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Indonesia General
Information
History| The Capital
climate| Flora and Fauna
INDONESIA
is the largest archipelago and the fourth
most populous country in the world. Consisting of the five
main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos.
it
has total of 17.508 islands of which about 6.000 are in
habited. it stretches 5.150 Km between Australian and Asian
continental mainland's and divide the pacific and
Indian Oceans at the equator.
The name Indonesia is composed of two Greek words. "Indo"
which means Indian and "nesos" meaning Islands. The main
Islands are Sumatera (473,606 sq. Km). Kalimantan (539.460
sq.km). Sulawesi (189.216 sq. km) Papua (421.981 sq.km) and
the smallest but most populated is Java (132.187 sq.187).
Indonesia shares the Islands of Kalimantan (two thirds) with
Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. A democratic republic,
Indonesia is divided into 32 provinces and special
territories and classified geographically into four groups.
First is greater Sundas, comprising the larger island
of Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Kalimantan. Second is the lesser
Sundas consisting of smaller islands from Bali eastward to
Timor. Third is Maluku which includes all islands between
Papua and Sulawesi. The fourth group is Papua in the extreme
eastern part of the country. The strategic position of
archipelago, the history of Indonesia, both political and
economic has been conditioned by geography.
History
The first proof of the
earliest inhabitants of Java was discovered by Dr. Eugene
Dubois in 1890. Fossils of the “Java
Man” (Pithecanthropus Erectus) dating back 500,000 years
were excavated near Trinil Village in
East Java followed by other findings in later years.
Migration movements to Indonesia have
been traced back to 3,000-500 B.C. of Mongoloid stock from
China and Tonkin introducing New
Stone, Bronze and Iron Age cultures and the Austronesian
language. Indonesia came under the
influence of the Indian Civilization through the gradual
influx of Indian traders in
the first century A.D. when great empires began to emerge
bound to Hinduism and Buddhism. By
the seventh century, the powerful Buddhist Kingdom of
Sriwijaya expanded and it was
probably during this period that the spectacular Borobudur
Buddhist sanctuary was built in
Central Java. The thirteenth century saw the rise of the
fabulous Hindu empire of Majapahit in East
Java which united the whole of Indonesia and parts of the
Malay peninsula and ruled for two centuries. Remnants of
this glorious peroid in Indonesia’s history are the many
monuments spread through Java, like the Prambanan temple
near Yogyakarta, the Penataran temple complex in East Java,
the temples on Dieng Plateau and many others. The first
attempt to invide Indonesia was by the Mongol emperor
Kubilai Khan who was driven back in 1293. With the arrival
of Arab Traders, Islam spread gradually till the end of 16th
century and replaced Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant
religion. Small Moslem Kingdoms arose, but none too strong
toward European penetrations which followed. The first
European to set foot on Java was Marco Polo in 1292 but it
was much later that the Portuguese arrived in pursuit of the
spice trade in 1509 and established trading posts which they
controlled from the strategic commercial centre of Malacca
on the Malay peninsula. The Dutch followed at the turn of
the 16th century and succeeded in ousting the Portuguese to
the easternmost islands where the Spaniards held some ports.
The Dutch expanded control of the entire area in the 17th
and 18th centuries and held it till the outbreak of World
War II. Known as the Dutch East Indies, it fell under
British rule for a short period (1811-1816) when Holland was
occupied by France during the Napoleonic wars. The British
Lt. Governor for Java and its dependencies, Sir Thomas
Stamford Rafless, was known for his liberal attitude towards
the people under colonial rule and his research on the
history of Java. Long bloody wars were launched by the
native people againts the Dutch Colonial government where as
independence movements rose at the begining of the 20th
century. With the surender of Japanese in 1945, Indonesia
proclaimed its independence on August 17 that same year. The
returning Dutch bitterly resisted the nationalist movement
as intermittent fighting followed. Finnally an agreement was
reach at The Huge under United Nations auspices when
Indonesia’s sovereignty over the former Dutch East Indies
was recognized on Desember 9, 1949.
The
Capital
Jakarta, the nation’s capital,
started as a small harbour town, Sunda Kelapa, but its
founding dates back to 1527 when it was named
Jayakarta (City of Great Victory) by Fatahillah of
the neighboring Sultanate of Banten. The name was later
changed to Batavia under the Dutch.
Now a centre of government, business and industry, the city
spreads over an area 656 sq.km (410 sq
miles) and has a population of over ten million. A
special territory, it is 3 administered by a governor and
has the status of province. The main
gateway to Indonesia, it is a contrast of modern western
architecture and traditional
Indonesian culture. Its rapid growth into a metropolitan
city reflects the economic, political, social and industrial
development of the nation. In recent
years, Jakarta has expanded its facilities for the visitor
with luxury hotels, fine restaurants, exciting nightlife and
shopping centres besides tourist attractions like
“Beautiful Indonesia Miniature” Park, restored colonial
period buildings, sea resorts
in the Bay of Jakarta, and an extensive beach recreation
complex.
Religion
The Majority of the population (about 85 %) is Moslem,
however, the Indonesian Constitution recognizes freedom of
religion as specified in the first
Principle of the “Pancasila” state philosophy being “ Belief
in one Supreme God”. Churches, Hindu and Buddhist temples
are found throughout the country as are mosques of
the Moslem faith.
Language and Dialects
There are about 583 languages and dialects spoken in the
archipelago. There normally belong to the different ethnic
groups of the population. Some of the
distinctly diferent local languages are: Acehnese, Batak,
Sundanese, Javanese, Sasak, Dayak, Minahasa, Toraja,
Buginese, Halmahera, Ambonese, Ceramese, and several
Irianese languages. To make the picture even more colorful,
these languages are also spoken in
different dialects. Bahasa Indonesia is the national
language which is akin to Malay, written in Roman script and
based on European orthography. In all tourist
destination areas English is the number one foreign
languages fairly spoken and written,
whereas some Dutch is stll spoken and understood in the
bigger cities and French increasing in its popularity at the
better hotels and restaurants.
Climate
Climate wise, Indonesia is distinctly tropical.
The east monsoon from June to September brings
dry weather while the west monsoon from
December to March is moisture-laden 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 21o C (70o F) to 33o
C (90o F) except at higher altitudes which are
much cooler. Heaviest rainfalls are recorded in December and January.
Humidity is between 60 and 100 percent.
Flora and Fauna
British naturalist A.R Wallace (1823-1913) postulated an imaginary
line (named after him-Walace’s Line) as the dividing line between
Asiatic and Australian Fauna. It passes between
Bali and Lombok islands between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, then
continues south of the Philipines and north of Hawaii. This theory
probably explains the presence of species of
fauna familiar to both Asia and Australia found in Indonesia. However,
there are species indigenous to Indonesia, like the “orang utan” apes
of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the giant “komodo”
lizard which are the only ones of their kind in the world today
roaming free on the island of Komodo; the one horned rhinoceros of
Java, the wild “banteng” oxen, tigers and many
others species which are now protected in wildlife reserves. The flora
of Indonesia ranges from the tiny orchid to the giant
“Rafflesia” plant which has a bloom almost a metre (3.2 feet)
in diameter - the largest flower in the world - and many other species
of plant life which can be seen at the Bogor
Botanical Gardens. Agriculture produce include rubber, coconut,
coffee, tea, cocoa, corn, spices, kapok, tobacco, rice, etc. and an
abundance of vegetable and fruit. Indonesia has some of
the richest timber resources in the world and the largest
concentration of tropical hardwoods. The total area of
state-controlled forests is approximately 12,9 million hectares.
Meranti constitues about 56% of the timber export. Other
varieties include ramin, agathis,teak, pinewood and a range of other
timber in smaller quantity, rattan and
bamboo. |
