Officially REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, Indonesian REPUBLIK INDONESIA country located off the coast of the Southeast Asian mainland in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is an archipelago that lies across the equator for one-eighth of the Earth's circumference. Its islands can be grouped into the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra (Sumatera), Java (Jawa), the southern extent of Borneo known as Kalimantan, and Celebes (Sulawesi); the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara) of Bali and a chain of islands that runs eastward through Timor; the Moluccas (Maluku) between Celebes and the island of New Guinea; and the western extent of New Guinea known as Irian Jaya (formerly Irian Barat).

The country is the largest in Southeast Asia, about 752,400 square miles (1,948,700 square kilometres) in area, with a maximum dimension from east to west of about 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometres) and a dimension from north to south of 1,100 miles. It is composed of some 13,670 islands, of which more than 7,000 are uninhabited. Almost 75 percent of Indonesia's area is included in the three largest islands of Borneo, of which about three-quarters, or 212,000 square miles, is part of Indonesia; Sumatra, with 186,000 square miles; and the Irian Jaya portion of New Guinea, with 162,000 square miles. Nearly all of the total land area is accounted for with the addition of Celebes (75,100 square miles) and Java and the Moluccas (83,400 square miles).

Indonesia was formerly known as the Dutch, or Netherlands, East Indies; the islands were first named Indonesia in modern times by a German geographer in 1884, although this name is thought to derive from Indos Nesos, "Indian Islands," in the ancient trading language of the region. The capital, Jakarta, is located near the northwestern coast of Java.

After a period of occupation by the Japanese (1942-45) during World War II, Indonesia declared its independence from The Netherlands in 1945. Its struggle for independence, however, continued until 1949; and it was not until the official recognition by the United Nations of Irian Barat as a part of Indonesia in 1969 and the incorporation of the former Portuguese territory of East Timor in 1975-76 that the nation took on its present form.

The Indonesian archipelago represents one of the most unusual areas in the world, encompassing a major juncture of the Earth's tectonic plates, the dividing line between two faunal realms, and the meeting point for the peoples and cultures of mainland Asia and Oceania. These factors have created a highly diverse environment and society in which the only common elements are the susceptibility to seismic and volcanic activity, close proximity to the sea, and a moist, tropical climate.

In its economic development the country relies heavily upon its agricultural capacity--particularly rice cultivation--and the export of such cash crops as coconuts, rubber, and tea; its petroleum products, of which it is the major producer in Asia; its rich deposits of tin and other minerals; and timber.

Indonesia is the most populous nation in Southeast Asia, and it is advantageously located between mainland Asia and Australia. As such, the country has a critical role to play in the development of its part of the world. In keeping with its size and importance, it is active in such regional and international groupings as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the United Nations.

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