Eastern Indonesia


Eastern Indonesia is one of the two main geographical regions of Indonesia, the other being Western Indonesia. It comprises four geographical units: Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Maluku Islands and Papua. Central Indonesian Time and Eastern Indonesia Time are the national standard time designated for Eastern Indonesia; it falls within the UTC+8 and UTC+9 time zone, respectively.
Eastern Indonesia borders the Southern Philippines and Palau in the North, Papua New Guinea in the East, and Northern Australia in the South.

History and background

During the last stages of the Dutch colonial era, the area east of Java and Kalimantan was known as the Great East and later known as Eastern Indonesia. After Denpasar Conference, on 24 December 1946, the State of East Indonesia was formed covering the same area, excluding Western New Guinea, previously included during Malino Conference. It was a component of the United States of Indonesia, and was dissolved into the unitary Republic of Indonesia in 17 August 1950. Currently, Eastern Indonesia consists of 17 provinces: Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, Central Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua.

Geography

Climate

In Eastern Indonesia, the days are generally dry and sunny from October through March with the warm tropical rain season occurring between May and August; temperatures are typically in the to range throughout the year.

Administration

Administratively, Eastern Indonesia consists of four main geographical units, namely the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Maluku Islands and Papua.
ISO 3166-2 CodesGeographical unitProvincesPopulation
Largest cityHighest point
Nusa Tenggara Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara15,355,100DenpasarMount Rinjani
3,726 m
SulawesiCentral Sulawesi, Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Sulawesi20,304,400MakassarLatimojong
3,478 m
Maluku IslandsMaluku and North Maluku3,201,000AmbonMount Binaiya
3,027 m
PapuaCentral Papua, Highland Papua, Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, and West Papua5,601,900JayapuraPuncak Jaya
4,884 m

Economy

has traditionally been a common commercial activity along the coasts of Eastern Indonesia; however, in the 2020s climate change in Indonesia has been causing seaweed farmers in Eastern Indonesia to lose revenue and harvests. In the consumer shopping industry, Eastern Indonesia experienced a rapid increase in online shopping in the 2020s, with overall transactions in the region doubling from 2020 to 2021; this growth has been led by Indonesian e-commerce company Tokopedia, with the top product types sold in the region being health and beauty, fashion, food and beverage, and electronics.

Demographics

Largest cities

The following are the four largest cities in Eastern Indonesia by population:
No.CityProvincePopulationImage
1.MakassarSouth Sulawesi1.571.814
2.DenpasarBali725.314
3.ManadoNorth Sulawesi478.192
4.KupangEast Nusa Tenggara442.758
5.MataramWest Nusa Tenggara452.812
6.JayapuraPapua398.478
7.PaluCentral Sulawesi373.218
8.AmbonMaluku347.288
9.KendariSoutheast Sulawesi347.381
10.SorongSouthwest Papua284.410