This is a
list of islands of Indonesian Archipelago.
Indonesia comprises 17,508 - 18,306
islands and 8,844 that have been named according to estimates made by the
Government of Indonesia, with 922 of those permanently inhabited.
Indonesian Archipelago is a part of
Malay Archipelago. The country extends from adjacent the
Malay Peninsula in its west and into
Melanesia in its east. Management of the islands sometimes includes a
regency which covers a small island chain.
According to a 2002 survey by
National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN), Indonesia has 18,306 islands. According to the CIA factbook there are 17,508 islands.
Counting
tidal islands (periodically submerged) could be up to double the island figure (no precise figures); many islands have no name or share names, all of which makes tabulation very confusing even to the government of Indonesia. Exact figures should be considered merely "improved estimates" until a definitive study can be conducted.
Indonesian (or Malay)
Archipelago is often referred to as the
largest archipelago in the world, but this is meant by area and not by number of islands. This title aptly represents its 17,508 - 18,306 or so islands which span 5,400 kilometres (3,400 mi) eastward from
Sabang in northern
Sumatra to
Merauke in
Irian Jaya. If you superimpose a map of Indonesia over one of
Eurasia, you will find that it stretches from Eastern
France to Western
China; compared to the
United States, it covers the area from Eastern
California to
Bermuda.
On September 21, 2007, an
8.4 earthquake struck Sumatra near
South Pagai Island, producing a cluster of six small new islands, and enlarging others by uplift.
A large portion of Indonesia is seismically active; the number, size, submergence and emergence and shape of islands continues to evolve.
