Geography

Geography

The territory of the Republic of Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. It is situated between the continents of Australia and Asia and between the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. That is why Indonesia has a very strategic position of being the crossroads between East and West and from North to South.

Indonesia has five main islands: Kalimantan, 539,460 sq.km. ; Sumatra, 473,606 sq.km. ; Irian Jaya, 421,981 sq.km. ; Sulawesi, 189,216 sq.km. ; and Java, 132,187 sq.km.

Location + Extent
The location of the Indonesian Archipelago is between 6° Northern latitude and 11° Southern latitude; and also between 94° – 141° Eastern longitude. The distance between the outmost eastern and western points of the Indonesian Archipelago is about 5,110 km (+ 3,200 miles), while the distance between the outmost northern and southern points is about 1,888 km (+ 1,200 miles).

The extent of Indonesia’s territory is around 5,178,641 sq.km comprising about 2,012,478 sq.km. of land area and about 3,166,163 sq.km. of water area. The number of islands, large and small, found in this archipelago is nearly 17,000, which have a coastline of about 61,147 km. Around 6,000 of those islands have a name, but only 930 of them are inhabited. The western part of Indonesia’s territory is generally comprised of larger islands, such as Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan; whereas the eastern part, except for Irian Jaya and Sulawesi, is made up of smaller archipelagos, such as the archipelago of Nusa Tenggara and that of the Moluccas now called Maluku.

Climate + Topography

Being located along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate with tow seasons; the dry monsoon, lasting from June to September, and wet monsoon, lasting from December to March, respectfully. Indonesian physiography consists of low-lying plains in the coastal areas and plateaus in the mountain areas. Most of the islands are rugged, sometimes volcanic, and after covered with rain forest. These variations create 2 broad range of air temperatures.

On the lowland plains or coastal areas, the air temperature is rather high, around 27°-30° Celsius (81°-86°F), while on the plateaus or mountain areas, it is relatively low, around 22°-25° Celsius (72°-77°F).

The larger islands of Indonesia-Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian Jaya, contain the majority of the population, but Java is by far the most populated. Most Indonesians live in river valleys, alluvial coastal plains or on terraced mountainsides. Indonesia has about 400 mountains, more than ten of which are still active volcanoes. For this reason, Indonesia is classified as a seismically active area.

Natural Resources

Indonesia has abundant natural resources; however, most of them are not yet fully exploited. Some of the most important natural resources are petroleum, natural gas, tin, bauxite, manganese, coal, gold, silver and copper. Some of Indonesia’s agricultural products are rice, corn, cassava, soybeans, rubber, coffee, palm oil, and tobacco. Some of these products are exported, and are regarded as primary foreign exchange earners. Export revenue is used in financing Indonesia’s national development.

Approximately 58.8% or about 113,545,535 hectares of Indonesia’s land area is covered by dense forests. In these forests thousands of plants and animal species thrive. Indonesian floras and faunas are valuable assets of the nation. Timber as a forest product, for instance, has been referred to in recent years as the “green gold,” for the simple reason that it has the highest potential as a non-oil export commodity.

As much as 16,129,256 hectares of Indonesia’s forest area have been converted into forest preservations. These preservations are divided into:
a). 175 units of natural preservations (6,123,743 hectares)
b). 71 units of wildlife preservations (4,676,088 hectares)
c). 11 units of hunting parks (326,291 hectares)
d). 47 units of tourist park (165,265 hectares)
e). 1 unit for a national park (4,837,869 hectares)

This way, it is possible to protect and preserve various species of animals, such as elephants, rhinoceroses, orang utans, comodos, tigers, wild bears and various species of birds, such as bird of paradise, cassowaries, cockatoos and peacocks as well as thousands of plant species.