Where is Indonesia?

Indonesia is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. An archipelago comprising thousands of islands, Indonesia has an estimated population of over 255 million people and is the world's fourth-most-populous country and the most-populous Muslim-majority country.

Administratively, Indonesia consists of 34 provinces,

five of which have special status. Each province has its own legislature and governor. The provinces are subdivided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota), which are further subdivided into districts (kecamatan or distrik in Papua and West Papua), and again into administrative villages (either desa, kelurahan, kampung, nagari in West Sumatra, or gampong in Aceh). Village is the lowest level of government administration in Indonesia. Furthermore, a village is divided into several community groups (rukun warga (RW)) which are further divided into neighbourhood groups (rukun tetangga (RT)).

In Java the desa (village) is divided further into smaller units called dusun or dukuh (hamlets), these units are the same as rukun warga. Following the implementation of regional autonomy measures in 2001, the regencies and cities have become the key administrative units, responsible for providing most government services. The village administration level is the most influential on a citizen's daily life and handles matters of a village or neighbourhood through an elected lurah or kepala desa (village chief).

Indonesian provinces and their capitals, listed by region:

Indonesian name is in parentheses if different from English.
* indicates provinces with special status

• Sumatra

•     Aceh (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) * – Banda Aceh
•     North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) – Medan
•     West Sumatra (Sumatera Barat) – Padang
•     Riau – Pekanbaru
•     Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau) – Tanjung Pinang
•     Jambi – Jambi (city)
•     South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) – Palembang
•     Bangka-Belitung (Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) – Pangkal Pinang
•     Bengkulu – Bengkulu (city)
•     Lampung – Bandar Lampung

• Java

•     Special Capital Region of Jakarta* (Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta)  – Jakarta
•     Banten – Serang
•     West Java (Jawa Barat) – Bandung
•     Central Java (Jawa Tengah) – Semarang
•     Yogyakarta Special Region* (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) – Yogyakarta (city)
•     East Java (Jawa Timur) – Surabaya

• Lesser Sunda Islands

•     Bali – Denpasar
•     West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat) – Mataram
•     East Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Timur) – Kupang

   

• Kalimantan

•     West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat) – Pontianak
•     Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah) – Palangkaraya
•     South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) – Banjarmasin
•     East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) – Samarinda
•     North Kalimantan (Kalimantan Utara) – Tanjung Selor

• Sulawesi

•     North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara) – Manado
•     Gorontalo – Gorontalo (city)
•     Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah) – Palu
•     West Sulawesi (Sulawesi Barat) – Mamuju
•     South Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan) – Makassar
•     South East Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tenggara) – Kendari

• Maluku Islands

•     Maluku – Ambon
•     North Maluku (Maluku Utara) – Sofifi

• Western New Guinea

•     West Papua* (Papua Barat) – Manokwari
•     Papua* – Jayapura

More than 700 local languages are spoken in thousands islands of Indonesia. Most belong to the Austronesian language family, with a few Papuan languages also spoken. The official language is Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language), a variant of Malay, which was used in the archipelago, — borrowing heavily from local languages of Indonesia such as Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, etc. The Indonesian language is primarily used in commerce, administration, education and the media, but most Indonesians speak other languages, such as Javanese, as their first language.

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