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.
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
3.
Southeast Asia
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Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
4.
Dili
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Dili is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor. Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It is the seat of the administration of the district of Dili, the city is divided into the subdistricts of Nain Feto, Vera Cruz, Dom Aleixo and Cristo Rei and is divided into several sucos, which are headed by an elected chefe de suco. 18 of the 26 sucos of the four subdistricts are categorised as urban, there is no city administration beside the district administrator, who was appointed by state government. The East Timorese government started to plan in 2009 to change the status of districts into municipalities and these will have an elected mayor and council. Dili is a pot of the different ethnic groups of East Timor. This has led to an imbalance, with the male population significantly larger than the female. Between 2001 and 2004, the population of Dili district grew by 12. 58%, 7% were born in Baucau, 5% each in Viqueque and Bobonaro 4% in Ermera, and the remainder in other districts or overseas. Dili has a Tropical wet and dry climate under the Köppen climate classification, Dili was settled about 1520 by the Portuguese, who made it the capital of Portuguese Timor in 1769. It was proclaimed a city in January 1864, in the night of 19 February 1942, the Japanese attacked with a force of around 20,000 men, and occupied Dili before spreading out across the rest of the colony. On 26 September 1945, control of the island was returned to Portugal by the Japanese. East Timor unilaterally declared independence from Portugal on 28 November 1975, however, nine days later, on 7 December, Indonesian forces invaded Dili. On 17 July 1976, Indonesia annexed East Timor, which it designated the 27th province of Indonesia, Timor Timur, a guerrilla war ensued from 1975 to 1999 between Indonesian and pro-independence forces, during which tens of thousands of East Timorese and some foreign civilians were killed. Media coverage of the 1991 Dili Massacre helped revitalise international support for the East Timorese independence movement, in 1999, East Timor was placed under UN supervision and on 20 May 2002, Dili became the capital of the newly independent Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. In May 2006, fighting and rioting sparked by conflict between elements of the military caused significant damage to the city and led to military intervention to restore order. Most buildings were damaged or destroyed in the violence of 1999, orchestrated by the Indonesian military, however, the city still has many buildings from the Portuguese era. E. g. the former Market Hall built around 1930 which is used as a Congress Centre nowerdays, the former Portuguese Governors office is now the office of the Prime Minister. It was previously used by the Indonesian-appointed Governor, and by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
5.
East Nusa Tenggara
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East Nusa Tenggara is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It is located in the part of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It has an area of 48,718.1 km2, and the population at the 2010 Census was 4,683,827. The provincial capital is Kupang on West Timor, the province consists of more than 500 islands, the three largest being Flores, Sumba, and the western half of Timor. The eastern part of Timor is the independent country of East Timor, East Nusa Tenggara is the only province in Indonesia where Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion. Nusa Tenggara Timur, in Indonesian, means eastern southeastern islands, compare to Nusa Tenggara Barat, after the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, the eastern part of Indonesia declared the State of East Indonesia. The state was included in the United States of Indonesia as part of the agreement with the Dutch contained in the transfer its sovereignty to Indonesia in 1949. In 1950, United States of Indonesia dissolved itself into a unitary state, in 1958, by Indonesian law No. 64/1958, three provinces were established in the Lesser Sunda Islands, namely Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, the area of East Nusa Tenggara province included the western part of Timor island, Flores, Sumba and other several small islands in the region. The province was sub-divided into twelve regencies and the City of Kupang, following the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998 and the passage of a new regional autonomy law, there was a dramatic proliferation of regional governments across Indonesia. Several new regencies were created in East Nusa Tenggara by the division of existing regencies, In 1999, in 2002, Rote and Ndao Islands were split off from Kupang Regency, to form a new Rote Ndao Regency. In 2003, Manggarai Regency was split into two and a new West Manggarai Regency was established, in 2007, the administration of East Nusa Tenggara province was expanded by the establishment of four new regencies - Central Sumba and Southwest Sumba, Nagekeo and East Manggarai. In October 2008 a further regency - Sabu Raijua - was formed part of the remaining Kupang Regency. In December 2012 yet another regency - Malaka - was created out of the half of Belu Regency. Therefore, as of early 2013, there were twenty-one regencies plus the one city in the province. Located in the east of Lesser Sunda Islands, East Nusa Tenggara faces the Indian Ocean in the south, the province is bordered by other provinces, West Nusa Tenggara in the west. In the east, the province is bordered by East Timor, the province consists of about 566 islands, the largest and most dominant are Flores, Sumba, and the western part of Timor. The other is smaller islands include Adonara, Alor, Komodo, Lembata, Menipo, Raijua, Rincah, Rote Island, Savu, Semau, the highest point in the province is Mount Mutis in the South Central Timor Regency,2,427 meters above sea level
6.
Kupang
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Not to be confused with Tanjung Kupang in Johore Kupang is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, and has an estimated population in 2011 of 349,344. It is the biggest city and port on the island of Timor, Kupang was an important port and trading point during the Portuguese and Dutch colonial eras. There are ruins and remnant signs of the presence in the city. Representatives of the Dutch East India Company approached Kupang in 1613 after having conquered the Portuguese fort on Solor, at this time the place and its hinterland was governed by a raja of the Helong tribe which claimed descent from Ceram in Maluku. Kupang was well situated for strategic control over parts of Timor, moreover, the Koinino River provided fresh water for the inhabitants. A VOC-Helong agreement was made, but due to the lack of VOC commitment on Timor, Kupang was later influenced by the Portuguese mestizo population of Flores, a Portuguese stronghold was established by the 1640s. However, the VOC was firmly established on Solor in 1646, in January 1653 a Dutch fortification, Fort Concordia, was built on a height to the left of the river estuary. Kupang became the base of the Dutch struggle against the Portuguese and they were followed by two other groups, Amfoan and Taebenu. The Helong raja remained the lord of the land but was dependent on the VOC authorities. Apart from the old Helong territory, Timor was largely dominated by the Portuguese up to 1749, the Dutch set up a European administration with a chief executive and a council. Affairs with the populations were regulated through regular meetings. The Kupang administration handled affairs with the VOC-allied islands Rote, Savu, Chinese traders and artisans settled by the early 18th century and soon became indispensable for the economic life. The town area was settled by various indigenous groups from the region. In 1752 the population was 827 Christians and an number of non-Christians. Nevertheless, some of this influence contracted after 1761 due to incompetence, Kupang was the final destination of William Bligh who was set adrift in an open boat during the Mutiny on the Bounty. The Mutiny on the Bounty took place about 30 nautical miles from Tofua in the Tonga islands and he recorded the distance as 3,618 nautical miles. He passed through the difficult Torres Strait along the way and landed on 14 June, the only casualty of his voyage was a crewman named John Norton who was stoned to death by the natives of Tofua, the first island they tried to land on. News of the journey of Captain Bligh inspired the escape of a party of convicts from the colony at Sydney Cove
7.
Island
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An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, an island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, an island may be described as such, despite the presence of an artificial land bridge. Example, Singapore and its causeway, or the various Dutch delta islands, there are two main types of islands in the sea, continental and oceanic. The word island derives from Middle English iland, from Old English igland, Old English ieg is actually a cognate of Swedish ö and German Aue, and related to Latin aqua. There is a difference between islands and continents in terms of geology, continents sit on continental lithosphere which is part of tectonic plates floating high on Earths mantle. Oceanic crust is also part of tectonic plates, but it is denser than continental lithosphere, Islands are either extensions of the oceanic crust or geologically they are part of some continent sitting on continental lithosphere. This holds true for Australia, which sits on its own continental lithosphere, continental islands are bodies of land that lie on the continental shelf of a continent. A special type of island is the microcontinental island, which is created when a continent is rifted. Examples are Madagascar and Socotra off Africa, the Kerguelen Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, another subtype is an island or bar formed by deposition of tiny rocks where water current loses some of its carrying capacity. While some are transitory and may disappear if the volume or speed of the current changes, others are stable, oceanic islands are islands that do not sit on continental shelves. The vast majority are volcanic in origin, such as Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, the few oceanic islands that are not volcanic are tectonic in origin and arise where plate movements have lifted up the ocean floor above the surface. Examples are Saint Peter and Paul Rocks in the Atlantic Ocean, one type of volcanic oceanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring, examples are the Aleutian Islands, the Mariana Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. The only examples in the Atlantic Ocean are some of the Lesser Antilles, another type of volcanic oceanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples, Iceland, which is the second largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen. A third type of oceanic island is formed over volcanic hotspots. A hotspot is more or less stationary relative to the tectonic plate above it
8.
Timor Sea
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The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the west of Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs, uninhabited islands and significant hydrocarbon reserves, International disputes emerged after the reserves were discovered resulting in the signing of the Timor Sea Treaty. The Timor Sea was hit by the worst oil spill for 25 years in 2009 and it is possible that Australias first inhabitants crossed the Timor Sea from Indonesia at a time when sea levels were lower. The waters to the east are known as the Arafura Sea, the Timor Sea is adjacent to three substantial inlets on the north Australian coast, the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Beagle Gulf and the Van Diemen Gulf. The Australian city of Darwin is the large city to adjoin the sea. The small town of Wyndham is located on the west arm of Cambridge Gulf, Rivers that enter the Timor Sea from the Northern Territory include Fish River, King River, Dry River, Victoria River and the Alligator Rivers. Rivers in the Kimberley region that flow into the Timor Sea include the Ord River, Forrest River, Pentecost River, the sea is about 480 km wide, covering an area of about 610,000 km². Its deepest point is the Timor Trough, located in the part of the sea. The remainder of the sea is shallower, much of it averaging less than 200 m deep, as it overlies the Sahul Shelf. The Big Bank Shoals is an area on the seabed between the continental shelf and the Timor Trough where a number of submerged banks are located. The ecosystem of the shoals is significantly different to the waters surrounding them. In May 2010, it was announced that a crater about 50 km wide has been discovered on the seabed of the Timor Sea, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the Timor Sea as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago. The IHO defines its limits as follows, On the North The Southeastern limit of the Savu Sea the Southeastern coast of Timor, the Western of the Arafura Sea. The North coast of Australia from Cape Don to Cape Londonderry, a line from Cape Londonderry to the Southwest point of Roti Island. Many tropical storms and cyclones originate or pass through the Timor Sea, in February 2005, Tropical Cyclone Vivienne disrupted oil and gas production facilities in the area, and the next month, Severe Tropical Cyclone Willy interrupted production. A number of significant islands are located in the sea, notably Melville Island, part of the Tiwi Islands, off Australia and it is thought that early humans reached Australia by island-hopping across the Timor Sea. Scott and Seringapatam Reefs formed in the area and to the west on the same platform is the Rowley Shoals. The Timor Current is a current that runs south-west in the Timor Sea between the Indonesia archipelago and Australia
9.
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
10.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
