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Map of Indonesia
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Sang Merah Putih, National Flag of Indonesia
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Garuda Pancasila, Coat of Arms of the Republic of Indonesia
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Republic of Indonesia, or Indonesia in short, is an archipelago country located in South East Asia. To the north, it is bordered by Malaysia, and close to it is the Sultanate of Brunei, the Republic of Singapore, and the Republic of the Philippines. To the east, it is bordered by Independent State of Papua New Guinea. To the south, it is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (previously part of Indonesia) and shares a maritime border with the Commonwealth of Australia.
Indonesia is also located in the middle of two oceans and a large sea, the Indian Ocean (west and south), Pacific Ocean (north east), and the South China Sea (north).
Natural Resources[]
Area[]
Indonesia is an archipelago which consists of about 17,508 islands. The five largest islands are (from the largest to the smallest):
- Kalimantan (aka Borneo, 539,460 sq km)
- Sumatra (formerly Andalas, 473,606 sq km)
- Papua (aka New Guinea, formerly Irian, 421,981 sq km)
- Sulawesi (aka Celebes, 189,216 sq km)
- Jawa (aka Java, 132,107 sq km).[1]
Total area of Indonesia is 1,919,440 sq km (land: 1,826,440 sq km, water: 93,000 sq km).[2] Borneo is shared between Indonesia (the largest part), Malaysia (northern part) and Brunei (an area within the Malaysian Borneo). New Guinea is shared (approximately half by half) with the Papua New Guinea, with the larger part in posession of Indonesia. The Timor island is also shared with Timor Leste (previously part of Indonesia). Java is the most populated island of all.
Climate[]
- Main article: Climate of Indonesia
Because its region located along the equator, Indonesia is a tropical country with only two season, the dry season (June to October) and the wet/rainy season (November to March). These seasons are not absolute because rain also come during the dry season although not as often as the rainy season. Indonesia is hot and humid the whole year. Average daily temperature in Jakarta, the capital city, is 21 to 33 degrees celcius (69 to 92 degrees fahrenheit)[3]
Geological Condition[]
- Main article: Geological condition of Indonesia
Indonesia has about 400, yet, 130 is considered active.[3] Some of the volcanoes produced huge eruptions. The most well known was the eruption of Mount Tambora in the island of Sumbawa in April 1815, which caused a world wide climate disruption known as "the year without summer".[4] Another famous eruption is of Mount Krakatau (or Krakatoa) in May 20th, 1883[5], which produced enormous sea waves up to 40 m tall and the explotion was heard over Rodriguez Island, 4653 km distant across the Indian Ocean, and over 1/13th of the earth's surface.[6]
Because Indonesia is located in a place where Eurasian Plate collides with the Indo-Australian Plate, Indonesia is prone to earthquake and tsunamis.[3] In December 26th, 2004, there was a big tsunami which affected Aceh province and killing over 104,000 people.[7] The second tsunami event, not as big as the first one, was affecting south shores of Java on July 17th, 2006, killing over 650 people.[8]
Cities[]
The capital city of Republic Indonesia is Jakarta. Other big cities in Indonesia is Surabaya, Medan, Bandung, Semarang, Jogjakarta, Denpasar, Medan, Padang, etc.
People[]
Ethnic Groups[]
There are about 350 ethnic groups in Indonesia.[9] The most well known are: Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, Betawi, Madurese, Acehnese, Ambonese, Manado, Batak, And Bugis.
Languages[]
The official Language of Republic of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia (literal translation: the language of Indonesia), a direct descendant of Malay language. There are also about 300 languages and dealects [9] spoken throughout Indonesia, as well as foreign language such as: several dialects of Chinese, Arabic, Indian, Dutch, and English. The most well known languages of Indonesia are: Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese.
History[]
Prehistoric Times[]
- Main article: Homo erectus
It is thought that Indonesia has been inhibited by prehistoric human since 1.8 million years ago. In an excavation at east Java between 1891 to 1892, a Dutch anatomist and medical doctor, Eugene Dubois, recovered a brain case and femur (upper leg bone) of Homo erectus. Since he had discovered an unknown species, he took the liberty of naming it in an 1894 publication. He called it Pithecanthropus erectus (literally "ape man who stands erect"), which is also well known as "The Java Man".[10][11][12]
Migration of people to Ancient Indonesia[]
- Main article: Indonesian Ancestors
Around 3000-500 BC Indonesia was inhabited by Sub-Mongoloid migrants from Asia who later inter-married with the indigenous people. Later still 1000 BC inter-marriage occurred with Indo-Arian migrants from the south-Asian sub-continent of India.[13]
Dutch Colonization[]
The Dutch where keen on invading the Indian peninsula and the nations around it so when they landed on the East Indies, they invaded it. The Dutch were the rulers of Indonesia for 350 years. The Indonesians didn't like Dutch colonization and how it changed their normal life but they had no choice but to obey. Indonesians have tried to rebel against their Dutch rulers but they mostly failed. When the Napoleonic Wars broke out, the Dutch sided with Napoleon, so when the Brits conquered the Dutch, they kept their colonies until the war was over. This includes the East Indies too. The Brits left after 3 years.
Early 20th Century[]
Indonesia was still in Dutch control in the early years of the 20th century. Netherlands was neutral during the First World War even though it's neighbor, Belgium suffered heavy atrocities by the Germans.
Second World War[]
In 1933, an Austrian, Adolf Hitler took control of Germany and 6 years later, made the Second World War. The Dutch tried to remain neutral but in 1940, the Dutch were invaded by the Nazis along with Luxembourg and, again, Belgium. Indonesia was technically still in Dutch rule and not of German until the Japanese joined the Axis Powers. The Japs were always keen on making a huge empire starting with Korea, then the old Asian German colonies of WW1, then Manchukuo, then the rest of China and then they set their eyes on Southeast Asia. Life under Dutch rule was not great so the Indonesians welcomed the Japanese. This soon turned over when Indonesia was used as a little puppet for the Japanese to attack British Australia. In 1945, two nuclear bombs hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending not only WW2 but also Japanese rule in Indonesia
Cold War[]
Indonesia was a capitalist country under Sukarno. The USA, thought he might be a communist so the CIA made some..., let's just say naughty videos about him. Sukarno came as second place and killed almost every communist. East Timor looked communist so SUkarno invaded it. Nobody cared that much, YET. In 1963, the Malaysian Indonesian Confrontation started. Sukarno is the 6th most dangerous dictators in the world.
Independence Given[]
After the Cold war was melting (pun intended), the US and Australia set East Timor free from Indonesia's dictatorship.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Indonesia profile from the official site of the government of Republic of Indonesia.
- ^ Official CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) World Factbook about Indonesia.
- ^ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Microsoft Encarta 2004 Edition, article: Indonesia.
- ^ Tambora, Indonesian Volcano (Tambora Volcano Part I), The Indonesian Digest website
- ^ Krakatau, Indonesia (1883)
- ^ What happened in the Krakatoa eruption in the 1800's? by Nicholas Elliott
- ^ Tsunami, Indonesia and Thailand
- ^ Earthquake Triggers Tsunami in Indonesia, 2006, Maps of the World website
- ^ 9.0 9.1 Microsoft Encarta 2004 Edition, article: Indonesia facts and figures.
- ^ Early Human Evolution: A Survey of the Biological and Cultural Evolution of Homo habilis and Homo erectus, article: Homo Erectus
- ^ The Java Man, Human Origins Website
- ^ Homo erectus, Smithsonian Institution Human Origins Program website
- ^ AsianInfo.com: Indonesia's History and Background: Ancient Times