The name Indonesia was derived from "indos nesos", meaning islands near India, The country is in fact the largest archipelago in the world with a thousand islands, 17,508 to be precise, spread in an area between the Asian continent and Australia, and between the Pacific and the Indian oceans. The islands are inhabited by many tribes with diverse culture and languages, although there is a national language spoken throughout the country, namely Bahasa Indonesia. It is thus appropriate, that the country's motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which means: Unity in Diversity.
The country is predominantly mountainous with some 400 volcanoes of which 100 are active. Mountains higher than 9,000 feet are found on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa. The highest mountain is the perpetually snow-capped Mandala Top (15,300 feet) in the Jaya Wijaya mountain range of Irian Jaya.
Indonesia contains one of the world's most remarkable geographical boundaries in its distribution of animals. This dates back to the glacial period when sea level fell all over the world. During this period the islands of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Bali on the Sunda Shelf were joined together with one another and the Asian mainland, but Irian Jaya, Aru and the Australian continent of the Sahul Shelf were separated. This early geographical separation explains why the tropical animal species of Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan do not exist in Irian Jaya. For the same reason, the kangoroo of Irian Jaya is missing in the other region. Maluku, Sulawesi, and the Lesser Sunda Islands, which lie between the Sunda and Sahul shelves, have a strikingly different fauna. Most of the eastern fauna do not exist in Sulawesi even though this island is close to Kalimantan, being just across the Makassar Strait. One possible reason for this is that Kalimantan and Sulawesi might have been separated by a deep straight at one point, while the great depth of the Banda Sea kept them apart during the glacial period. Some scientists have attributed the phenomenon to three faunial lines. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE (1823-1913) wrote in his book, "The Malay Archipelago", that Nusantara was separated into the Oriental ecological area and the Australian ecological area by a Wallace L line that runs from the South to North, passing the Lombok and Makassar Straits and ending in the south eastern part of The Philippines.
The rich flora of Indonesia includes many unique varieties of tropical plant life in various forms. Rafflesia Arnoldi, which is only found in certain parts of Sumatra, is the largest flower in the world. The parasitic plant grows on certain lianas but does not produce leaves. The myriad of orchids in rich in species, varying in size from the largest of all orchids, the tiger orchid of Grammatophyllum Speciosum, to the tiny and leafless species of Taeniophyllum which is edible and taken by the local people as a medicine and is also used in handicrafts. |
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