|
Serving
Students at
Santa Ana
College and
Santiago
Canyon College
INDONESIA
Map
|
Location:
Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean
Geographic
coordinates: 5 00 S, 120 00 E
Map
references: Southeast Asia
Area:
total:
1,919,440 sq km
land:
1,826,440 sq km
water:
93,000 sq km
Area
- comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas
Land
boundaries:
total:
2,602 km
border
countries: Malaysia 1,782 km, Papua New Guinea 820 km
Coastline:
54,716 km
Terrain:
mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior mountains
Elevation
extremes:
lowest
point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest
point: Puncak Jaya 5,030 m
Natural
resources: petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper,
fertile soils, coal, gold, silver
Land
use:
arable
land: 10%
permanent
crops: 7%
permanent
pastures: 7%
forests
and woodland: 62%
other:
14% (1993 est.)
Irrigated
land: 45,970 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural
hazards: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes,
volcanoes
Environment
- current issues: deforestation; water pollution from industrial wastes,
sewage; air pollution in urban areas; smoke and haze from forest fires
Environment
- international agreements:
party
to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed,
but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation
Geography
- note: archipelago of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited); straddles Equator;
strategic location astride or along
major
sea lanes from Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean
Geography
Indonesia,
an archipelago in Southeast Asia lies between the mainland of South-East
Asia and Australia in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, consists of 17,000
islands (6,000 inhabited and stretch over 4828km (3000 miles), and straddles
the equator. Indonesia, part of the “ring of fire,” has the largest
number of active volcanoes in the world (300), the great majority of which
are extinct; earthquakes are frequent. The landscape varies from
island to island, ranging from high mountains and plateau to coastal lowlands
and alluvial belts.
Size
The total
land area of Indonesia is approximately 2 million (1,919,317) square kilometers
or 736,000 sq. mi, is about three times the size of Texas which includes
some 93,000 square kilometers of inland seas. Total area claimed,
including an exclusive economic zone is 7.9 million square kilometers.
Topography
Indonesia
is an archipelagic nation with five main islands: Sumatra,
Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya; two major archipelagos:
Nusa Tenggara and Maluku Islands; and many smaller archipelagos.
The largest islands are Sumatra, Java (the most populous), Bali, Kalimantan
(Indonesia's part of Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), the Nusa Tenggara islands,
the Maluku Islands, and Irian Jaya renamed Papua in 1999 (western part
of New Guinea). Its neighbor to the north is Malaysia and to
the east is Papua New Guinea.
Large
islands consist of coastal plains with mountainous interiors. The
mountainous islands have peaks reaching 3,800 meters above sea level in
western islands and as high as 5,000 meters in Irian Jaya. The highest
point, 5,039 meters, is Puncak Jaya in Irian Jaya. The region is
tectonically unstable with some 400 volcanoes, of which 100 are active.
Capital
Jakarta
(est. 8.8 million).
Other
Cities
Surabaya
3.0 million
Medan
2.5 million
Bandung
2.5 million plus an additional 3 million in the surrounding area.
Density
per Square Mile: 306
Major
islands more than 500 persons per square kilometer
Densely
Populated Outer Islands100 persons or fewer per square kilometer
Government
Transmigration Program fosters relocation from densely populated to less-populated
islands.
Map
Links
for More Information
CIA
World Factbook: Indonesia Geography Climate
.
Sources:
Central
Intelligence Agency |
