Indonesia. Officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia). It is an island state in Southeast Asia, comprising about three thousand islands in the Indian, Pacific and South China Sea oceans. The most important islands are those of Sunda (Sumatra, Java and Madura), Celebes (Sulawesi), S of Borneo, the Small Islands of Sunda (Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Timor and Flores), the Moluccas Islands and the O of Nueva Guinea. Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia according to itypemba.
The Indonesian archipelago is a complex of mountain ranges of recent origin, largely submerged, between the Pacific and Indian Oceans; These mountain ranges are the prolongation of the mountain ranges of Southeast Asia.
The ensemble forms two island regions with Borneo as a reference point: the inner island arc of the islands of Sumatra, Java and Flores ends on the island of Espi; the second arch, external, extends from the islands of Sumba, Timor, Buru and Ceram (Moluccas). The mountain ranges are delimited by inland seas, some of enormous depth such as the Java Trench (7,000 m) and the Philippines (10,000 m).
Indonesia is a republic, with a legislative branch and a president elected by suffrage, and the government is headquartered in the capital city of Jakarta. Despite being an archipelago, the country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other countries close to Indonesia include Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Geography
Indonesia is made up of 17,508 islands, of which about 6,000 are inhabited. These islands are scattered on both sides of the terrestrial Ecuador.
The five largest islands are Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo), New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea), and Celebes. Indonesia shares borders with Malaysia on the islands of Borneo and Sebatik, with Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea, and with East Timor on the island of Timor.
Furthermore, only a few straits separate Indonesia from Singapore, the Philippines and Australia. The capital Jakarta is located on the island of Java and is the nation’s largest city, followed by Bandung, Surabaya, Medan and Semarang.
At 1,904,569 km², Indonesia is the 16th largest country in the world in terms of area. Its population density is 134 h / km², the 88th highest in the world, although Java, the most populated island in the world, has a population density of 940 h / km².
At 4,884 meters above sea level, Puncak Jaya in Papua is the highest and largest mountain in Indonesia, while Lake Toba in Sumatra is the largest lake in the country, with an area of 1,145 km². The largest rivers in the country are in Kalimantan and include the Mahakam and the Barito, which are used as communication and transportation routes between the island’s populations.
Indonesia’s location on the edges of the Pacific, Eurasian and Indo-Australian tectonic plates make it a place with numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Indonesia has at least 150 active volcanoes, including Krakatoa and Tambora, famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century.
The eruption of the Toba supervolcano, approximately 70,000 years ago, was one of the largest eruptions ever seen and a catastrophe of global scope. Disasters caused by recent seismic activity include the 2004 tsunami that killed about 167,736 people in North Sumatra, and the Java earthquake of May 2006.
However, volcanic ash is one of the main contributing factors to the high fertility of the soil that has historically maintained the population densities of Java and Bali.
As it is located near the Equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with different seasons of monsoon, rain and drought. Average annual precipitation ranges from 1,780 mm in the lowlands to 6,100 mm in the mountainous regions.
The mountainous areas of the west coast of Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua receive most of the rainfall. Generally, humidity is high, averaging about 80%. Temperatures vary little throughout the year; Jakarta’s average temperature is 26-30 ° C.
Jakarta
History
In its beginnings in the 15th century, Jakarta was a small port next to a hill next to the Ciliwung River. Considered at that time as the largest port in the Hindu kingdom of Sunda, it was then called Kalapa.
In 1513 the first European fleet arrived, with four Portuguese ships from Malacca, which were looking for a route for spices and, in particular, pepper.
The Kingdom of Sunda made a peace agreement with Portugal by allowing the Portuguese to build a port in 1522 in order to defend them against the rising power of the Demak Sultanate of central Java. The city was attacked by a young warrior named Fatahillah, leader of a neighboring kingdom, after which on June 22, 1527, it changed the name of Kalapa to Jayakarta.
At the end of the 16th century the Dutch reached Jayakarta and in 1619 the forces of the Dutch East India Company, led by Jan Pieterszoon Co conquered the city which they renamed Batavia.
As business opportunities developed, they attracted mainly Chinese immigrants to Indonesia. Tensions grew when the colonial government tried to restrict Chinese migration through deportations. The 9 of October of 1740, 5,000 Chinese were massacred and the following year, Chinese residents were moved to Glodok outside the city walls. In 1818 the Koningsplein, now Merdeka Square, and Kebayoran Baru which was the last Dutch residential area built were completed.
Japanese occupation
In 1942 the Japanese occupied it, calling it with its current name. After the occupation the already inhabited groups mobilized ideologically, this is how they established their first republican government in 1950 with capital in Jakarta. [The president of the Indonesian foundation, Sukarno, envisioned Jakarta as a great international city. For that reason he instigated large government-funded projects. Projects in Jakarta included a cloverleaf highway, a large boulevard (Jalan Sudirman), monuments such as the Monumen Nasional, major hotels, and a new building for the parliament.
Culture
Jakarta has several performance centers such as Senayan. Traditional music is often found in luxury hotels, including gamelan and wayang (Indonesian and Malay word for theater). As the most populated city and capital of the country, Jakarta continually welcomes talents seeking to find a larger audience and chances for success.
Betawi arts are rarely found in the city due to their low profile and most of them moved to the borders of Jakarta. It is easier to find Javanese or minang wedding ceremonies than betawi, just as Javanese gamelan predominates over gamelan kromong (mix between betawi and Chinese music), tranjidor (mix between betawi and Portuguese music) or marawis (mix between betawi and Yamaní music)). However, some festivals such as the Jalan Jaksa Festival or the Kemang Festival try to preserve Betawi art by inviting the most representative artists of Betawi culture.
