Indonesia Information, Geography and History

INFORMATION

•  Full name: Republic of Indonesia

•  Capital City: Jakarta

•  Language: Bahasa Indonesia or Indonesian (official), English, Javanese, Sundanese.

•  Currency: Rupiah (Rp)

•  Religion: Muslim, Christian, Hindu

•  National Anthem: Indonesia Raya (Indonesia, my native land)

•  Newspaper: Bisnis Indonesia, Bali Post, Serambi, Pikiran Rakyat, Media Indonesia

•  Places to Visit: Bali, Jakarta, Lombok, Bohorok Orang-utan Viewing Centre, Borobudur, Gunung Kawi, Kelimutu, Lore Lindu National Park and many others.

•  Transport: Enter the region of Indonesia through Jakarta and Bali. Most of the airlines ply from Jakarta whereas Bali being the tourist capital attracts a lot of traffic. One may find Departure tax applied from Jakarta and Denpasar. Choose the land crossing from Entikong, Kalimantan and Sarawak; from Motoain and from Jayapura or Sentani to Vanimo in PNG. Take a ferry ride to the region from Penang to Medan or opt for speedboats travelling from Kalimantan to Sabah in Malaysia.

•  Shopping: Batik cloth, silverwork, woven baskets, hats, bamboo articles, woodcarvings,sculpture,krises (small daggers), paintings and woven cloth.

INTRODUCTION

The Indonesia Republic consists of nearly of 18,110 islands within the province of South East Asia, which stands as the world's largest archipelagic state. Being the fourth most populous country in the world the area has a majority count of Muslim population in the locality. Being a unitary state the place maintains unity in diversity as quite a lot of ethnic, and religious groups thrive within the area. Take a stunning journey to the exciting topographies echoing with enshrouded misty volcanoes, majestic mountains, untouched rain forests, offshore breeze from the endless beaches, coral reefs, and fantastic variety of flora and fauna.

LOCATION OF INDONESIA

Indonesia is a wonderful archipelago nestled in the midst of Asian peninsula along the South East area and Australia; while lying in the middle of Indian and Pacific Oceans. The province is enveloped by Malaysia along the island of Borneo, by Papua New Guinea along the province of New Guinea and East Timor along the island of Timor.

PHYSICAL MAP OF INDONESIA

The Indonesia province widens from the eastern region to the western front thereby covering an area of 5,120 kilometers, and stretches from the northern end till it reaches the southern region to about 1,760 kilometers, and stands in the 16 th position as far as the land area is concerned. Out of 18,108 islands present in Indonesia, comparatively 6,000 of it is occupied by inhabitants and the rest seems to be dotted roughly near the equator thereby bringing in a tropical kind of weather. The five chief islands of the region are:

•  Java,

•  Sumatra,

•  Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo),

•  Irian Jaya, and

•  Sulawesi.

The two other archipelago of the region is Nusa Tenggara and the Maluku Islands. The archipelago can be separated into several divisions namely:

• The Greater Sunda islands,
• The Smaller Sunda islands, and
• East Indonesia.

The islands of Sumatra, Java (which was known as Madura), Kalimantan (formerly named as Borneo), and Sulawesi (called as Celebes previously) fall within the sector of Greater Sunda Islands.

The Sulawesi seems to be a part of the Sunda Shelf that has extended from the Malay Peninsular region to the Southeast Asian region. Irian Jaya, which was previously called as Irian Barat or West New Guinea falls under the Sahul Shelf sector, is a part of the New Guinea Island.

The Smaller Sunda Islands is comprised of Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Komodo, etc, which are even referred as Nusa Tenggara.

The region is quietly placed in the boundary edges of the three tectonic plates, which includes the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian plates, that makes the area prone to earthquakes followed up with tsunamis. Indonesia is hit with about 66 volcanoes whereby the Krakatoa area nestled near Sumatra and Java, is prone to acute eruption.

There are several mountain ranges within the region of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok, Sulawesi, and Seram that spreads to an area of 3,000 to 3,800 meters above sea level.

Jayawijaya Mountains and the Sudirman Mountains in Irian Jaya is the tallest elevated mountain within the area along with Puncak Jaya that is recognized as the highest peak. Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo in East Java are considered as the seismic peaks within the region.

CLIMATE OF INDONESIA

The apparent seasons into which the province of Indonesia can be divided into are:

• The dry season, that extends from the month of June to October, and
• The rain season, which occurs during the season of November to March.

The area of North Sulawesi is subjected to typical equatorial climate that initialized from the month of September. It is during this season the chilly winds of Northwesterly gather moisture and passes through the South China Sea thereby reaching the Sulawesi Sea during the month of November. Strong cyclones and typhoons can be sighted in the higher latitudes, with occasional afternoon thunderstorms affecting certain parts of the region.

The climatic condition of Indonesia is affected by the structure of the island that is placed across the Equator, lying in the midst of Asia and Australia that brings along even and high temperatures within the area along with slight monsoon based on down pouring.

Temperatures are uniformly high near the coastal region, with an annual rise in temperature to about 23 to 31 °C that becomes moderate when it reaches approximately above 2,000 feet high above. Maoke Mountains of Papua receives sufficient snowfall while the region of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Celebes, and Papua mountain ranges get the highest amount of precipitation.

There is a change in the seasonal pattern, which is based on the air that drifts from the Monsoon pattern and meets the tropical air blowing from the north and south of the Equator, which creates a low pressure within the area. It is during the month of December, January, and February; the west monsoon brings along heavy precipitation to the regions of southern Sumatra, Java, and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Usually in the months of June, July, and August, the east monsoon, carry dry air from Australia affecting the regions of Lesser Sunda Islands and eastern Java. When the east monsoon passes through the Equator—that changes into the southwest monsoon belonging to the Northern Hemisphere, the winds bring along humidity followed with rain.

FLORA AND FAUNA OF INDONESIA

Travel to the Komodo group of reserves along the coast of Flores in the eastern part of the area,which is a home to the world's largest lizard namely the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). The native animals residing in the Sulawesi area are the babi rusa , a deer-like pig and the anoa , a forest based dwarf buffalo. Catch up with species like big civet cat called musang , tersier named binatang hantu and assoted ranges of black monkey or monyet hitam. Sumatran tiger or Panthera tigris sumatrenesis or the Java tigers known as Panthera tigris sondaica are the local species of tigers found within the region.

The Maleo fowl and the shrubhen, are the two major birds in this province that belong to the megapode group of family. Irian Jaya, cassowaries , Maluku are some of the colorful bird species that is a part of the Paradiseidae and Ptilinorhynhidae family. The hornbill bird, or rangkongpopular of the Bucerotidal family, are noted for their horn-tipped beak.

Visit the Ujung Kulon National Park in West Java for seeing the one-horned rhino called as 'Badak Jawa' locally or travel to the Mt. Leuser National Park placed in the Alas river valley area in Aceh for sighting two-horned rhino named as Dicerorhinus sumatrensis in native word. 'banteng' or wild bull of Java, the tree kangaroo, the fresh water dolphin and the proboscis monkey are common species of the region.

Catch up with birds like egrets, herons, kingfishers, hawks, eagles along with species like Tortoises and turtles within the area.

The ornamental fishes are quite prominent within the region and are found in different shapes and colors. These fishes are exported to countries like United States, Japan and Germany. The examples of ornamental fishes are clownfish (Amphiprion), wrasse (Coris gaimardi), damselfish (Dascyllus), butterflyfish, Sea horses, bannerfish, Angelfish, Hippocampus coronatus Surgeonfish, Paracanthurus hepatus , Peacock fish, Coris aygula and many others.

Pearl oysters are reared in the sea waters of Halmahera Island, the Maluku and the Aru Islands that are nurtured for extracting pearls.

Get to see variety of tropical plants especially the flower of Rafflesia arnoldi, found in Sumatra, is suppopsedly the largest flower species in the world. Catch up with orchids of various sizes which includes species like tiger orchid or Grammatophyllum Speciosum ( largest species) and Taeniophyllum ( smallest species) that are used for making medicines and handicrafts.

There are considereby three species of flowers that are known as the national flowers namely the melati (Jasminum sambac), the anggrek bulan or moon orchid (Phalaenopsis amabilis), and the Rafflesia arnoldi .

Teakwood, Sandalwood, Gonystylus, ebony, ulin and Palembang timber are some of the plants seen in the forested woods of the region.

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