Landforms

      Indonesia, a country consisting of over seventeen thousand islands, lies directly below Malaysia and East Asia. Despite its large number of islands, it is only slightly three times less than the size of Texas. The main islands (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya) are mostly made up of volcanoes. Only one hundred of the four hundred volcanoes on the islands remain active today; this includes Krakatoa, also known as Krakatau, a volcano that had a violent eruption in 1983. Elevation in Indonesia varies between zero miles above sea level and five thousand thirty miles above sea level, the highest point being Puncak Jaya, the tallest mountain in Indonesia. Coastal plains surround the islands which attract tourists. The largest of the lakes on these islands would be Lake Toba on Sumatra. As for rivers, the longest is Kapaus River on the island of Borneo.

Picture: The eruption of Krakatoa in 1983

Picture: Sumatra, Indonesia Coast

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html

www.teachers.ash.org.au/jmresources/countries5/Indonesia.html

Textbook pages 636-637

Climates and Ecosystems

The largest climate in Indonesia is overwhelmingly tropical wet. In the mountains the climate is highlands, and in the southern islands it's tropical wet and dry. All across the islands, however, it is hot and humid, being only slightly lessened in the highlands, due to its high elevation. Indonesia is right on the equator, and the direct sunlight it receives accounts for the tropical climates. Monsoon winds from Asia and the Pacific bring much of the rain in the tropical wet climate, and dry monsoon winds from Australia go over the southern islands, bringing their dry season.

There are very many ecosystems in Indonesia, being the second most biologically diverse country in the world, after Brazil. The most common and broad are tropical rainforest and tropical grassland in the southern islands, however there are several ranges of sea and costal ecosystems, such as beaches, sand dunes, and coral reefs, and regions on swamps and coastal vegetation, due to the fact that it is an island chain and there is a lot of coast. Much of the diversity also comes from the mixture of Asian, Australian and native species which inhabit the islands. Located directly in between the two, the animals migrated in the middle.

Citations: Textbook pages 639-641, CIA Factbook, “Indonesia’s Natural Wealth”, “The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas: Part One”, State of the World 1997: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society (14th edition).

Natural Resources

Indonesia has a large supply of petroleum, and is one of the world's major producers. In less of a abundance, Indonesia also has coal, natural gas, timber, fertile soil, and a variety metals. These resources are pretty spread out over the archipelago; no one island has all of them. As for benefits, Indonesia has already used their natural resources to improve the level of development of the country. Indonesia has joined OPEC, and since raised the literacy rate and GDP, both by quite a bit. Continuing in this way would most likely result in more economic improvement, which would greatly benefit the country.

Citations: Textbook pages 645, 710-711, CIA Factbook.

Human-Evironment Interactions

Resulting from an underwater volcano, Indonesia is very mountainous. Due to being on the equator, it's also largely tropical rain forest. Neither of two is particularly good for agriculture, but the main economic activity remains commercial farming, and Indonesia has many people to feed. To deal with these setbacks, Indonesians expand their farmland into the rain forests, and terrace up the mountains. The tropical wet climate helps, however, providing rain and erasing the need for irrigation. These methods work for now, but there's no telling how long they will.

Citations: Greenvital.net,

Political Borders

Indonesia borders Malaysia to the north, Papua New Guinea to the right, and East Timor to the south.

In the 16th century, four countries(the Spainish, Portuguese, British, and Dutch) set out in search for "The Spice Islands". They brought with them many ideas and much culture. The British ruled for a short time before the Dutch took over all of Indonesia. After independence, Indonesia and its border countries decided on fair boundaries.

Treaties and documents were created to finalize it but arguements sometimes occured, such as the complications with Malaysia's 1979 map. Problems and disagreements have risen again and again between the two countries. Mostly, boundary disputes have been about the island of Borneo and maritime borders. They have attempted working together by joint-management on the fought over areas.

Another treaty was created between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in 1986, however, not everyone agreed with it. Many dislike the law-breakers, refugees, and people crossing into Papua New Guinea. The border is poorly developed with bad infrastructure.

Picture: A map of Indonesia, showing its bordering countries

Indonesian Culture

           Indonesia was ruled by many different countries and forms of government. The first to settle in Indonesia were the Dutch. The Dutch settled in the early 17^th century. This is the cause of one of the main languages being Dutch. After many years with Dutch rule, the Japanese ceased the islands. The Japanese occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945. But during their short period of rule, they left Buddhism as well as some Hinduism on the Islands of Indonesia. Now there are temples for the Buddhist and Hindu gods. After the periods of rule from Dutch an Japanese, Indonesia was influenced by many outside and internal ethnic groups.

Now, Indonesia is composed of many diverse ethnic groups, and all with different beliefs and customs. There are over 250 different languages found in Indonesia. The main languages are Bahasa Indonesia, which is a modified form of Malay, English and Dutch (due to their rule in earlier history); and many of the local languages spoken are actually Javanese. Many groups actually speak the main language, Bahasa Indonesia, as a second language. Indonesia is actually 86.1% Muslim. Other main groups are also Javanese (40.6%) and Sundanese (15%). But the country also has influenced culture from the west (Dutch) such as: Protestant and Roman Catholic. The Portuguese also influenced the island of East Timor and the surrounding islands with Roman Catholic.

Indonesia also has many different forms of art and food. From art sculptures to dance forms to music, each is affected by their ethnic group.



Muslim population of Indonesia



Citations: CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html; Textbook page 710 and 711; http://yopyrinaldi.blogspot.com/2012/01/culture-of-indonesia-fusion-of-customs.html; http://home.swipnet.se/zabonk/indons/instant/religion.htm.

Demographics of Indonesia

                There are over 248 million people living on the islands of Indonesia, which are spread over 3,200 miles of ocean. Indonesia ranks in as the third most populous democracy in the world. The most populous areas in Indonesia are Jakarta (the capital, which houses 9.121 million people), as well as Surabaya, Bandung, Medan and Semarang. In fact, Indonesia’s population rate is 1.04%. And the birth rate averages 17.76 births per thousand people, while the death rate only averages about 6.28 deaths per thousand people. The urbanization rate of Indonesia is about 1.7%. And 44% of the total population lives in urban areas. This is because people earn more by working in factories or performing services than working to make profit on agricultural activities.

Though Indonesia is growing at a substantial rate, there is still a lot for the country to improve. The infant mortality rate is about 26.99 per thousand people, while the United States averages at about 5.98 infant deaths per thousand people. And its neighbor, Malaysia, has an infant mortality rate of 14.57 per thousand people. Its literacy rate should also be enhanced if the economy is to improve. Indonesia, presently, has a literacy rate of 90.4%; which is not bad, when not compared to the United States’ 99% literacy rate. The unemployment in Indonesia currently is 22.2% of the total population. While the United States has 17.6% of the population unemployed and Malaysia has 10.9% of the population without a job. The unemployment is a push factor for many people of Indonesia to migrate to the surrounding countries. Life expectancy in Indonesia is 71.62 years. This earns Indonesia the 135^th rank spot compared to the world. The United States has an average life expectancy of 78.49 years earning it the 50^th spot.

Indonesia is continuing to grow at a substantial rate, but it still has to improve many other statistics before it can truly be done with its development, as well as the improving economy.

The country is still underdeveloped compared to many other countries.

Citations: http://yanziyang.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/population-pyramid/ , https://www.cia.gov/library/pulications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html , and text book page 710.

Government System

Indonesia was once ruled by Suharto, the second president of the country, for thirty-two years. Strict control over the islands made this an authoritorian country. However, they are currently a republic and working towards becoming a democracy. The presidents now have five year terms. The government is described as "presidential with parlimentary characteristics." They have executive, judicial, and legislative branches that work similarly to the United States government. The civil law system is based on the Roman-Dutch law system.

The national anthem - Indonesia Raya - was created back in 1928 during the Dutch Colonial time period. The man who wrote it is Wage Rudolf Soepratman who simply wanted unity for the country. It did not become the national anthem until 1949, four years after independence was gained. The national bird, Garuda Pancasila, which is only a mythical bird, is the base of the emblem of Indonesia. It has a shield with five symbols on it and an open scroll being held between his feet. The flag of Indonesia is a simple two rectangles; one of red and one of white. The red half stands for the country's courage and the white half represents their purity. The government hopes to acheive a sense of unity and pride in their nation.

Picture: The Garuda Pancasila, the national bird of Indonesia

http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/id).html

http://www.national-anthems.org/history.php

Indonesian Economic Activities

          Most of the people of Indonesia make a living by doing subsistence farming. Subsistence farming is the farming of crops for survival needs for an individual or group of people, and it produces little surplus. So, Indonesia does not export as many food products as it does other products. Therefore it must import food to help the people that do not farm survive. The main exported product in Indonesia is oil/petroleum. Indonesia is very rich in oil, which grants it a spot in OPEC. OPEC is a corporation of countries that are very rich in petroleum products. Thus, Indonesia exports more oil than it does any other product. Indonesia uses the money it receives from oil exports to help improve its infrastructure. The country spends most of its money on improving schools to help increase the literacy rate. Because of the increase of money put into the schools, illiteracy rate dropped from 61% to 23% in 1990. This country also exports precious minerals such as Bauxite, Tin, Nickel and Coal.
                  
          In the traditional perspective, Indonesia is rich in flora or plants. So many tribes and small groups of people use over 6,000 different species of plants for remedies and such. These people also use the flowers to sell to other merchants to make a small profit.

          There is also little commercial farming performed on the humus-rich lands of Indonesia. Most people prefer subsistence farming over commercial farming because large groups of workers must clear the forests that keep the land so rich in humus in order to farm over large plots of land. About 45% of people in Indonesia work in an agricultural-based job. This accounts for 17% of the GDP. Since Indonesia has many highlands, the people use terraced farming, which is the farming of products on hills and mountains by creating terraces throughout the different heights of the raised land. This really only helps the family the farmer is working for/with. And the population continues to increase. So the more mouths to feed, the more the country must spend on getting food imports, making them spend less money on the infrastructure. Therefore, the Level of Development, or LOD, is under developed or, in some cases, developing. And the Human Development Index or HDI averages around 0.6%.

 

Citations: http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/indonesia/pro-geography.htm , Textbook page 645, 710-711 and https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html , http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Indonesia-AGRICULTURE.html

Current or Future Issues

Despite its increasing level of development, Indonesia still has a variety of issues, both environmental and political.
Due to its rainforest environment and mountainous terrain, deforestation is necessary for feeding its entire people, but is also starting to harm the environment. Fires in the rainforests cause smoke and haze, adding to the air pollution of industries in urban areas. Water pollution from industrial waste also surrounds the archipelago, making getting clean water difficult. Also due to its location, Indonesia is prone to many natural disasters. Mostly the environmental issues are because of the rapidly growing economy, coming with rapidly growing demands.

Politically, Indonesia has many problems its newly formed republic is working to fix, such as to improve education, reduce poverty level, prevent terrorism and terrorists, strengthen the new democracy, reduce corruption in the government, address the climate change, hold police and military leaders accountable for human rights violations, and control infectious diseases. Indonesia was under an authoritarian military government for forty years, and just recently gained independence. The issues they faced with it, however, remain through those not accepting the change of government, and still acting with the intensions of the military.

To overcome both categories of issues, Indonesia must find more efficient ways of getting rid of waste, and build up its new democracy by ending the pattern of violating human rights.
Citation: CIA World Factbook and http://www.indexmundi.com/indonesia/environment_current_issues.html.