Eastern Indonesia | |
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Indonesia Timur (in Indonesian) | |
From upper-left to lower-right: Diving experience in Piaynemo Island of Raja Ampat, Clitoria ternatea (the native flower of Ternate Island), Papuan man wearing traditional Papuan attires, Papeda (the staple food of Eastern Indonesia) | |
Largest city | Jayapura |
Provinces | |
Demonym | Eastern Indonesians[1] |
Time zone | UTC+9 (Eastern Indonesia Time) |
Eastern Indonesia (or East Indonesia)[2] is one of the three main geographical regions of Indonesia, the other two being Western Indonesia and Central Indonesia.[3] Eastern Indonesia spans across the Banda and Maluku Seas in the west, the Arafura and Timor Seas in the south, and the Halmahera Sea in the north. It comprises the archipelagic territory of Tanimbar, Banda, Maluku,[4] Halmahera, Raja Ampat, Biak, and western New Guinea. Eastern Indonesia Time is the national standard time designated for Eastern Indonesia; it falls within the UTC+9 time zone.
Eastern Indonesia borders Southern Philippines in the northwest, Palau in the north, Western Papua New Guinea in the east, and Northern Australia in the south.
During the last stages of the Dutch colonial era, the area east of Java and Kalimantan was known as the Great East and later known as Eastern Indonesia. On 24 December 1946, the State of East Indonesia was formed covering the same area (excluding Western New Guinea). It was a component of the United States of Indonesia, and was dissolved into the unitary Republic of Indonesia in 17 August 1950.[5] Currently, Eastern Indonesia consists of 17 provinces: Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua.[6][7][8]
Main article: Geology of Indonesia |
In Eastern Indonesia, the days are generally dry and sunny from October through March with the warm tropical rain season occurring between May and August; temperatures are typically in the 27 °C (81 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F) range throughout the year.[4]
Administratively, Eastern Indonesia consists of two main geographical units, namely the Maluku Islands and Papua (Western New Guinea).
ISO 3166-2 Codes | Geographical unit | Provinces | Population (mid-2022)[9] |
Largest city | Highest point |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ID-ML
|
Maluku Islands | Maluku and North Maluku | 3,201,000 | Ambon | Mount Binaiya 3,027 m (9,931 ft) |
ID-PP
|
Papua | Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua | 5,601,900 | Jayapura | Puncak Jaya 4,884 m (16,024 ft) |
Seaweed farming has traditionally been a common commercial activity along the coasts of Eastern Indonesia; however, in the 2020s climate change in Indonesia has been causing seaweed farmers in Eastern Indonesia to lose revenue and harvests.[10] In the consumer shopping industry, Eastern Indonesia experienced a rapid increase in online shopping in the 2020s, with overall transactions in the region doubling from 2020 to 2021; this growth has been led by Indonesian e-commerce company Tokopedia, with the top product types sold in the region being health and beauty, fashion, food and beverage, and electronics.[3]
The following are the four largest cities in Eastern Indonesia by population:
No. | City | Province | Population | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Kupang | East Nusa Tenggara | 442.758 | |
2. | Jayapura | Papua | 398.478 | |
3. | Ambon | Maluku | 347.288 | |
4. | Sorong | Southwest Papua | 284.410 |