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Indonesia is a vast equatorial archipelago of around 17,000 islands extending 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) east to west, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans in Southeast Asia. The largest islands are Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), Sulawesi, and the Indonesian part of New Guinea (known as Papua or Irian Jaya). Islands are mountainous with dense rain forests, and some have active volcanoes. Most of the smaller islands belong to larger groups, like the Moluccas (Spice Islands).

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, is 86 percent Muslim-and the largest Islamic country, though it is a secular state. Indonesians are separated by seas and clustered on islands. The largest cluster is on Java, with some 130 million inhabitants (60 percent of the country's population) on an island the size of New York State. Sumatra, much larger than Java, has less than a third of its people. Ethnically the country is highly diverse, with over 580 languages and dialects-but only 13 have more than one million speakers.

Export earnings from oil and natural gas help the economy, and Indonesia is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Tourists come to see the rich diversity of plants and wildlife-some, like the giant Komodo dragon and the Java rhinoceros, exist nowhere else.

Location: South East Asia, archipelago between the Indian ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

Largest islands: Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), New Guinea.

Area: 2 million sq. km. (736 000 sq. mi.).

Terrain: around 17 000 islands; 6 000 are inhabited; 1 000 of which are permanently settled. Large islands consist of coastal plains with mountainous interiors.

Climate: tropical; hot, humid; cooler in the highlands.

People:

Nationality: Indonesian(s).

Population: 238 500 000

Ethnic groups: 45% Javanese, 14% Sundanese, 7.5% Madurese and 26% other ethnic groups.

Religions: Islam 87%, Protestant 6%, Catholic 3%, Hindu 2%, Buddhist and other 1%.

Languages: Bahasa Indonesia plus 583 dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese.

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