Bali

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**Bali**
Motto: Bali Dwipa Jaya ("Prosperous Bali Island")
Capital	Denpasar
Government - Governor - Vice governor	Dewa Made Beratha Kesuma Kelakan
Area - Total	5,632.86 km²
Population - Total (2000) - Density	3,150,000 559/km²
Ethnic groups	Balinese (89%)
Language	Balinese, Indonesian
Religion	Hindu (93.18%), Muslim (4.79%), Christian (0.72%), Protestant (0.66%), Buddhist (0.64%)
Time zone	WITA (UTC+8)
Coordinates - Latitude - Longitude	8°03'40"S to 8°50'48"S 114°25'53"E to 115°42'40"E
Elevation - Highest point - Lowest point	3,142 m (Mount Agung) 0 m
Web site	www.bali.go.id

Bali is an Indonesian island located at , one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, and one of the country's 33 provinces. It is in a chain with Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Bali is a tourist destination and, along with Java, known for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather and metalworking, and music, especially that played on the gamelan.

Geography

Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java and about 8 degrees south of the equator. The island is 153 km long and 112 km wide (95 by 69 miles), with a surface area of 5,633 km². The highest point is Mount Agung at 3,142 m (10,308 feet) high, an active volcano that last erupted in March 1963. Mountains cover from the centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Mount Batur is also still active. About 30,000 years ago it experienced a catastrophic eruption — one of the largest known volcanic events on Earth.

The principal cities are the northern port of Singaraja and the capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. The town of Ubud (north of Denpasar), with its art market, museums and galleries, is regarded as the cultural center of Bali.

In the south the land descends to form an alluvial plain, watered by shallow rivers, dry in the dry season and overflowing during periods of heavy rains.

Its population of over 3 million is mainly (about 93%) Hindu, but a very small part is Muslim (mostly coastal fishermen).

The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), Sanur, Jimbaran, Seminyak and the newer development of Nusa Dua. The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus joining the southernmost part of the island to the main part of the island.

There are major coastal roads and roads that cross the island mainly north-south. Due to the mountainous terrain in the island's center, the roads tend to follow the crests of the ridges across the mountains. There are no railway lines.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west black sand. The beach town of Padangbai in the north east has both: the main beach and the secret beach have white sand and the south beach and the blue lagoon have much darker sand.

Pasut Beach (Tabanan), near Sungai Ho and Pura Segara, is a quiet beach 14 km southwest of Tabanan. The Ho River is navigable by small sampan. Beautiful black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the famous seaside temple of Tanah Lot, this is not yet a tourist area.

Most of the Balinese people are involved in agriculture, primarily rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruits, vegetables and other cash crops. A significant number of Balinese are also fishermen. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings and silverware.

History

Balinese people are descendants of a prehistoric race who migrated through mainland Asia to the Indonesian archipelago, presumably first settling around 2500 BC.

The end of the prehistoric period in Indonesia was marked by the arrival of Hindu people from India around 100 BC as determined by Brahmi inscriptions on potsherds. The name Balidwipa has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong charter issued by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 913 AD and mentioning Walidwipa. The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on Eastern Java island founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The empire collapsed slightly before 1500 due to assaults, causing an exodus to Bali.

Europeans first discovered Bali when Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the coast of Bukit as early as 1585. The Dutch soon established a trade post, and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) started trading from early 17th century. Dutch control of the island was firmly established after a series of colonial wars (1846–1849). These wars were so fierce (with the entire royal court of the Raja, women and children, plunged into battle armed with kris and spears, preferring to kill each other on the battlefield rather than be taken captive) that afterwards the Dutch governors exercised little influence over the island, generally allowing local control over religion and culture to remain intact.

After being conquered by Japan during World War II, Bali became part of the Republic of East Indonesia, and in 1948 became part of United States of Indonesia.

In 1965, after a failed coup d'etat against the national government, Bali was the scene of widespread killings of members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by right-wing militias, along with several other parts of Indonesia.

On October 12 2002, there was a car bomb attack in the tourist resort of Kuta, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Another series of terrorist bombings occurred nearly three years later at Kuta and nearby Jimbaran; see 2005 Bali bombings.

Another increasingly important source of income for Bali is what is called "Congress Tourism" from the frequent international conferences held on the island, especially after the terrorist bombings of 2002; ostensibly to resurrect Bali's damaged tourism industry as well as its tarnished image.

Demographics

The population of Bali is 3,151,000 (at 2005).

Religion

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 92% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (5.7%), Christianity (1.4%), and Buddhism (0.6%).

Language

Balinese and Bahasa Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and many Balinese people are bilingual or even trilingual. English is a common third language owing to the island's large tourism industry. In the past, the Balinese language was heavily influenced by the Balinese caste system, but this is becoming less and less pronounced.

Culture

Bali is famous for dance, as well as painting, scuplture, and woodcarving. Balinese gamelan music is highly developed and varied. The dances portray stories from Hindu Epics such as Ramayana. Famous Balinese dances include Pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, and Kecak (the monkey dance).

The problem Bali's culture is facing today is from the tourism industry. Today the culture is slowly changing to attract tourists; its original form is gradually fading away.

References

Miguel Covarrubias, Island of Bali, 1946. ISBN 9625930604

External links

Bali | Islands of Indonesia | Provinces of Indonesia

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