began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century;
the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia
declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required
four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and
UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony.
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and home to the
world's largest Muslim population. Current issues include:
alleviating poverty, preventing terrorism, consolidating democracy
after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing financial
sector reforms, stemming corruption, and holding the military and
police accountable for human rights violations. Indonesia was the
nation worst hit by the December 2004 tsunami, which particularly
affected Aceh province causing over 100,000 deaths and over $4
billion in damage. An additional earthquake in March 2005 created
heavy destruction on the island of Nias. Reconstruction in these
areas may take up to a decade. In 2005, Indonesia reached a historic
peace agreement with armed separatists in Aceh, but it continues to
face a low intensity separatist guerilla movement in Papua.

Geography Indonesia

Location:
Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates:
5 00 S, 120 00 E

Map references:
Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 1,919,440 sq km
land: 1,826,440 sq km
water: 93,000 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly less than three times the size of Texas

Land boundaries:
total: 2,830 km
border countries: East Timor 228 km, Malaysia 1,782 km, Papua New
Guinea 820 km

Coastline:
54,716 km

Maritime claims:
measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands

Terrain:
mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Puncak Jaya 5,030 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper,
fertile soils, coal, gold, silver

Land use:
arable land: 11.03%
permanent crops: 7.04%
other: 81.93% (2005)

Irrigated land:
45,000 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes,
volcanoes, forest fires

Environment - current i