Java (island)

Java (Indonesian: Jawa), area 132,000 square km, has 114 million people and is the most densely populated island in Indonesia, with 864 people per square km; if it were a country it would be the second most densely populated country of the world, except for some very small countries (after Bangladesh).

Table of contents

1 Administration 2 Geography 3 Culture

Administration

Java is divided into 4 provinces, 1 special region* (daerah istimewa), and 1 special capital city district** (daerah khusus ibukota):

• Banten
• Jakarta**
• Jawa Barat (West Java)
• Jawa Tengah (Central Java)
• Jawa Timur (East Java)
• Yogyakarta*

Geography

Java contains the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta. The cultural center of the island is the city of Yogyakarta.

It is located in a chain with Sumatra to the northwest and Bali to the east. To the northeast is Borneo. To the south is Christmas Island.

Java is almost entirely of volcanic origin, and contains no less than thirty-eight mountains of that conical form which indicates their having at one time or other been active volcanoes. See Volcanoes of Java.

Culture

• Javanese language, spoken in central and eastern Java
• Basa Sunda is the language of about 27,000,000 people from the western third of Java.
• Gamelan music