Overview

The Republic of Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia, on an archipelago of more than 17,508 islands near the equator. The total land area is 782,665 square miles, and the sea area covers 1,222,466 square miles; altogether, the nation is approximately the size of Mexico. The name Indonesia is coined from Greek: indos, India and nesos, islands.

Indonesia consists of an array of island stepping-stones scattered in the sea between the Malay Peninsula and Australia, astride the equator and spanning about an eighth of the world's circumference. By comparison, the continental United States stretches across about a sixth of the world's circumference. The islands and island groups consist of a Pacific set and an Indian Ocean set. The Indian Ocean islands are Sumatra, Java, Bali, and the Lesser Sundas, or, in Indonesian, Sumatera, Djawa, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara. The Pacific Ocean Islands are Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas...