Yogyakarta & Central Java

The island of Java is the fifth largest in Indonesia after Kalimantan, Sumatra, West Irian and Sulawesi. Roughly the size of England, it supports a population of about eight million. Representing more than half of the nation’s total. A third of the inhabitants live the narrow, middle section of the provinces of Central Java, with it’s capital at Semarang, and the Special Region of Yogyakarta.

This is the home of the true Javanese, as opposed to the Sundanese who inhabit the western part of the island and have their own language and customs. Most people are engaged in agriculture and live away from the city centres. More than sixty percent of the land is used for intensive wet rice cultivation dry hillside farming and plantation corps, while a further twenty percent accounts for forested areas of mostly teak and pine. The landscape is one of great variety and natural beauty. Inland, smouldering volcanic peaks sweep upwards to height of more than 3000 metres, from where numerous river flow down through rich and fertile plaints of the sea. Only in the north east of Central Java and on Yogyakarta’s southern coast is the soil less productive. Here, arid and inhospitable limestone ranges are unsuitable for agriculture and consequently support relatively small populations.