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Indonesia - introduction
Indonesia is the largest archipelago and the fourth most populous country in the world. Consisting of five main islands (Sumatra, Jawa, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua) with 33 provinces, 30 smaller archipelagos, it has a total of 17,508 islands of which about 6,000 are inhabited. The Republic of Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia and stretches 5,150 km between the Australian and Asian continental mainland and divides the Pacific and Indian Oceans at the Equator. The capital city of Indonesia is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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History
The first known hominid inhabitant of Indonesia was the so-called "Java Man", or Homo erectus, who lived here half a million years ago. Then around 60,000 years ago, the ancestors of the present-day Papuans move eastward through the islands, eventually reaching New Guinea and Australia some 30-40,000 years ago. Much later, in about the fourth millennium B.C., they were followed by the ancestors of the modern-day Malays, Javanese and other Malayo-Polynesian groups who now make up the bulk of Indonesia’s population.
Trade contracts with India, China and the mainland of Southeast Asia brought outside cultural and religious influences to Indonesia. One of the first Indian empires, known as Sriwijaya, was located on the coast of Sumatra around the strategic straits of Malacca, serving as the hub of a trading network that reached too many parts of the archipelago more than a thousand years ago.
On neighboring Java, large kingdoms of the interior of the island erected scores of exquisite of religious monuments, such as Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world, the last and most powerful of these early Hindu-Javanese kingdoms, the 14th century Majapahit Empire, once controlled and influenced much of what is now known as Indonesia, maintaining contacts with trading outposts as far away as the west coast of Papua New Guinea.
Indian Muslim traders began spreading Islam in Indonesia in the eighth and ninth centuries. By the time Marco Polo visited North Sumatra at the end of the 13th century, the first Islamic states were already established there. Soon afterwards, rulers on Java's north coast adopted the new creed and conquered the Hindu-based Majapahit Empire in the Javanese hinterland. The faith gradually spread throughout archipelago, and Indonesia is today the world's largest Islamic nation.
Indonesia's abundant spices first brought Portuguese merchants to the key trading port of Malacca in 1511. Prized for their flavor, spices such as cloves, nutmeg and mace were also believed to cure everything from the plague to venereal disease, and were literally worth their weight in gold. The Dutch eventually wrested control of the spice trade from Portuguese, and the tenacious Dutch East India Company (known by initials VOC) established a spice monopoly which lasted well into the 18th century. During the 19th century, the Dutch began sugar and coffee cultivation on Java, which was soon providing three-fourths of the world supply of coffee.
By the turn of the 20th century, nationalist stirring, brought about by nearly three centuries of oppressive colonial rule, began to challenge the Dutch presence in Indonesia. A four-year guerilla war led by nationalists against the Dutch on Java after World War II, along with successful diplomatic maneuverings abroad, helped bring about independence. The Republic of Indonesia, officially proclaimed on August 17th, 1945, gained sovereignty four years later.
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Weather
Indonesian climate is distinctly tropical. The east monsoon from June to September brings dry weather while the west monsoon from December to March is moisture-laden Indonesia In General bringing rain. The transitional period between these two are interposed by occasional rain showers, but even in the midst of the west monsoon season, temperatures range from 21° C (70° F) to 33° C. (90° F) except at higher altitudes which are much cooler. Heaviest rainfalls are recorded in December and January. Humidity is between 60-100 %. |
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Islands
Java As the most developed island in the Indonesian archipelago, Java exhibits all the characteristics of an Asian society experiencing rapid transition: great wealth and equal squalor; beautiful open country and fast developing cities including the capital, Jakarta. The Hindu-Buddhist empires reached their zenith on Java, producing architectural wonders such as Borobudur and Prambanan.
After Indonesian independence in 1945 Jakarta remained as the capital, while Java itself has grown into the most crowded area in Indonesia. Although parts of rural Java are still underdeveloped, the urban areas are the wealthiest and most developed parts of Indonesia
Kalimantan / Borneo This world’s largest island is an Indonesian territory makes up 73 percent of the island by area, and 70 percent (12,000,000) by population. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are of Brunei and East Malaysia. The region is also known as Indonesian Borneo.
Kalimantan is one of Indonesia’s least-visited provinces. However, mountains, forests and mighty rivers of Mahakam and Kapuas stretch across the interior, influencing the culture, history and livelihoods of villages throughout make Kalimantan one of the most tempting islands for the curious ones to visit.
Sumatra Thick rainforests cascade like water down towering peaks mark the rugged island. Jungle treks are a struggle with gravity and mud. But rewards are plentiful: the world's largest flower, one of the last remaining enclaves of orang-utans, or the sulfur-spouting crater of a resting volcano. Sumatra is rich in natural resources (timber, gas and oil), but very little of the profits are reinvested in the island's economy.
Sulawesi Sulawesi is the world's eleventh-largest island, covering an area of 174,600 km² (67,413 sq mi) and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands.The island is surrounded by Borneo to the west, by the Philippines to the north, by Maluku to the east, and by Flores and Timor to the south. It has a distinctive shape, dominated by four large peninsulas: the Semenanjung Minahassa; the East Peninsula; the South Peninsula; and the South-east Peninsula. The central part of the island is ruggedly mountainous, such that the island's peninsulas have traditionally been remote from each other, with better connections by sea than by road.
The island is subdivided into six provinces and the largest cities on the island are Makassar, on the southwestern coast of the island, and Manado, on the northern tip.
Bali Please see our separate dedicated Bali page.
Lombok Located just east of Bali, Lombok has been promoted as "an unspoiled Bali" for quite some time, with beautiful beaches and the large, looming volcano of Mount Rinjani.
Tourism is still low key, and many visitors are independent travellers drawn by the island's intoxicating diving and snorkelling, hiking and surf spots, as well as Lombok's intriguing endemic culture.
Lombok's people are 85% Sasak, culturally and linguistically closely related to the Balinese, but unlike Bali's Hindu they are Muslims.
Komodo Island Komodo island has a surface area of 390 kmē and over 2000 inhabitants and lies between the substantially larger neighboring islands Sumbawa to the west and Flores to the east. It is part of the Lesser Sunda chain of islands and forms part of the Komodo National Park.
The island is famous not only for its heritage of convicts but also for the unique fauna which roam it. The Komodo dragon, the world's largest living lizard, takes its name from the island. In addition, Komodo island is a popular diving spot for the marine life lovers.
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Map
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Photo gallery
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