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INDONESIA
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, being made up of
more than 17,000 islands and stretching for more than 5,000 km's across the
equator.
A population of 184 million people makes Indonesia the 4th most
populous country in the world with people from a multitude of ethnic
groups, customs, religions and languages. The population is predominantly
Muslim with Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities.
Indonesia is the most volcanic country on earth with approximately
4,500 volcanoes creating a backbone to much of the archipelago. Five
main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos are home to the majority of
the population. The main islands in order of size are; Kalimantan,
Sumatra,Irian Jaya, Sulawesi and the country's most populated island,
Java. (Indonesia shares Irian Jaya with Papua New Guinea and two thirds
of the island of Kalimantan with Malaysia). The geography of the islands
varies widely from tropical rain forests to snow capped mountains, sandy
beaches and vast tracts of paddy fields.
The national motto of, 'Unity in Diversity' provides an apt
description of the country's land and its people.
KALlMANTAN
The island of Borneo is shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and
Brunei. The Indonesian owned part of Borneo is Kalimantan which is divided
into 4 provinces, North, South, East and West. Camel Trophy Kalimantan
'96 will start in East Kalimantan and traverse the island to finish in
West Kalimantan.
The area of East Kalimantan is 331,440 sq km, of which 21 1,440 sq
km is land and 120,000 sq km is water. East Kalimantan is a major
producer of oil and timber and is, at present, the most industrially advanced
region of the island and the second largest province in Indonesia.
Balikpapan is East Kalimantan's second largest town after the provinces
capital, Samarinda, which is 115 km from Balikpapan.
West Kalimantan covers an area of 145,000 sq kin, which is rich in
a variety of minerals and precious stones and remains largely
unexplored. The coastal areas are mainly swamp lands and more than 100 rivers
cross the province. Towards the East are the mountains of the Muller
Range. Pontianak is the capital of West Kalimantan.
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