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The Land
Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world, stretching 3,200 miles (5.120 kin) from east to west, it straddles the equator between the Australian and Asian Continents.
The name Indonesia came from two Greek words: "Indos" meaning Indian and "Nesos" meaning islands. This is an excellent description of the archipelago, as there are an estimated 17,508 islands, some nothing more than tiny outcroppings of barren rock, others as big as California or Spain and covered in dense tropical jungle. Approximately 6,000 of these islands are inhabited, with five main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos serving as home to the majority of the population. The main islands Sumatra (473,606 sq. km), Kalimantan (539,460 sq. km), Sulawesi (189,216 sq. km), Irian Jaya (421,981 sq. km), and Java (132,187 sq. km).
The islands and people of Indonesia constitute the fourth most populated nation in the world, with about 190 million people. A democratic republic, Indonesia is divided into 27 provinces and special territories. These are classified geographically into four groups: The Greater Sundas, (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi) The Lesser Sundas, (the smaller islands from Bali eastward to Timor) Maluku, (all the islands between Irian Jaya and Sulawesi) and Irian Jaya in the extreme eastern part of the country.
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