping turtles. Each person is only allowed to keep one or two turtles. Day after day, they are busy caring for and feeding the turtles in the same location. These six kings lived side by side and loved one another. Until one day, their only sister named Pintaki became pregnant and it is not known who or what caused it. There were only six of them in the village. So they feel ashamed of what happened to Pintaki, especially since they are siblings. Finally they decided to throw Pintaki into the sea using a large plate to get rid of the embarrassment. In this attempt to wash away Pintaki, several times failed and Pintaki was pushed back to the village. On the third attempt, Pintaki managed to drift away and the large plate that carried her was stranded in Biak, which at that time was called Nu Apasiw, which in Mayan means 'the Ninth Village'.

Sementara itu di Tip Nukari, Raja-raja yang tetap tinggal dan menjaga penyu peliharaan mereka. Namun, mulai terjadi kesalahpahaman diantara mereka. Hal ini disebabkan oleh salah satu penyu peliharaan mereka mengalami luka-luka yang kemudian berujung pada saling menuduh diantara mereka. Pertengkaran itu akhirnya memisahkan mereka.

Berikut ini nama-nama Raja-raja diurutkan berdasarkan silsilah keturunanya. Raja pertama adalah Raja Kalan Agi War atau selanjutnya disebut Raja Waigeo dan bertempat tinggal di Mumes dengan wilayah kekuasaan mulai dari kampung Mumes, seluruh Teluk Mayalibit kemudian mencapai ke kampung Salio dan sekitarnya. Raja Kedua adalah Raja Betani, dirinya keluar dari Tip Nukari dan tinggal di pulau Salawati, dengan wilayah kekuasaannya mulai dari Salawati keseluruhan, pulau Batanta seluruhnya dan sebagian selatan pulau Waigeo yakni kampung Wawiyai dan Selpele. Raja Ketiga adalah Raja Johar, yang memilih keluar dan bertempat tinggal di pulau Misool dan wilayah kekuasaannya adalah seluruh Misool. Raja keempat adalah Raja Fun Sem, namun dirinya tidak menetap pada suatu tempat tertentu, ia memilih berpindah-pindah tempat. Raja kelima, Raja Kelimutu yang tinggal di pulau Seram.

Kearifan Lokal, Sasi

Appointed as a national cultural heritage by the ministry of education and culture of the Republic of Indonesia, as a form of cultural preservation that is almost extinct in 2019. The sasi ceremony is a system of knowledge of Raja Ampat's ancestors to maintain the existence of animal populations in the sea and plants on land.

Upacara ini dilakukan pada musim-musim tertentu. Upacara Tutup Sasi adalah ketika masyarakat dilarang mengambil hasil laut dan Upacara Buka Sasi, ketika masyarakat dipersilahkan memanen. Hal tersebut merupakan ungkapan rasa syukur masyarakat Raja Ampat kepada alam sekitar atas melimpahnya hasil laut dan bahan makanan untuk mereka.