GEOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS
The archipelago that includes Indonesia, the world’s sixteenth-largest nation by area, and its small neighbor East Timor stretches some 3,200 miles (5,400 km) from east to west, about the same distance as that between New York City and San Francisco, California. However, there is considerably less diversity of climate and land forms across Indonesia than there is across the contiguous United States.
THE STRAIT OF MALACCA
A key strategic point for major shipping routes, the Strait of Malacca played a pivotal role in the history of Indonesia, and it remains one of the world’s most important shipping routes. The strait, which is 500 miles (800 km) long and between 40 and 200 miles (64–480 km) wide, lies between Indonesia’s largest island, Sumatra, to the west and the Malay Peninsula to the east. The strait links the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and is used by around 50,000 ships per annum. Up to one-quarter of the world’s shipping and around one-half of the world’s oil shipments pass through the Strait of Malacca every year. Larger ships are funneled into the 1.8-mile (2.8 km) wide deepwater Phillips Channel in the Strait of Singapore that connects the Strait of Malacca with the South China Sea.
THE BANDA SEA
Indonesia includes a number of seas that are practically surrounded by islands. The Banda Sea is flanked by the Moluccas to the north and east, by the Lesser Sunda Islands to the south, and by Sulawesi in the west. Covering an area of around 285,000 square miles (some 738,100 sq. km), the sea comprises three basins separated by submarine ridges: from north to south, the North Banda Basin, the South Banda Basin, and the Weber Basin. The South Banda Basin contains Mount Api, a volcanic peak that rises 2,200 feet (670 m) above sea level and stretches up about 14,800 feet (4,500 m) from the seabed to sea level. The sea’s greatest depth is 24,409 feet (7,440 m) in the Weber Basin.
PUNCAK JAYA
At 16,535 feet (5,040 m), Puncak Jaya in Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya) is Indonesia’s highest mountain. The mountain has had several different names. When Papua was Dutch before 1962, the mountain was called Mount Carstensz or Carstensz Pyramide. Since 1967, the mountain has been called Puncak Jaya (or Pic Jaya)—Jaya means "victorious" or "glorious." The peak is snowcapped and lies at the end of a high ridge in the Sudirman Mountains, part of the Maoke Mountains. The ridge is covered by glaciers, and its appearance, culminating in Puncak Jaya, is dramatic because its sides drop almost vertically for around 10,000 feet (3,000 m) on both the northern and southern sides.
THE JAVA SEA
The Java Sea lies between Sumatra, Kalimantan (Borneo), and Java. The sea covers an area of about 690,000 square miles (1,790,000 sq. km), making it the largest of Indonesia’s inter-island seas. The Java Sea is shallow, with an average depth of only 151 feet (46 m). The seabed is remarkably flat and shows evidence of former river valleys, indicating that in relatively recent geological times the seafloor was dry land.
