About Indonesia
Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world to form a single state, consists of five main islands and some 30 smaller archipelagoes, totaling about 17,508 islands and islets of which about 6,000 are inhabited. The name “INDONESIA” is composed of the two Greek words: “Indos” meaning India and “Nesos” meaning islands. The Indonesian archipelago forms a crossroad between two oceans, the Pacific and Indian oceans and a bridge between two continents, Asia and Australia. Because of its strategic position, therefore, Indonesia’s cultural, social, political and economic patterns have always been conditioned by its geographical position.
Geographical Features
The territory of the Republic of Indonesia stretches from 6°8' north latitude to 11°15' south latitude and from 94°45' to 141°65' east longitude. Its estimated total area is 9.8 million sq km (including Exclusive Economic Zone _EEZ), which consists of a land territory of 1.9 million sq km and a sea territory of 7.9 million sq km.
Indonesia’s five main islands are: Sumatra is about 473,606 sq km in size, Java 132,187 sq km, the most fertile and densely populated island, Kalimantan or two-thirds of the island of Borneo measuring 539,460 sq km, Sulawesi 189,216 sq km and Papua 421,981 sq km which forms part of the world’s second biggest island of New Guinea. The other islands are smaller in size.
The Indonesian archipelago is divided into three divisions. The island of Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, together with the small islands in between, stand on the Sunda Shelf which extends from the coast of Indonesia’s land area is generally covered by thick tropical rain forests where fertile soils are continuously replenished.
An additional advantage of the island of Java is that its coastal plains are not edged by wide swamps as in the case of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua, not bordered by coral reefs as in the case of the island of Sulawesi. On the island of Sumatra there is plenty of evidence of past volcanic activities, although the ejected material contained acid which is of less fertility compared with Java.
Indonesian Tour Operator and Travel Service