Written By John Bradley
Indonesia is known for being megadiverse, meaning it has a vast number of different species, many found nowhere else in the world. Just 17 countries have this distinction.
The name “Indonesia” is derived from the Latin word Indus meaning “Indian” and the Greek word nesos meaning “island.” Indonesia was originally called Indian Archipelago or East Indies Islands. The name “Indonesia” was coined in the 1850s by James Logan, editor of the Singapore-published Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, as a shorter equivalent for the term “Indian Archipelago.
With a population of 264-million, Indonesia is known for being the 4th most populated country in the world, after China, India, and the United States.
Indonesia is the world’s largest country comprised solely of islands. It is composed of 17,508 islands, some 6,000 of which are inhabited. With over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is known for its many beautiful islands, diving, and snorkelling.
Indonesia is home to the famed Komodo dragon. The world’s largest lizard lives on just five Indonesian islands: Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Montag, and Padar.
Marco Polo was the first European to visit Indonesia, in 1292.
On September 8, 1664, the Dutch under Pieter Stuyvesant made one of the most bizarre real estate deals ever when he traded the rights of the island of New Amsterdam (now the island of Manhattan) for the tiny British-controlled Indonesian island of Run.
The country has over 400 active volcanoes and records at least three earthquakes a day.
Bahasa Indonesia is Indonesia’s formal language, but the country recognizes more than 700 other languages as well.
Java has become a slang term for the word coffee, after the coffee beans grown on the island of Java. Coffee bushes and the habit of coffee drinking were introduced by the Dutch East India Company to Indonesia in 1696.
Indonesia is the third worst emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. But Indonesia is second in the world after Brazil with the highest level of biodiversity in the world.
