Full country name - Republic of Indonesia

Capital city - Jakarta  

Land
Indonesians refer to their homeland as Tanah Air Kita, which means "Our Land and Water." The Indonesian archipelago is located south and east of mainland Asia, sharing a border with Malaysia, and north and west of Australia. About half of Indonesia's nearly 13,700 islands are inhabited; all are located in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The islands stretch across 5,100 km (3,200 mi) in the region of the equator, a distance nearly one-eighth of the Earth's circumference. The country's total land area is 1,904,443 sq km (735,310 sq mi).

The main islands of Indonesia are Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. The republic shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei; Indonesian Borneo makes up about 75 percent of the island and is called Kalimantan. Indonesia also shares the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea; Indonesia occupies the western half of the island, known as Irian Jaya. The smaller islands of Indonesia include Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, and Bali. Indonesia administers the western part of Timor Island. Indonesia controlled East Timor from 1975 until 1999, when the East Timorese voted for independence. The territory subsequently came under the administration of the United Nations to aid its transition to independence.

Geography
A line of active and extinct volcanoes stretches like a backbone down the western coast of Sumatra through Java, through the eastern islands, and looping through Maluku to north-eastern Sulawesi. Indonesia has about 400 volcanoes, of which about 130 are active and 70 have erupted in historical times. The archipelago is also prone to earthquakes, with epicenters distributed along the same regions as volcanoes.

Because of its tropical climate and geography, much of Indonesia's population lives near water, either on the coast or by rivers and lakes. Due to the large number of islands, Indonesia has about 54,720 km (about 34,000 mi) of coastline, much more than most countries. Much of the northeastern coast of Sumatra and the coasts of Kalimantan and Irian Jaya are low and swampy with extensive mangrove forests in which local villagers have developed ponds used for the farming of fish and prawns. In stark contrast, the coastlines along the southern edges of Sumatra, Java, and some of the smaller islands of eastern Indonesia (such as Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Sumba) are exposed to the swells that roll in from the Indian Ocean. These areas contain some of the world's best surfing beaches, attracting large numbers of tourists.

Climate
Because of Indonesia's location near the equator and its island geography, the climate in coastal areas is fairly uniform - hot and humid year-round. The average daily temperature range is 21° to 33°C (69° to 92°F) and varies little from winter to summer. Temperatures in upland areas tend to be cooler. Indonesia has two monsoon seasons: a wet season from November to March and a dry season from June to September. Between monsoons, the weather is more moderate.

Wildlife
Indonesia's rich natural environment encourages a diversity of flora & fauna. With 40,000 species of flowering plants and trees, Indonesia has a greater variety of flora than the tropical regions of Africa or the Americas. The islands are home to elephants, tigers, leopards, komodo dragons, and orangutans. Sea turtles are found in the waters around Bali. The world's largest flower — the smelly lily, Rafflesia — is found in Sumatra.

Natural Resources
Tropical forests cover 61 percent of the land, although this proportion is shrinking due to deforestation. Rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate, especially in Kalimantan where the mighty forests are being logged ferociously for their durable tropical hardwoods. Indonesia has significant deposits of oil and natural gas, and produces more than 80 percent of Southeast Asia's oil and more than 35 percent of the world's liquefied gas.

Population
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country after China, India, and the United States. Indonesia's estimated population in 2000 was 219,266,557, giving it an average population density of 115 persons per sq km (298 per sq mi). In 2000 the population was growing by 1.4 percent a year, relatively low by the standards of countries with similar income levels.

With an estimated population of over 114,000,000, Java contains well over half of Indonesia's people, approximately 9,000,000 of whom live in the capital city, Jakarta. The next most populous islands are Sumatra, Sulawesi, then Kalimantan. The remaining islands have much smaller populations. Since the early 20th century, transmigration programs have been in place to move families from Java to more sparsely settled parts of the archipelago, particularly Sumatra and later Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Irian Jaya.

Ethnic Groups
There are 365 ethnic and tribal groups. The principal ones are Javanese, Sundanese (Java); Acehnese, Bataks, Minangkabaus (Sumatra); Balinese (Bali); Sasaks (Lombok) and Dani (Irian Jaya).

The Javanese, mainly in central and eastern Java, are the largest ethnic group, constituting 45 percent of Indonesia's population. On the western end of Java are the Sundanese, the second largest group at 14 percent of the population. Other significant ethnic groups on Java include the Madurese (8 percent) from the northeast coast of Java, and the ethnic Malay (7 percent) dispersed throughout several areas. Among the ethnic groups on Sumatra are the Bataks, clustering around Lake Toba; the Minangkabau, from western highlands; the Acehnese, from the far north; and the Lampungese, who live in the south. On Sulawesi, the Minahasans live in the north, the Bugis and Makassarese cluster around the coasts in the south, and the Toraja inhabit much of the interior. Kalimantan is populated by more than 200 groups; most of these are tribes of the Dayak ethnic group in the interior or are ethnic Malay living on the coast. The people of Irian Jaya are of Melanesian descent, as are some residents from smaller eastern islands. Several million Indonesians of Chinese descent are concentrated in urban areas. Smaller numbers of Indians, Arabs, and Europeans are scattered around the archipelago.

Government
Indonesia is a constitutional republic with an elected president, an elected parliament, and an appointed judiciary. The president and his ministers have far more power than the parliament or judiciary. The government operates under a 1945 constitution based on the doctrine of Pancasila (Sanksrit for “five principles”), defined in the constitution as “a belief in one supreme god; just and civilized humanity; the unity of Indonesia; democracy guided by the inner wisdom of deliberations among representatives; social justice for all the Indonesian people.” All citizens at least 17 years of age may vote, as may married citizens regardless of age.

Economy
Indonesia's economy grew impressively during the 1980s and much of the 1990s, largely on the strength of its natural resources, which include a large labor population, solid energy reserves, substantial mineral deposits, and fertile farmland.

In mid-1997 an economic crisis developed in Asia when investors lost confidence in certain debt-laden economies. As the crisis spread to Indonesia, the value of the Indonesian currency plummeted, which threatened the capacity of the government, banks, and businesses to repay their foreign debts. In October the government negotiated an aid package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In exchange for massive loans, Indonesia agreed to implement austerity measures such as reducing government spending and reforming the financial sector. The crisis deepened in 1998 when the IMF halted funds, claiming that the Suharto regime had failed to abide by IMF terms, and as social unrest began to spread. By late May 1998 the economic and social crisis had caused President Suharto to resign. Indonesia was more seriously affected by the Asian economic crisis than were its neighbors.