Yogyakarta & Bali CULTURE, NATURE & ADVENTURE

Indonesia's cultural capital, Yogyakarta hosts the ancient and magnificent Borobudur and Prambanan temples and the island of Bali is famous for its scenic beaches, rice terraces and mountains

- ANIL THAKORE

17,508 — that’s the number of islands within the boundaries of the Republic of Indonesia. The largest country in Southeast Asia and the fourth most populous nation (250 million) worldwide, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic nation with its over 17,000 islands stretching across the equator between the Indian and Pacific oceans. This vast country’s diverse geography, featuring volcanic mountains, tropical rainforests, coral reefs, and lush rice terraces, offers travelers an extraordinary mix of natural beauty and biodiversity.

The name ‘Indonesia’ has its roots in two Greek words: Indos meaning Indian and nesos which means islands. Of the 17,508 islands only 600 are inhabited. Six main islands -Java, Sumatra, Bali, Kalimantan aka Borneo, Sulawesi aka Celebes and Irian Jaya aka Papua — and 30 smaller archipelagos host the majority of the country’s population.

Indonesia’s history goes back to the fossil era of the Java Man. Fossils discovered by Dr. Eugene Dubois in 1809 near Trinil village in East Java are estimated to be about 500,000 years old. This discovery indicates that the region has been inhabited for several millennia. Major migration patterns from China and Tonkin to the Indonesian archipelago have been traced as far back as 3,000-500 BC. These migrations introduced new Stone, Bronze and Iron Age cultures as well as the Austronesian language into the archipelago.