Small Sunda Islands: total area, population, attractions

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

From the east side of the popular island of Java, owned by the state of Indonesia, an archipelago with a hundred islands has spread. Ten of them are the largest, the rest are smaller, many are not inhabited.

Most of the territories are decorated with mountain ranges with cone-shaped volcanoes. Their slopes are covered with a carpet of bright green jungle, and impenetrable thickets conceal the secrets of local flora and fauna, because it is here that the world's largest flower, the unique rafflesia, grows.

Geography of the archipelago

The Lesser Sunda Islands are called Nusa Tenggara in Indonesian, which means "islands in the southeast." In total, this archipelago includes 570 islands, 320 are so small that they do not have their own name. Just imagine, there are only 42 inhabited.

Most often, the island complex includes the following largest territories:the island of Timor, the island of Bali, popular among surfers, the islands of Flores, Lombok, Sumba and Sumbawa. Together with the islands of Borneo, Java and Sumarta, belonging to the Greater Sunda Archipelago, they form the Malay Archipelago, which is part of Indonesia. By the way, this country is the only one that consists of so many islands.

From the northern part of the Lesser Sunda Islands are the waters of the Banda and Flores seas, and from the southern part you can find the Timor Sea and other shallow seas included in the Indian Ocean. In addition to Indonesia, another independent state hid among the above islands - East Timor.

History

The history of the emergence of the Lesser Sunda Islands begins with the Paleocene, which is 65.5 million years ago. Some islands at that time appeared due to volcanic eruptions inside the earth's crust right at the junction of two plates - the Pacific and Australian. The remaining islands of the archipelago are coral.

The pouring magma from underwater volcanoes moved pieces of new land to the Eurasian plate, its southern zone. And from that moment on, the forces of three plates began to act on the islands, reducing or increasing their size. However, some scientists believe that, for example, Flores was once part of the Australian plate and broke away from it, and did not form itself due to volcanic activity.

Island theories

According to the second theory, the "mother" of the islands of Sumba, Timor and Babar is also Australia. According to another version, the islandsdescended from the Eurasian plate. In any case, no geological assumption has yet become official, except for those islands on which volcanic traces of land formation are clearly visible. Today, all the islands are part of the Sunda Arc, surrounded by very deep oceanic trenches.

General information on the region

Small Sunda Islands are a separate administrative region of the republic. Geographically, they are divided into the province of Bali, the Western Islands and the Eastern. The largest cities: on the island of Lombok - Mataram, on Timor - the city of Kupang and, of course, Denpasar in Bali.

Of the languages, the official language is Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia. It was approved in 1945, but in fact it is just one of the dialects of the Malay Archipelago. In addition, sixty-seven languages are spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands. All of them belong to two language families - Malayo-Polynesian, as well as Austronesian, with the exception of Creole, which is spoken by two hundred thousand people living in Kupang.

The most famous of the Lesser Sunda Islands is Bali, as most travelers arrive at its main airport - Ngurah Ray in Denpasar. Kupang and Praia also have their own runways with small air terminals.

Population of the archipelago

The total area of the Lesser Sunda Islands is 87,000 square kilometers. The population density with such a spread is approximately 137 people per square kilometer, which is veryNot bad considering our overpopulated world. The total population of the Lesser Sunda Islands does not exceed twelve million inhabitants.

If we disassemble the population of the archipelago by ethnic composition, then the largest group is the Balinese - there are about four million of them, the next in line are the Sasaks from Lombok, as well as the Sumbanavians from Sumbawa. Among visitors, Chinese and Indians prevail, many Pakistanis and Arabs, and, of course, Polynesians and Japanese. Europeans and Australians occupy the last lines in terms of numbers.

Sunni Islam prevails among religious beliefs. The second most important religion is Hinduism with a noticeable influence of Buddhism on it, such a kind of mixture. Hinduism flourishes mainly in Bali, although it is also found among the Sasaks in Lambok. Catholics preach their faith on the island of Flores, while Protestants live on Timor. In addition to all these religions, there are representatives of Taoism, animism and Confucianism.

Climatic conditions

The climate in the Lesser Sunda Islands in the Pacific Ocean is surprisingly dry, with sub-equatorial monsoons. When the monsoon season comes from the desert part of the Australian island, the sky sheds billions of raindrops, which, however, quickly evaporate. Moisture-filled rainy days last on the islands from October through the winter and end only in April.

The temperature regime on the entire coast stays around +27 degrees throughout the yearCelsius, but reaches +33 degrees. During the Australian monsoon, humidity is kept to a minimum at around 30 percent, but peaks at 90 percent during the rainy season.

Main Attractions

It is easiest to analyze all the interesting places in a given region by considering each island separately. So, on the most famous and popular island in the Malay archipelago, Bali, there are more than enough attractions:

• The complex of the temple and monastery of Pura Besakih (shrine of the Mother). You can find it on the slope of the same sacred mountain called Agung.
• The temple, whose name translates as "the mouth of the demon", - Goa Gadja.
• The main temple in the kingdom of Mengwi is Taman Ayun.
• The temple, the building of which stands on Lake Bratan - Pura Ulun Danu.
• Monastery and ashram rolled into one - Brahma Vshara, which is a Buddhist shrine.
• Botanical garden located in the crater of Batur volcano.
• Klungkung House, royal residence.
• Another Kawi volcano.
• The amazingly beautiful Git Git waterfall.
• Balinese Museum and Art Center Building.

Sightseeing in Lombok:

• In the city of Chakranegara there is a temple of Pura Meru, where Hinduism is preached.
• In the same city there is a temple uniting religions - Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism. It is called Pura Lingsar.
• In the city of Ampenan, you should see the Maritime Museum, the real royal garden of Narmada and the Mayura park area.
• Be sure to get to the highest point- Rinjani volcano. Its height is 3726 meters.

Sights of Flores Island:

• The old port left by the Portuguese in the city of Larantuka, however, you will need to sail to the nearest island of Salor.
• Three volcanic lakes from the last eruption of Mount Kelimutu.

Attractions on the island of Timor:

• Taman Visata Kamplong Conservation Area.
• Architectural features of the city of Kumpang. Almost all houses are from colonial times.

Sights of Sumbawa Island:

• In the city of Subawa Besar, there is a real royal palace built on stilts.
• Scenic Mayo National Park can be found in the same city.
• In the city of Bima, there is the Sultan's Palace with an interesting exposition, including a rich collection of crowns and edged weapons, decorated with various precious stones.

Sights of Komodo Island:

Here it is customary to go on exciting excursions to the area where the colonies of the Komodo monitor lizard live. Usually adults grow up to three meters in length

Sights of Sumba Island:

Monuments from the time of the megalith, located near the villages of Targung, Sadan, Pasung and not far from the town of Waikabubak

Interesting facts

Legends say that the three volcanic lakes on Flores have different colors due to their special functions: the red lake devours dark magical souls, the lightthe red lake receives sinful souls, and the waters of the azure lake receive the souls of babies and virgins. Due to the nature of souls to worry, the colors of the lakes are constantly changing.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the remains of a hominid were discovered on the territory of the same island of Flores. His skeleton was a meter long, and according to scientists, the brain during life reached a size of 400 cubic centimeters, which is several times smaller than the brain of a modern person. Historians believe that this type of ancient man appeared 95 thousand years ago. Complete extinction occurred 12 thousand years ago due to the eruption of the Flores volcano.

On the island of Bali, 230 holidays are celebrated annually, on each of which a ceremonial procession is arranged to please the gods. The Balinese believe that if you forget about the worship of the gods, they will send bad luck and misfortune to their lands. Such processions are accompanied by colorful parades.

Legendary rafflesia - a phenomenon of the flora of the archipelago

Perhaps the main attraction and feature of the archipelago is an amazing plant - the flower of rafflesia arnoldi. This is the largest flower in the world, which can reach ten kilograms in weight and one meter in diameter.

In fact, this natural giant lives a parasitic life - he does not have his own roots or stems. It grows on the stems of vines due to their vital juices. In order for a rafflesia to sprout, its seed (not larger than a poppy seed) must fall into a tree crack in the plant, which will be the breadwinner of this beautifulparasite. The flower grows rapidly in size, and before unfolding its petals, forms a huge head of cabbage - this is its bud.

After the bud opens, five blood-red or crimson petals appear. They are initially covered with white growths and are similar to human warts. But the most important feature of the flower is its smell - rafflesia exudes a disgusting smell of rotten meat, which attracts flies from all over the area. They stick around an open bud like a piece of rotting carrion, thereby pollinating it.

Unfortunately, the scented giant "rose" withers after only four days. After withering in place of the flower for seven months, the same huge fruit ripens, filled inside with the seeds of the plant. In order for the seeds to successfully spread over long distances, rafflesia prefers to settle on jungle trails that are crossed by elephants. This is because this land ship of the animal world often, without noticing, steps on the fruits, thereby spreading the seeds for kilometers ahead.

Rafflesia was discovered in 1818 by two scientists - Joseph Arnoldi and Thomas Raffles. The latter was a British official and leader of an expedition sent to the island of Sumatra, and Arnoldi was a botanist and participant in this campaign. Unfortunately, the botanist did not survive - he died of a fever two weeks after the miraculous discovery. Raffles delivered the seeds of the plant to London, after which the flower was given a name in honor of both explorers.