CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING INDONESIA VAST NATION RAINFOREST AND FARMLAND Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia It is known as a land of wild rainforest Over 60 percent of Indonesia is covered in and isolated tribes But it also offers tourist thick tropical rainforest which supports a beaches and busy cities Huge plantations huge range of plants and wildlife Many of these species aren't found anywhere else in grow rubber and other materials in demand around the world the world However much of this rainforest has been taken over to provide land for ENORMOUS COUNTRY agriculture Indonesia s rich fertile soil The Indonesian archipelago has more than is partly due to its location in the Pacific 13 000 islands 7 000 more islands are or Ring of Fire see sidebar Almost half of uninhabited It sprawls over 3 000 miles all Indonesians work in agriculture Staple 5 000 km from east to west It lies on the crops include rice cassava and corn equator and has a warm and humid tropical climate all year round Lush rice fields on the Indonesian island of Bali DESTRUCTIVE EARTH Indonesia lies on the Ring of Fire the approximately circles the Pacific Ocean In this area massive rock plates push against or slide past each other which causes earthquakes and forms volcanoes Indonesia has approximately 130 active volcanoes some erupt continuously Indonesia is struck by hundreds of earthquakes each year On December 26 2004 an earthquake deep under the Indian Ocean created a huge tsunami It struck the Indonesia province of Aceh and killed more than 100 000 people As many as half a million people became homeless
Bangkok CAMBODIA VIETNAM South China Sea GREATER SUNDA ISLANDS HAILAND PHILIPPINES Banda Aceh BRUNEI PACIFIC OCEAN Medan Kuala Lumpur SINGAPORE Singapore MALAYSIA FQUATOR Sumatra IN DO N E PAPUA NEW GUINEA VDA said Jakarta ISLANDS Subaravan Banden sk Yogyakarta INDIAN OCEAN Denpasar EAST TIMOR LESSER SUNDA AUSTRALIA TOWNS AND CITIES More of live than half the Indonesians in the country's expanding towns and cities Many are located near the coasts This includes Indonesia s capital city Jakarta and the major port city of Surabaya Both of which are well situated for coastal trade SPOTLIGHT ON INDONESIA LAND AREA 695 000 square miles 1 000 000 sq km POPULATION 250 million 2014 CAPITAL CITY Jakarta population 10 million HIGHEST POINT Puncak Jaya Irian Jaya 4 884 m NUMBER OF ISLANDS 13 667 6 000 inhabited LONGEST RIVER Kapuas River 1 143 km NATURAL RESOURCES petroleum tin coal timber gold
INDONESIA IN THE PAST The Dutch East India Company headquarters at Batavia which later became Jakarta Indonesia has been an independent country DUTCH TRADERS for approximately 60 years More than 1 000 In the late sixteenth century Dutch traders years ago the country was a loose collection representing the powerful Dutch East India of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms dotted Company arrived in Indonesia They drove across the islands Each had a different local out the Portuguese and took over territory leader In the sixteenth century Portuguese across the islands They did this to benefit traders captured the Malaku Islands to the from Indonesia s rich natural resources east of Indonesian Spices such as nutmeg and including spices but also to control the cloves that grew in the islands were valuable shipping routes in and around the country and in demand in
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING INDONESIA INDEPENDENCE INDONESIA TODAY President Sukarno arrived in Jakarta in The Dutch ruled Indonesia until World Indonesia has developed rapidly in recent War II when the Japanese briefly occupied decades to become the biggest economy in the islands At the end of the Second World Southeast Asia During the global economic War the vast majority of Indonesians wanted crisis early in the twenty first century it was an end to Dutch rule Nationalist leaders one of the few countries to keep growing including Kusno Sukarno seized the chance economically Indonesia has a booming to declare independence in 1945 Indonesia export trade based on natural resources such was ruled by Sukarno and then his former as rubber It also has a strong manufacturing military leader General Suharto for several industry Many Indonesians are seeing the decades In that time the economy expanded benefits of their country s growth as it has quickly boosted by money made from the the fastest growing number of millionaires sale of oil in the world However the majority of its population remains poor They have limited educational opportunities and little access to jobs paying decent wages 1949 for the official transfer of sovereignty from the Netherlands to
