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General information

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia consisting of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited) and straddling the equator. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java (the most populous), Bali, Kalimantan (Indonesia's part of Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), the Nusa Tenggara islands, the Moluccas Islands, and Irian Jaya (also called West Papua), the western part of New Guinea. Its neighbor to the north is Malaysia and to the east is Papua New Guinea.

Indonesia, part of the “ring of fire,” has the largest number of active volcanoes in the world. Earthquakes are frequent. Wallace's line, a zoological demarcation between Asian and Australian flora and fauna, divides Indonesia.

The name Indonesia has its roots in two Greek words: "Indos" meaning Indian and "Nesos" which means islands. It is an appropriate description of the archipelago as there are estimated to be a total of 17,508 islands, of which only about 6,000 are inhabited, stretching for 5,150 km between the Australian and Asian continental mainlands and dividing the Pacific and Indian Oceans at the Equator. Five main islands and 30 smaller archipelagoes are home to the majority of the population. The main islands are Sumatra (473,6O6 sq.km), Kalimantan 1539,400 sq.km), Sulawesi l 189,216 sq. km), Irian Jaya (421,981 sq. km), and last but not least Java (132,187 sq.km), home to 70 percent of the country's population. Indonesia shares Irian Jaya with Papua New Guinea and two thirds of the island of Kalimantan with Malaysia and Borneo.

The islands and people of Indonesia constitute the fourth most populated nation in the world. As a democratic republic, Indonesia is divided into 32 provinces, special territories and classified geographically into four groups. First are the Greater Sundas, made up of the larger islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Second are the Lesser Sundas, consisting of smaller islands from Bali eastward to Timor. Third is Maluku which includes all the islands between Irian Jaya and Sulawesi. The fourth and final group is lrian Jaya in the extreme eastern part of the country.

Indonesia comprises a range of diverse societies and cultures. However, mass education, mass media and a policy of government-orchestrated nationalism have created a definite Indonesian national culture, with Bahasa Indonesia as its medium. Its distinctive cuisine and handcrafts have made the leap into an international forum.

It is generally believed that the earliest inhabitants of the Indonesian archipelago originated in India or Burma. In 1890, fossils of Java Man (homo erectus), some 500,000 years old, were found in east Java. Later migrants ('Malays') came from southern China and Indochina, and began populating the archipelago around 3000 BC. Powerful groups such as the Buddhist Srivijaya empire and the Hindu Mataram kingdom appeared in Java and Sumatra towards the end of the 7th century. The last important kingdom to remain Hindu was the Majapahit, which was founded in the 13th century. The subsequent spread of Islam into the archipelago in the 14th century forced the Majapahits to retreat to Bali in the 15th century.

By this time, a strong Muslim empire had developed with its centre at Melaka (Malacca) on the Malay Peninsula. Its influence was short-lived and it fell to the Portuguese in 1511. The Dutch displaced the Portuguese and began making inroads into Indonesia. The Dutch East India Company based in Batavia (Jakarta) dominated the spice trade and took control of Java by the mid 18th century, when its power was already in decline. The Dutch took control in the early 19th century and by the early 20th century, the entire archipelago - including Aceh and Bali - was under their control.

Adventure looms large in this vast and steamy archipelago, where the best of southeast Asia's spicy mélange simmers tantalizingly. Heady scents, vivid colors, dramatic vistas and diverse cultures spin and multiply, their potent brew leaving your senses reeling.

Indonesia's cities are in a constant state of urban evolution, where dense populations, technology and construction live in hectic symbiosis. But most of the archipelago's territory remains unexplored, concealing a wealth of cultures and a myriad of landscapes.

More than half of all Indonesians work on the land and live in villages called kampungs. Traditional houses are built from forest materials and have roofs thatched with palm. Families work together to plant and harvest crops and raise animals. Village communities share tools and equipment. Each village has a school for younger children. Older children usually travel each day to regional secondary schools.

There are some distinctive styles of traditional houses in various parts of Indonesia, built by some of the ethnic groups of some islands. The Toraja people of Sulawesi build beautiful carved houses with long bamboo roofs that rise to a point at each end. These houses are built inland facing the mountains, which the Toraja people believe is where the gods live. Horns of water buffalo decorate the houses above the doorway, as emblems of strength and power.

The Dayak people of Kalimantan and the Batak people of Sumatra build houses on stilts about 2-3 metres above the ground. Dayak houses often have carvings on the walls. Several families share the house, and their goats, pigs or cows are kept under the house. The height of the house is protection against floods and wild animals. Batak houses have roofs rising in a sharp point at each end, facing north and south.

In the big cities and towns of Indonesia, there are modern buildings, shopping centres, offices and government buildings. Many people live and work in the cities and towns. Many of them live in modern flats and apartments or in low-cost multi-storey houses. Some live in western-style houses. Poor people live in kampungs, or small settlements.

Draped over the equator, Indonesia tends to have a fairly uniform climate - hot. It's hot and wet during the wet season (October to April) and hot and dry during the dry season (May to September). Temperatures climb to about 31°C (88°F) in coastal regions, dropping (but not by much) further inland. The best time to visit Indonesia in the south is from April to October. Northern islands tend to be wet all year round.