Socially Java is an island of contrasts, geographically it is an island of great and varied beauty. Java provides leadership in politics and trade, abundant manpower and great potential markets but also, in terms of population pressure, the nation’s greatest economic problems. In the late ‘60s foreign investment went initially to the area surrounding booming Jakarta.
Java is predominantly a land of mountain peaks and smoking volcanoes, fertile green field and terraces, but to the north is the flat coastal plain and the sluggish Java Sea while the south coast faces the onslaught of the crashing waves of Indian Ocean. It’s a land of strong contrasts: wealth and squalor; majestic, open country and crowded, filthy cities; quiet, rural scenes and hustling, modern traffic.
Java is a long, narrow island which can be conveniently divided into three sections. In West Java is the capital Jakarta, a city which seems to epitomize all of Indonesia’s problems. Tourist attractions like Bandung (the cultural centre of the Sundanese), Cirebon, Pangandaran and the Ujung Kulon National Park are also found in West Java. In Central Java you will find temples and royal cities that tell of the rise and fall of the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim kingdoms. Here too the old Javanese-Hindu traditions were least altered by the Muslims and outside influences and this region remains the vital centre of Javanese culture. Java is people and lots of them. Wherever you go it’s hard to escape the fact that this is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, but there are isolated places where you can find yourself out of sight and sound of other people. There’s the huge Dieng Plateau in the beautiful central highlands and, in East Java, the area around the spectacular Mt. Bromo volcano is as wild and desolate as you could hope for.
