Geography of Indonesia

The Indonesia is a country of Southeast Asia (the Far East), on the archipelagoes located between the Indian Ocean and the southernmost China Sea.

The archipelago indonésien is generally divided into several archipelagoes:

  • the islands of the Probe in the West - they same subdivided between the large islands of the Probe all in the West (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi) and the small islands of the Probe, string of islands extending to the South from the country since Bali until Timor.
  • the Moluques in the East, whose principal islands are Halmahera in North, Seram in the center and the islands Aru and islands Tanimbar in the South
  • the New Guinea with the Is.

Indonesia, except for New Guinea, is often regarded as part of a vaster archipelago, the the West Indies.

The largest islands of Indonesia are Java where lives about half of the population of the country, Sumatra, Borneo (which are divided with the Malaysia and the Brunei), the Western New Guinea (the Western part of the New Guinea) and the archipelago of the Sulawesi (or Célèbes).

The island of Bali is the only true tourist destination international of Indonesia.

Among the other notable islands, one can announce Timor and the island of Florès (where a new species of Hominidé S.A. discovered in 2003: the Homo floresiensis).

Principal islands

By surface


By geographical area

Large islands of the Probe

Small islands of the Probe

Moluques and New Guinea

Raw data

Climate : tropical: heat and precipitations high and constant during the year; climate temperate person with altitude

Relief : generally, of the coastal plains; the large islands have mountains, dominated of volcanos. Indonesia is indeed the country of the world most subjected to the volcanic activity. In the island of Sumatra the volcano Kerinci (3805m) rises. In Java are also the Merapi volcano, very active, located at the north of the town of Yogyakarta, and Semeru, plus high summit of the island (3676m). The culminating point of Indonesia, Puncak Jaya, is in Irian Jaya, the Western part of New Guinea and rises at an altitude of 5029m.

Natural resources : Oil, Natural gas, Nickel, Bauxite, Copper, coal, Gold, money, fertile grounds

Exploitation of the ground :

arable lands : 9,9%
permanent : 7,2%
others : 82,9% (1998)

Natural disasters : floods, storms, Tsunami S, Seism S, Volcano S, forest fires

See too

Random links:Warp end-on-the Ouvèze | Paratope | Jean-Claude Peyronnet | Marie Duru-Bellat | Park of Bourges | Henri_Druey