In 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa (part of the Indonesian archipelago) was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, causing a tidal wave that killed over thirty thousand people. 1816 was known as the “Year Without Summer” because of the global climatic effects of the eruption. The eruption of Mount Tambora, on Sumbawa Island, in 1815 was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history. (The rim of the Pacific Basin is ringed with volcanoes, from Alaska through the United States, Mexico and South America, then on to New Zealand and up to Japan and Russia.) Of the 400 volcanoes located in Indonesia, 150 of them are active, about 75 percent of all active volcanoes on the planet.
Together, Indonesia’s islands form part of the Ring of Fire which includes about seventy-five percent of all the world's volcanoes.
The islands of New Guinea and Borneo are two of the largest islands in the world. Indonesia's region of Papua shares the island of New Guinea with Papua New Guinea the region of Kalimantan shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei. Indonesia’s main islands are Sumatera (473,606 sq km), Sulawesi (189,216 sq km), Papua (421,981 sq km), Kalimantan (539,460 sq km), Java (132,187 sq km), and the small but world-renown island of Bali. The Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatera was added to the World Heritage List in 2004. The lush tropical forests of the islands provide refuge for the one-horned rhinoceros (Java) the orangutan (Kalimantan and Sumatera), the only great ape living naturally outside Africa the giant lizard known as the Komodo dragon (the Lesser Sunda Islands) and the Draco volans (flying dragon), a lizard which glides from trees and other high points.
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