The Land of Indonesia [1]

Indonesia has a total land area of some 735,000 square miles. The greatest distance from the northern tip of Sumatera to the eastern end of West Irian (West New Guinea) is about 3.500 miles. Today, the name of West Irian had changed. The new name of West Irian is Papua.

The country is usually divided into several island groups. The four major islands (with Indonesian names is parentheses) are Java (Jawa), Sumatera, Borneo (Kalimantan), and Celebes (Sulawesi). As a group, these islands are known as the Greater Sunda Islands (Sunda Besar). To the east of Java lie the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), which consist of Bali (The Islands of Gods), Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa (The Islands of Wild Horses), Flores, and some others. Timor Timur had declared their own independent and had separated from NKRI (Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia-Indonesia Republic of Unified Nation) after struggling for about two decades, Timor Timur decided to claim their own freedom.

Between Celebes and New Guinea are located the Moluccas (Maluku), which include Buru, Ceram (Seram), Ambon, Halmahera, the Aru Islands, Morotai, and many other small islands. The easternmost part of Indonesia is Papua, which is 1963 was transferred to The Republic of Indonesia by the Netherlands.

The vegetation-tropical hardwoods, evergreens, dense jungle, and abundant flowers-is pretty much the same throughout the region. The animal life of the western part, however, with elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses, resembles that of Asia, while marsupials (kangaroos and opossums) like those found in Australia are more common in the eastern part (to be continued in next post).

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