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Indonesia geography

Indonesia is a huge archipelagic countrytimes occurred in Indonesia. In 1815 a
extending 5,120 kilometers from east to westvolcano at Gunung Tambora on the north coast
and 1,760 kilometers from north to south. Itof Sumbawa, Nusa Tenggara Barat Province,
encompasses 13,667 (some sources say as manyclaimed 92,000 lives and created "the year
as 18,000, only 6,000 of which are inhabited.without a summer" in various parts of the
There are five main islands (Sumatra, Java,world. In 1883 Krakatau in the Sunda Strait,
Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya), twobetween Java and Sumatra, erupted and some
major archipelagos (Nusa Tenggara and the36,000 West Javans died from the resulting
Maluku Islands), and sixty smallertidal wave. The sound of the explosion was
archipelagos. Three of the islands are sharedreported as far away as Turkey and Japan. For
with other nations; Kalimantan (known in thealmost a century following that eruption,
colonial period as Borneo, the world's thirdKrakatau was quiet, until the late 1970s,
largest island) is shared with Malaysia andwhen  it  erupted  twice.
Brunei, Timor is shared with East Timor, and
Irian Jaya shares the island of New GuineaMountains ranging between 3,000 and 3,800
with Papua New Guinea. Indonesia's total landmeters above sea level can be found on the
area is 1,919,317 square kilometers. Includedislands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Lombok,
in Indonesia's total territory is anotherSulawesi, and Seram. The country's tallest
93,000 square kilometers of inlands seasmountains are located in the Jayawijaya
(straits, bays, and other bodies of water).Mountains and the Sudirman Mountains in Irian
The additional surrounding sea areas bringJaya. The highest peak, Puncak Jaya, also
Indonesia's generally recognized territoryknown as Mount Carstenz, which reaches 4,884
(land and sea) to about 5 million squaremeters, is located in the Sudirman Mountains.
kilometers. The government, however, also
claims an exclusive economic zone, whichNusa Tenggara consists of two strings of
brings the total to about 7.9 million squareislands stretching eastward from Bali toward
kilometers.Irian Jaya. The inner arc of Nusa Tenggara is
a continuation of the chain of mountains and
Geographers have conventionally groupedvolcanoes extending from Sumatra through
Sumatra, Java (and Madura), KalimantanJava, Bali, and Flores, and trailing off in
(formerly Borneo), and Sulawesi (formerlythe Banda Islands. The outer arc of Nusa
Celebes) in the Greater Sunda Islands. TheseTenggara is a geological extension of the
islands, except for Sulawesi, lie on thechain of islands west of Sumatra that
Sunda Shelf--an extension of the Malayincludes Nias, Mentawai, and Enggano. This
Peninsula and the Southeast Asian mainland.chain resurfaces in Nusa Tenggara in the
Far to the east is Irian Jaya (formerly Irianruggedly mountainous islands of Sumba and
Barat or West New Guinea), which takes up theTimor.
western half of the world's second largest
island--New Guinea--on the Sahul Shelf. SeaThe Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) are
depths in the Sunda and Sahul shelves averagegeologically among the most complex of the
200 meters or less. Between these two shelvesIndonesian islands. They are located in the
lie Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara (also known asnortheast sector of the archipelago, bounded
the Lesser Sunda Islands), and the Malukuby the Philippines to the north, Irian Jaya
Islands (or the Moluccas), which form ato the east, and Nusa Tenggara to the south.
second island group where the surroundingThe largest of these islands include
seas in some places reach 4,500 meters inHalmahera, Seram, and Buru, all of which rise
depth. The term Outer Islands is usedsteeply out of very deep seas. This abrupt
inconsistently by various writers but it isrelief pattern from sea to high mountains
usually taken to mean those islands othermeans that there are very few level coastal
than  Java  and  Madura.plains.
Tectonically, this region--especiallyGeographers believe that the island of New
Java--is highly unstable, and although theGuinea, of which Irian Jaya is a part, may
volcanic ash has resulted in fertile soils,once have been part of the Australian
it makes agricultural conditionscontinent. The breakup and tectonic action
unpredictable in some areas. The country hascreated both towering, snowcapped mountain
numerous mountains and some 400 volcanoes, ofpeaks lining its central east-west spine and
which approximately 100 are active. Betweenhot, humid alluvial plains along the coast of
1972 and 1991 alone, twenty-nine volcanicNew Guinea. Irian Jaya's mountains range some
eruptions were recorded, mostly on Java. The650 kilometers east to west, dividing the
most violent volcanic eruptions in modernprovince between north and south.



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