Indonesia at A Glance


Bhinneka Tunggal Ika or Unity In Diversity

Indonesia is a vast country in Southeast Asia, an enormous island chain, stretching nearly 5.000 km from the west to the east, curling around the equator, bordered by the Indian and the Pacific Ocean, a land of incredible beauty and extreme diversity, high mountains and active volcanoes, dry savannas in the Lesser Sunda Islands and lush rainforests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, tea plantations in Java, tobacco growing on the higher table-lands, delicately modeled rice terraces in Bali and Sulawesi, everywhere you travel, the most beautiful landscapes your eyes have ever met ...

Many Countries in One

A nation with incredible cultural richness, too. Imagine a country where more than 300 ethnic groups speak their own language and live harmoniously together within the same boundaries. Think about all the different customs and the religious variety you can explore in such a country. From the west Sumatran highlands, where the women are in charge, to the the colorful Hindu rituals of the Balinese, from the primitive ways of life in Kalimantan and Irian Jaya to the elaborate and refined Javanese society, from the Torarajas with their strong and unique culture to the the remote villages of the primitive Sasaks in Lombok, the "forgotten" tropical island... then you have found the magic of Indonesia or Tanah Air Kita, "Our Land and Our Water", as the over 200 million inhabitants of this magnificent land between Asia and Australia commonly and proudly call their home, fully realizing it is the biggest island nation on earth.

A Destination With Truly Unlimited Travel Possibilities

Even taken into account that nobody knows exactly how many islands Indonesia has – recently re-counted to more than 17.000 - the country is, without any doubt, the largest archipelago nation in the world, spanning over 5.200km between west and east. While such a country is to encompassing for even a thousand pictures, it will impress the soul of very righteous traveler time fater time.

Location
Between 6.8 NB and 11.15 ZB / between 94.45 and 141.50 OL

Surface
almost 2.000.000 sq km land surface

Administrative organization
Republic, 34 provinces en 3 territories with special status (Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Aceh), further divided into 514 regencies and 7094 districts, almost 74.093 villages

Capital
Jakarta, a mushrooming city with almost 14.000.000 inhabitants

Relief and altitude
Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world; a recent count, revealed more than 17.000 islands, of which only some 6.000 are inhabitant. Indonesia geographic form, with deep seas, mountain ranges and active volcanoes, was formed by the collusion of three parts of the earth's crust. Today's islands, are the peaks of mountains, washed over when the glacial period ended. Indonesia's highest peak, located in Irian Jaya province, only very recently renamed Papua, reached above m5.000

Climate
Equatorial - temperatures generally range from 28 to 35 /68 to 89 degrees. Humidity ranges from 60 to 90 percent - the rainy season lasts from November through April, while the dry period takes from May to October, some areas have a savannah climate with a short dry period - mountain areas above m 1.500 enjoy a considerably cooler climate

Flora
West Indonesia has tropical rainforest, while east Indonesia has large areas covered by savannahs.

Ethnic diversity
More than 300 groups of indigenous people, mostly of Malay stock. Melanesian and Papuan people dominate the Mollucas and Papua. Small minority of Chinese (total 5 million). Few Indians, Arabs and Eurasians.

Religions
Indonesia does recognize the following religions: Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.

Languages
Bahasa Indonesia is the language of the government and is taught Indonesia wide. Approximately 350