Chapter culture of Spain

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Indonesia and List of islands of Indonesia
Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo in East Java. Indonesia's seismic and volcanic activity is among the world's highest.
Indonesia lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N and longitudes 95°E and 141°E. A transcontinental country spanning Southeast Asia and Oceania, it is the world's largest archipelagic state, extending 5,120 kilometres (3,181 mi) from east to west and 1,760 kilometres (1,094 mi) from north to south.[75] The country's Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investments Affairs says Indonesia has 17,504 islands (with 16,056 registered at the UN)[76] scattered over both sides of the equator, around 6,000 of which are inhabited.[77] The largest are Sumatra, Java, Borneo (shared with Brunei and Malaysia), Sulawesi, and New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea).[78] Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia on Borneo and Sebatik, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea, East Timor on the island of Timor, and maritime borders with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau, and Australia.
At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft), Puncak Jaya is Indonesia's highest peak, and Lake Toba in Sumatra is the largest lake, with an area of 1,145 km2 (442 sq mi). Indonesia's largest rivers are in Kalimantan and New Guinea and include Kapuas, Barito, Mamberamo, Sepik and Mahakam. They serve as communication and transport links between the island's river settlements.[79]

Climate

Main articles: Climate of Indonesia and Climate change in Indonesia
Rainforest in Mount Palung National Park, West Kalimantan
Indonesia lies along the equator, and its climate tends to be relatively even year-round.[80] Indonesia has two seasons—a wet season and a dry season—with no extremes of summer or winter.[81] For most of Indonesia, the dry season falls between May and October, with the wet season between November and April.[81] Indonesia's climate is almost entirely tropical, dominated by the tropical rainforest climate found on every large island of Indonesia. More cooling climate types do exist in mountainous regions that are 1,300 to 1,500 metres (4,300 to 4,900 feet) above sea level. The oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) prevails in highland areas adjacent to rainforest climates, with reasonably uniform precipitation year-round. In highland areas near the tropical monsoon and tropical savanna climates, the subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) is prevalent with a more pronounced dry season.[citation needed]
Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Indonesia[82]
Some regions, such as Kalimantan and Sumatra, experience only slight differences in rainfall and temperature between the seasons, whereas others, such as Nusa Tenggara, experience far more pronounced differences with droughts in the dry season and floods in the wet. Rainfall varies across regions, with more in western Sumatra, Java, and the interiors of Kalimantan and Papua, and less in areas closer to Australia, such as Nusa Tenggara, which tends to be dry. The almost uniformly warm waters that constitute 81% of Indonesia's area ensure that land temperatures remain relatively constant. Humidity is quite high, at between 70 and 90%. Winds are moderate and generally predictable, with monsoons usually blowing in from the south and east in June through October and from the northwest in November through March. Typhoons and large-scale storms pose little hazard to mariners; significant dangers come from swift currents in channels, such as the Lombok and Sape straits.[83]
Several studies consider Indonesia to be at severe risk from the projected effects of climate change.[84] These include unreduced emissions resulting in an average temperature rise of around 1 °C (2 °F) by mid-century,[85][86] raising the frequency of drought and food shortages (with an impact on precipitation and the patterns of wet and dry seasons, and thus Indonesia's agriculture system[86]) as well as numerous diseases and wildfires.[86] Rising sea levels would also threaten most of Indonesia's population, who live in low-lying coastal areas.[86][87][88] Impoverished communities would likely be affected the most by climate change.[89]