Person-to-Person
· As the world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has a population which numbered
210 million in 2001. The U.S. ranks number three at 258 million, after India at 910 million and China at 1.2 billion.
What nation ranks fifth in population?
· Approximately 85% of Indonesia’s people are Muslim, making Indonesia the largest Islamic country in the world. However, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism are equally recognized in Indonesia. Holidays for all the major religions are official national holidays – giving school children many more holidays than their American counterparts.
How did Islam arrive in Indonesia?
At the Dawn of Time
· Some of the earliest human remains were discovered in the river valleys of Central Java. New dating techniques have placed the ages of Java Man and another fossilized human, the "Mojokerto Child", at close to two million years old – almost as old as the oldest human remains found in Africa. Anthropologists had thought that the earliest humans had used tools in making their journey from Africa to Asia. But Java Man’s new age predates tool use.
What does this new data say about the human migration from Africa?
Natural Wonders
· The world’s second-largest concentration of rainforests is found in Indonesia. Only Brazil’s is larger. Rainforests in Indonesia, like those in other nations, are threatened by increased lumber operations and by human population. Indonesia’s rainforests host over 500 mammal species (more than any single place on earth), and 1,500 species of birds.
Find out more about one of the following Indonesia species and report your findings to the class: elephant, orangutan, proboscis monkey, and rafflesia (the world’s biggest flower).
· The largest reptile alive, the Komodo dragon, is found only on Indonesia’s Komodo island. These endangered animals can live to be over 100 years old and can measured as long as 10 feet from head to tail, and can weigh 300 pounds. They are incredibly fast, and have poisonous saliva, which is bad news for deer, pigs, and goats – and careless humans, because the Komodo are meat eaters.
Find out what steps are being taken to protect Komodo dragons.
