1.
Indonesia
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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
2.
Tide
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Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide—two nearly equal high and low tides each day, other locations experience a diurnal tide—only one high and low tide each day. A mixed tide—two uneven tides a day, or one high, Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors. To make accurate records, tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time, gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes. These data are compared to the level usually called mean sea level. Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans, but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field varies in time. For example, the part of the Earth is affected by tides. Tide changes proceed via the following stages, Sea level rises over several hours, covering the intertidal zone, the water rises to its highest level, reaching high tide. Sea level falls over several hours, revealing the intertidal zone, the water stops falling, reaching low tide. Oscillating currents produced by tides are known as tidal streams, the moment that the tidal current ceases is called slack water or slack tide. The tide then reverses direction and is said to be turning, slack water usually occurs near high water and low water. But there are locations where the moments of slack tide differ significantly from those of high, Tides are commonly semi-diurnal, or diurnal. The two high waters on a day are typically not the same height, these are the higher high water. Similarly, the two low waters each day are the low water and the lower low water. The daily inequality is not consistent and is small when the Moon is over the equator. From the highest level to the lowest, Highest Astronomical Tide – The highest tide which can be predicted to occur, note that meteorological conditions may add extra height to the HAT. Mean High Water Springs – The average of the two high tides on the days of spring tides, mean High Water Neaps – The average of the two high tides on the days of neap tides. Mean Sea Level – This is the sea level
3.
Reef
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A reef is a bar of rock, sand, coral or similar material, lying beneath the surface of water. Reefs may be up to 261 feet below the surface, artificial reefs such as shipwrecks are sometimes created to enhance physical complexity on generally featureless sand bottoms in order to attract a diverse assemblage of organisms, especially fish. There is a variety of reef types, including oyster reefs. These biotic reef types take on additional names depending upon how the reef lies in relation to the land, Reef types include fringing reef, barrier reefs, as well as atolls. A fringing reef is a reef that is attached to an island, a barrier reef forms a calcareous barrier around an island resulting in a lagoon between the shore and the reef. An atoll is a reef with no land present. The reef front is a high energy locale whereas the internal lagoon will be at an energy with fine grained sediments. One useful definition distinguishes reefs from mounds as follows, reefs are held up by a macroscopic skeletal framework. Coral reefs are an excellent example of this kind, corals and calcareous algae grow on top of one another and form a three-dimensional framework that is modified in various ways by other organisms and inorganic processes. By contrast, mounds lack a macroscopic skeletal framework, mounds are built by microorganisms or by organisms that dont grow a skeletal framework. A microbial mound might be built exclusively or primarily by cyanobacteria, excellent examples of biostromes formed by cyanobacteria occur in the Great Salt Lake of Utah, and in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Cyanobacteria do not have skeletons and individuals are microscopic, cyanobacteria encourage the precipitation or accumulation of calcium carbonate and can produce distinct sediment bodies in composition that have relief on the seafloor. Cyanobacterial mounds were most abundant before the evolution of shelly macroscopic organisms, bryozoans and crinoids, common contributors to marine sediments during the Mississippian, produced a very different kind of mound. Bryozoans are small and the skeletons of crinoids disintegrate, however, bryozoan and crinoid meadows can persist over time and produce compositionally distinct bodies of sediment with depositional relief. The Proterozoic Belt Supergroup contains evidence of microbial mat and dome structures similar to stromatolite reef complexes. Ancient reefs buried within stratigraphic sections are of considerable interest to geologists because they provide information about the location in Earths history. Corals, including some major extinct groups Rugosa and Tabulata, have been important reef builders through much of the Phanerozoic since the Ordovician Period. However, other groups, such as calcifying algae, especially members of the red algae Rhodophyta
4.
Borneo
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Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest island in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, the island is politically divided among three countries, Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory, in the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on an island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, antipodal to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world, and to Bornean orangutans. The island is known by names, internationally it is known as Borneo, after Brunei. The name Brunei possibly was derived from the Sanskrit word váruṇa, meaning either ocean or the mythological Varuna. Indonesian natives called it Kalimantan, which was derived from the Sanskrit word Kalamanthana, prior to that the island was also known by other names. In 977 Chinese records began to use the term Po-ni to refer to Borneo or Brunei, in 1225 it was also mentioned by the Chinese official Chau Ju-Kua. The Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Majapahit court poet Mpu Prapanca in 1365, mentioned the island as Nusa Tanjungnagara, to the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. To the south and east are islands of Indonesia, Java and Sulawesi, to the northeast are the Philippine Islands. With an area of 743,330 square kilometres, it is the third-largest island in the world and its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, with an elevation of 4,095 m. The largest river system is the Kapuas in West Kalimantan, with a length of 1,143 km, other major rivers include the Mahakam in East Kalimantan, the Barito in South Kalimantan, and Rajang in Sarawak. Clearwater Cave, for example, has one of the worlds longest underground rivers, deer Cave is home to over three million bats, with guano accumulated to over 100 metres deep. The South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand now submerge the former low-lying areas of the peninsula, the Borneo rainforest is 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world. There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees,221 species of mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo. There are about 440 freshwater fish species in Borneo and it is the centre of the evolution and distribution of many endemic species of plants and animals. The Borneo rainforest is one of the few remaining habitats for the endangered Bornean orangutan
5.
Brunei
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Brunei, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, the country is surrounded by the state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang, Brunei is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, the remainder of the islands territory is divided between the nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. Bruneis population was 408,786 in July 2012, the maritime state was visited by Spains Magellan Expedition in 1521 and fought against Spain in the 1578 Castille War. During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline, the Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke and installed him as the White Rajah, and it ceded Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British resident as colonial manager in 1906, after the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, an armed rebellion against the monarchy was ended with the help of the British. Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, Economic growth during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. It has developed wealth from petroleum and natural gas fields. Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the Southeast Asian nations, after Singapore, according to the International Monetary Fund, Brunei is ranked fifth in the world by gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. The IMF estimated in 2011 that Brunei was one of two countries with a debt at 0% of the national GDP. Forbes also ranks Brunei as the fifth-richest nation out of 182, based on its petroleum, according to legend, Brunei was founded by Awang Alak Betatar, later to be Sultan Muhammad Shah. He moved from Garang, a place in the Temburong District to the Brunei River estuary, according to legend, upon landing he exclaimed, Baru nah, from which the name Brunei was derived. He was the first Muslim ruler of Brunei, before the rise of the Bruneian Empire under the Muslim Bolkiah Dynasty, Brunei is believed to have been under Buddhist rulers. It was renamed Barunai in the 14th century, possibly influenced by the Sanskrit word varuṇ, the word Borneo is of the same origin. In the countrys name, Negara Brunei Darussalam, darussalam means abode of peace. The people are pagans and are men of goodwill and their colour is whiter than that of the other sort. in this island justice is well administered. One of the earliest Chinese records is the 977 AD letter to Chinese emperor from the ruler of Po-ni, which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo
6.
Malaysia
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Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
7.
Sabah
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Sabah, nicknamed Malay, Negeri Di Bawah Bayu, is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Sabah has a level of autonomy in administration, immigration. It is situated in northern Borneo, bordering the state of Sarawak to the southwest, Kalimantan of Indonesia to the south, Sabah shares maritime borders with Vietnam in the west and the Philippines to the north and east. Kota Kinabalu is the city, the economic centre of the state. Other major towns in Sabah include Sandakan and Tawau, as of the 2015 census in Malaysia, the states population is 3,543,500. Sabah has a climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal. The state has long mountain ranges on the west side which form part of the Crocker Range National Park, Kinabatangan River, second longest river in Malaysia runs through Sabah and Mount Kinabalu is the highest point of Sabah as well of Malaysia. The earliest human settlement in Sabah can be traced back to 20, the state had a trading relationship with China from the 14th century AD. Sabah came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 15th century, the state was subsequently acquired by the North Borneo Chartered Company in the 19th century. During World War II, Sabah was occupied by the Japanese for three years and it became a British Crown Colony in 1946. On 31 August 1963, Sabah was granted self-government by the British, following this, Sabah became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia alongside Sarawak, Singapore, and the Federation of Malaya. Sabah exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture and language, the head of state is the Governor, also known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, while the head of government is the Chief Minister. The government system is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and has one of the earliest state legislature system in Malaysia. Sabah is divided into divisions and districts. Malay is the language of the state, and Islam is the official religion. Sabah is known for its musical instrument, the sompoton. Sabah is the state in Malaysia to celebrate the Kaamatan festival. Sabah has abundant natural resources, and its economy is strongly export-oriented, the primary exports include oil, gas, timber and palm oil
8.
Lesser Sunda Islands
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The Lesser Sunda Islands or Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara or Kepulauan Sunda Kecil are a group of islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up the Sunda Islands, the islands are part of a volcanic arc, the Sunda Arc, formed by subduction along the Sunda Trench in the Java Sea. The main Lesser Sunda Islands are, from west to east, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Alor archipelago, Barat Daya Islands, and Tanimbar Islands. The Lesser Sundas comprise many islands, most of which are part of Indonesia and are administered as the provinces of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, the eastern half of Timor is part of East Timor. The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two geologically distinct archipelagos, the northern archipelago, which includes Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Wetar, is volcanic in origin. A number of volcanoes, like Mount Rinjani on Lombok, are still active while others. The northern archipelago began to be formed during the Pliocene, about 15 million years ago, the islands of the southern archipelago, including Sumba, Timor and Babar, are non-volcanic and appear to belong to the Australian plate. The geology and ecology of the northern archipelago share a history, characteristics and processes with the southern Maluku Islands. Lying at the collision of two plates, the Lesser Sunda Islands comprise some of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world. There are a number of volcanoes located on the Lesser Sunda Islands, the Lesser Sunda Islands differ from the large islands of Java or Sumatra in consisting of many small islands, sometimes divided by deep oceanic trenches. Movement of flora and fauna between islands is limited, leading to the evolution of a rate of localized species. The islands east of the Lombok Strait are part of Wallacea and these islands have the driest climate in Indonesia. Thorn trees used to be common in coastal areas of the islands but have largely been cleared. These islands are home to species including seventeen endemic birds. More than half of the vegetation of the islands has been cleared for planting of rice and other crops, for settlement. Only Sumbawa now contains an area of intact natural forest, while Komodo, Rincah. While many ecological problems affect both small islands and large landmasses, small islands suffer their particular problems and are exposed to external forces. Development pressures on small islands are increasing, although their effects are not always anticipated, although Indonesia is richly endowed with natural resources, the resources of the small islands of Nusa Tenggara are limited and specialised, furthermore human resources in particular are limited
9.
East Timor
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East Timor or Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a sovereign state in Maritime Southeast Asia. It comprises the half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse. The countrys size is about 15,410 km2, nine days later, it was invaded and occupied by Indonesia and was declared Indonesias 27th province the following year. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor was characterised by a highly violent decades-long conflict between separatist groups and the Indonesian military, in 1999, following the United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory. East Timor became the first new state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002 and joined the United Nations. In 2011, East Timor announced its intention to gain status in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by applying to become its eleventh member. It is one of two predominantly Christian nations in Southeast Asia, the other being the Philippines. In Indonesian, the country is called Timor Timur, thus using the Portuguese name for the island followed by the word for east, the official names under the Constitution are Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste in English, República Democrática de Timor-Leste in Portuguese and Repúblika Demokrátika Timór-Leste in Tetum. Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago, descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo-Australoid type, around 3000 BC, a second migration brought Melanesians. The earlier Veddo-Australoid peoples withdrew at this time to the mountainous interior, finally, proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina. Hakka traders are among those descended from this final group, Timorese origin myths tell of ancestors that sailed around the eastern end of Timor arriving on land in the south. Some stories recount Timorese ancestors journeying from the Malay Peninsula or the Minangkabau highlands of Sumatra, austronesians migrated to Timor, and are thought to be associated with the development of agriculture on the island. Thirdly, Proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina, before European colonialism, Timor was included in Chinese and Indian trading networks, and in the 14th century was an exporter of aromatic sandalwood, slaves, honey, and wax. It was the abundance of sandalwood in Timor that attracted European explorers to the island in the early 16th century. During that time, European explorers reported that the island had a number of small chiefdoms or princedoms, the Portuguese established outposts in Timor and Maluku. Effective European occupation of a part of the territory began in 1769, when the city of Dili was founded. For the Portuguese, East Timor remained little more than a trading post until the late nineteenth century, with minimal investment in infrastructure, health
10.
Maluku Islands
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The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago within Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone, geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. The islands were also the core of the Spice Islands known to the Chinese and Europeans. The name was due to the nutmeg, mace and cloves that were originally found there. The Maluku Islands formed a province from Indonesian independence until 1999. A new province, North Maluku, incorporates the area between Morotai and Sula, with the arc of islands from Buru and Seram to Wetar remaining within the existing Maluku Province, North Maluku is predominantly Muslim, and its capital is Sofifi on Halmahera island. Maluku province has a larger Christian population, and its capital is Ambon, though originally Melanesian, many island populations, especially in the Banda Islands, were exterminated in the 17th century during the spice wars. A second influx of Austronesian immigrants began in the twentieth century under the Dutch. Between 1999 and 2002, conflict between Muslims and Christians killed thousands and displaced half a million people, the name Maluku is thought to have been derived from the term used by Arab traders for the region, Jazirat al-Muluk. The Maluku Islands were a single province from Indonesian independence until 1999 when they were split into North Maluku and Maluku, North Maluku province includes Ternate, Tidore, Bacan, Halmahera Morotai, the Obi Islands, and the Sula Islands. Evidence of increasingly long-distance trading relationships and of more frequent occupation of many islands, onyx beads and segments of silver plate used as currency on the Indian subcontinent around 200BC have been unearthed on some of the islands. Arab merchants began to arrive in the 14th century, bringing Islam, peaceful conversion to Islam occurred in many islands, especially in the centres of trade, while aboriginal animism persisted in the hinterlands and more isolated islands. Archaeological evidence here relies largely on the occurrence of pigs teeth, the Portuguese had conquered the city state of Malacca in the early 16th century and their influence was most strongly felt in Maluku and other parts of eastern Indonesia. On the return trip, Francisco Serrão was shipwrecked at Hitu island in 1512, there he established ties with the local ruler who was impressed with his martial skills. The spice trade soon revived but the Portuguese would not be able to fully monopolize nor disrupt this trade, both Serrão and Ferdinand Magellan, however, perished before they could meet one another. The Portuguese first landed in Ambon in 1513, but it became the new centre for their activities in Maluku following the expulsion from Ternate. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic and anti-European state under the rule of Sultan Baab Ullah and his son Sultan Said. By the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, the Pela Gandong community relationship system is between various Christian and Muslim villages throughout the regions
11.
New Guinea
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New Guinea is a large Island in the South West Pacific region. It is the worlds second-largest island, after Greenland, covering an area of 785,753 km2. The island is divided between two countries, Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west, the island has been known by various names. The name Papua was used to refer to parts of the island before contact with the West and its etymology is unclear, one theory states that it is from Tidore, the language used by the Sultanate of Tidore, which controlled parts of the islands coastal region. The name came from papo and ua, which means not united or, ploeg reports that the word papua is often said to derive from the Malay word papua or pua-pua, meaning frizzly-haired, referring to the highly curly hair of the inhabitants of these areas. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers arrived in the island via the Spice Islands, when the Dutch colonized it as part of Netherlands East Indies, they called it Nieuw Guinea. The name Irian was used in the Indonesian language to refer the island and Indonesian province, the name was promoted in 1945 by Marcus Kaisiepo, brother of the future governor Frans Kaisiepo. It is taken from the Biak language of Biak Island, and means to rise and this name of Irian is the name used in the Biak language and other languages such as Serui, Merauke and Waropen. The name was used until 2001, when the name Papua was again used for the island, the name Irian, which was originally favored by natives, is now considered to be a name imposed by the authority of Jakarta. New Guinea is an island to the north of Australia, and it is isolated by the Arafura Sea to the west and the Torres Strait and Coral Sea to the east. A spine of east–west mountains, the New Guinea Highlands, dominates the geography of New Guinea, stretching over 1,600 km from the head to the tail of the island. The western half of the island of New Guinea contains the highest mountains in Oceania, rising up to 4,884 m high, the tree line is around 4,000 m elevation and the tallest peaks contain permanent equatorial glaciers—which have been retreating since at least 1936. Various other smaller mountain ranges occur both north and west of the central ranges, except in high elevations, most areas possess a warm humid climate throughout the year, with some seasonal variation associated with the northeast monsoon season. At 4,884 metres, Puncak Jaya makes New Guinea the worlds fourth highest landmass, Puncak Mandala, located in Papua, is the second highest peak on the island at 4,760 metres. Puncak Trikora, also in Papua, is 4,750 metres, mount Wilhelm is the highest peak on the PNG side of the border at 4,509 metres. Its granite peak is the highest point of the Bismarck Range, mount Giluwe 4,368 metres is the second highest summit in PNG. It is also the highest volcanic peak in Oceania, another major habitat feature is the vast southern and northern lowlands. Stretching for hundreds of kilometres, these include lowland rainforests, extensive wetlands, savanna grasslands, the southern lowlands are the site of Lorentz National Park, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site
12.
Papua (province)
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Special Region of Papua is the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia, comprising most of western New Guinea. Papua is bordered by the nation of Papua New Guinea to the east and it was formerly called Irian Jaya and comprised all of Indonesian New Guinea. In 2002 the current name was adopted and in 2003 West Papua province was created from parts of Papua province. Papua is the official Indonesian and internationally recognised name for the province, during the Dutch colonial era the region was known as part of Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea. Since its annexation in 1969, it known as West Irian or Irian Barat until 1973. This was the name until the name Papua was adopted in 2002. Today, the inhabitants of this province prefer to call themselves Papuans. The name West Papua was adopted in 1961 by the New Guinea Council until the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority transferred administration to the Republic of Indonesia in 1963. West Papua has since used by Papuans as a self-identifying term, especially by those demanding self-determination. The other Indonesian province that shares New Guinea, West Irian Jaya, has been renamed as West Papua. The entire western New Guinea is often referred to as West Papua internationally – especially among networks of solidarity with the West Papuan independence movement. The province of Papua is governed by an elected governor. Nevertheless, the agreement with the UN was nominally upheld, and was recognised by the community in spite of protests. This intensified the movement among indigenous West Papuans, deepening the Papua conflict. The conflict has continued to the present, with Indonesian security forces being accused of human rights abuses in their suppression of the independence movement. The Indonesian government maintains control over the region, barring foreign journalists or rights monitors from entering. In 1999 it was proposed to split the province into three government-controlled sectors, sparking Papuan protests, in January 2003 President Megawati Sukarnoputri signed an order dividing Papua into three provinces, Central Irian Jaya, Papua, and West Papua. The creation of this separate Central Irian Jaya Province was blocked by Indonesian courts, the previous division into two provinces was allowed to stand as an established fact
