Geographical Overview
Indonesia
The equatorial island chain of Indonesia is the state with the widest area and the biggest number of inhabitants in Southeast Asia. With about 240 million people it is the fourth biggest nation worldwide.
Indonesia is an extremely structured and morphologically non-uniform national territory. According to recent satellite count it consists of approximately 18,000 islands, only about 7,000 of which are inhabited.
The formation of the Indonesian archipelago took place in geologically recent times. Due to continental drift of the Asian and Australian shelfs the Indonesian area is geologically highly instable. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions accompany the country's history up to the present. On 26 December 2004 a strong seaquake and an extremely destructive tsunami struck the coasts of Sumatra worst before devastating many other countries' coastlines. It took the lives of up to 300,000 people.
The countless volcanoes characterize most of Indonesia's landscape, while their ashes provide the foundation for the fertile soils allowing intense agricultural use in many areas. The country has the largest number of active volcanoes in the world: out of 300 about 75 are still active. The highest volcano is the Gunung Kerinci on Sumatra with about 3,805 meters.
Sulawesi
Sulawesi, called Celebes before Indonesia's independence, is one of the main Indonesian islands, along with Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. It is situated on the equator and with an overall area of approximately 190,000 square kilometres it represents the world's eleventh largest island.
It consists of four great peninsulas, extending from a comparatively small nucleus towards the north-east, east, south-east and south separated by the three large gulfs of Tomini or Gorontalo, Tolo or Tomaiki and Boni.
Like most of Indonesia's national territory the island is of volcanic origin and therefore highly structured and of very irregular shape. Mountains ranging between 3,000 and 3,500 meters can be found as well as fertile plains. Sulawesi's biggest mountain is the Rantemario with 3,440 meters. With about 70 percent hilly region Sulawesi is the most mountainous island of Indonesia. It is surrounded by deep waters with a coast line of about 6,100 kilometers, which is the longest in the archipelago.
In the west Sulawesi borders Borneo, in the north the Philippines, in the south the island arc of Flores, in the southeast the island of Timor and in the east the Moluccas.
Sulawesi covers the six Indonesian provinces of Gorontalo, Sulawesi Barat (West Sulawesi), Sulawesi Selatan (South Sulawesi), Sulawesi Tengah (Central Sulawesi), Sulawesi Tenggara (South East Sulawesi) and Sulawesi Utara (North Sulawesi).
The island's landscape is extremely beautiful. Together with the lesser Sunda Islands it represents a transition zone between the Asian and the Australian regions, which is also known as The Wallace Line and famous for the existence of several animal species which occur only in this area.
Due to its long coastal area, Sulawesi has never been an isolated place. For centuries sailors have maintained connections to the island. In this way goods and people, but also ideas and habits were transported from and to other parts of the world.
External Links
CIA World Factbook: Additional facts and figures on Indonesia's geography
Wikipedia: Indonesia - geography
Wikipedia: Sulawesi
Vulcanological Survey of Indonesia
Global Volcanism Program (Smithsonian Institution)