The area covers 5.273 square kilometers, with total resident of 1.718.000 people based on cencus in 1971. There are also residents coming from other part of Indonesia such as Chinese, Makasar, European, Arabian, and from islands near Ambon.
Based on their dialect they are consist of 4 groups, but each other still understand in communication, except dialect of Tonsawang, it changes to far from it's parent language. Their basic living are farmers with still big numbers depending on seasonal planting. Only during rainy season they cultivate the land and plant corn, vegetables, spices, bean, cassava, yam, etc. Some good soil especially in Minahasa regency with it's capital Manado can be cultivated all year round. So here the farmer more established.
The Minahasan mostly Christian, but there are also small part Moslem, Buddha and others. Local believe is still alive, especially those traditional rituals to the ancestor's spirits.
Manado has excellent underwater life which is already famous among world's divers. Diving spots are around the islands of Bunaken, and Manado Tua. Karl Muller the author of the Periplus Addition of Indonesia Under Water said that Bunaken diving site is world class walls and outstanding fish life.
The Minahasan is also have Mongoloid characters and speak Malayu - Polinesian variation of the language. There are many people also coming from Ambon ( Maluku ) area where people have more melanesoid characters, beside also European, during the colonization of Indonesia. So, in Manado the people are mixed between them.