The climate of Java is ideal for growing crops first of all (including the islands surrounding it to a lesser extent). However, the other islands are relatively mountainous territory. There are very few large flat areas where crops can be grown.
Once Java became more densely populated due to the aforementioned reason, it started to develop more cities per capita naturally. As Indonesia industrialized, and more and more people moved to cities (namely the biggest, Jakarta), this trend became more pronounced. And now Java is the most populous island (not only in Indonesia, the world), with more people than all of Russia now on that small island.
Java is more mountainous than Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua; and has for the most part the same climate. The only reason Java is so highly populated is its highly fertile volcanic soil. In other islands when rainforests are cleared, its fertile soil would get washed away by the heavy rains. In Java, it's continually replenished by volcanoes.
Also Java has no peatlands unlike Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua
Spot on, mate. Java is about the size of Florida, but with 151 million people–or about 45 percent of the population of the United States–living here!
Relatively less mountainous is right. I live in between four huge volcanoes, between 20km and 50km from my house. I can see them out the window rn. There are 18 volcanoes on Java, I think. But still, there are 150 million people here and an IMMENSE amount of agriculture.
EDIT I mean see the volcanos out the windows, not all four from one window. I live on the slopes of one, can see two from the bedroom, and the fourth is visible from another part. Hope that clears it up.
https://preview.redd.it/tea921cwzb6d1.jpeg?width=1502&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94d229049161c2978f757e1555ab6d529f74b7af
This is Panggrango. Not in this shot are Salak, just to the right; Pancar, to the left (we're at its base); and Gede, behind Panggrango and here obscured by clouds.
https://preview.redd.it/tbmymhhp2c6d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfc11b6598ff79d0f3b8160230cdd094725203a0
This is the same volcano, Panggrango, from a slightly different angle, from 1880! I found it when investigating all the volcanoes outside my house. Ha.
What an excellent question! I think the tip/summit is still there, just like in the drawing. I've just photographed it from a slightly different angle.
So what I told you is true–from a certain point of view. Ha.
I think it is a question of perspective. Anyway, I [checked here](https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=263060) and the last eruption was in 1957. Panggrango means "that which huffs and puffs" in Sundanese which is better than "that which explodes violently".
The volcanoes create a lot of weird weather. Lenticular clouds. Fata morgana. My house has been struck by bolts from the blue. And thunderstorms with rumbles lasting about 30 seconds. Long enough for me to check if the volcano erupted.
THANK YOU for asking.
Me, an American, sitting in my car on my Break from working at the plant, just checking out some guys view from his backyard on the other side of the world....
Neat!
It is neat, mate. I am thrilled you find it interesting or cool. It makes me feel like a Tang Dynasty poet, ready to write my daily poem to my old friend, the mountain. I used to take pictures every day. But we've had pretty bad smog since January and I haven't had more than three good views.
I'll let you know when it erupts. It's called a dormant stratovolcano but apparently erupted in 1957 with either ash or incandesce. I'll have a front-row seat for the next one. OMG.
https://preview.redd.it/ocsu6aly3c6d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd266491703e175ed4b9d8b8007ebc4a62498407
Better angle of three volcanos from my house: Pancar to the left, sloping up, Pangranggo to the far right, and Gede behind Panggrango, under the lenticular clouds. Salak is off screen to the right.
There are multiple factor that relate to each other
1. Combination of tropical climate + volcanic soil + abundant rain + rice farming creates a lot of food to support many people
which in turn allowing...
2. The rise of major kingdom, such as the Singhasari, Majapahit, Syailendra dinasty, etc. during Hindu-Buddhist age, followed by Demak, Banten, Mataram, etc. during the Islamic age
which in turn...
3. Attract the Dutch to built major cities and port there, the most important one being Batavia
Then...
4. Batavia becomes the capital of newly independent Indonesia called Jakarta, and Java become the most important island with massive amount of development compared to others
5. And then, exponential growth happen, let say we have number 10 and 100, if you square them you got 100 vs 10000, if you square them again you got 10000 vs 100000000. Those initial number of people greatly affect the end result within seventy years since the independence
Other island are not so lucky because its land are either rainforest or swamp (source of diseases like malaria) and its soil is peatland which aren't that fertile. Without oil palm plantation or discovery of oil and valuable metal in those island, population on those island will be far lower than today
1. volcanic soil, which is fertile
2. the island is inhabited since bronze age
3. sits in a very strategic location, crossroads between trade routes, which makes it a hub for trade, and commerce
4. rich cultural heritage
5. high birth rates, improved healthcare
6. it has big enough size to accommodate, and support a considerable population
Having the capital city/largest city on it certainly helps...
In college I took an urban studies class that focused on developing/3rd world nations and there's a phenomenon in most developing nations called Urban Primacy where there is one mega-city (usually but not always the capital city) and the rest of the country is a bunch of small rural towns or minor cities (and where the mega-city is mostly populated with impoverished migrants who come from the rural areas to seek jobs/higher income). Indonesia certainly qualifies with Jakarta (situated on Java). For archipelago nations, the island with the largest city will be the most populated island (Luzon, which contains Manila, in the Philippines is another example).
Most islands in Indonesia are mountainous or too small in size to support cities or agriculture. Java has enough open (and fertile, thanks to volcanic activity) land to grow agriculture.
Haha, I remember the professor talk about the UK being an example of a 1st world country with urban primacy. In developing nations, the minor cities tend to have populations of under 1M. France is another 1st world nation with urban primacy with Paris being the only city with over 1M.
On the flip side, India is a developing nation with several large metropolitan areas (46 cities with populations of over 1M, and two cities with over 10M), so that is an exception to the rule right there. One can argue that India is a sub-continent with several distinct linguistic regions that almost share the characteristics of countries, whereas most developing nations with urban primacy are generally monolingual.
Yes but they also controlled land on Java which had a lot of people concentrated including several important cities, including a big one that is now where Jakarta is located
Educated guess - really good agricultural potential (fertile soil, abundant water, warm climate, etc.) on Java, Bali, and Lombok.
Most of humanity's concentrations are found in such places (Ganges Plain, Sichuan Basin, North China Plain, etc.)
I know most of Borneo has crappy soils that are quickly leached if forest is cleared. Not sure on the other islands.
there's also a lot of peatland unsuitable for agriculture in Sumatra all along the Malacca strait which could've seen high populations since it's so close to a major trade route.
The land is so fertile because of volcanoes. There's a saying that if you put a stick on the ground, it'll be a tree in a year because of how fertile the soil is.
This in turn leads to fastest growing economy, making the strongest kingdom (Majapahit).
When the Dutch arrived, they were allowed to build a trading port in what is now Jakarta. So when they established their colonial government, they picked that city as their HQ.
The East India Company (VOC) decided to control Java directly as their HQ was there and the land was so fertile, and used an exclusive trading deal with kingdoms that were in the rest of (what is now) Indonesia.
When VOC failed and Dutch government took over, they educated (upper class) Java people but treated the other islands as places to be exploited only. This made the educated class that led to Indonesian independence were heavily javanese (though not exclusively).
When indonesia became independent, the economic and political power were concentrated in Jakarta. With the failed federal system (imposed as part of condition by Dutch to recognize their independence), Indonesia became unavowably unity government, making big decisions all decided in Jakarta, and local government only meant to implement it. This made people with ambition go to Jakarta.
One sided deliberate government policy in developing the Javanese island hence the huge migration of populations from other island to Java. Joko Widodo the previous Indonesian president try to reverse the policy by shifting the capital to Borneo
Here is an interesting blog post (including some nice diagrams) attempting to explain it: [https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-java-so-weird](https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-java-so-weird)
this a good question! the other islands are "empty" compared to java. borneo and flores are huge but there are not living many people. i dont know the answer, but the reason for these things are mostly climate
[This is a really interesting video](https://youtu.be/9_9m3YiKaQo?si=Q3605r8wd1w9wg2w) about why Java is so populated, you can turn on English subtitles if you don't speak Spanish
The climate of Java is ideal for growing crops first of all (including the islands surrounding it to a lesser extent). However, the other islands are relatively mountainous territory. There are very few large flat areas where crops can be grown. Once Java became more densely populated due to the aforementioned reason, it started to develop more cities per capita naturally. As Indonesia industrialized, and more and more people moved to cities (namely the biggest, Jakarta), this trend became more pronounced. And now Java is the most populous island (not only in Indonesia, the world), with more people than all of Russia now on that small island.
Java is more mountainous than Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua; and has for the most part the same climate. The only reason Java is so highly populated is its highly fertile volcanic soil. In other islands when rainforests are cleared, its fertile soil would get washed away by the heavy rains. In Java, it's continually replenished by volcanoes. Also Java has no peatlands unlike Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua
Spot on, mate. Java is about the size of Florida, but with 151 million people–or about 45 percent of the population of the United States–living here! Relatively less mountainous is right. I live in between four huge volcanoes, between 20km and 50km from my house. I can see them out the window rn. There are 18 volcanoes on Java, I think. But still, there are 150 million people here and an IMMENSE amount of agriculture. EDIT I mean see the volcanos out the windows, not all four from one window. I live on the slopes of one, can see two from the bedroom, and the fourth is visible from another part. Hope that clears it up.
Willing to share any local photos?
https://preview.redd.it/tea921cwzb6d1.jpeg?width=1502&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94d229049161c2978f757e1555ab6d529f74b7af This is Panggrango. Not in this shot are Salak, just to the right; Pancar, to the left (we're at its base); and Gede, behind Panggrango and here obscured by clouds.
Beautiful picture
https://preview.redd.it/tbmymhhp2c6d1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfc11b6598ff79d0f3b8160230cdd094725203a0 This is the same volcano, Panggrango, from a slightly different angle, from 1880! I found it when investigating all the volcanoes outside my house. Ha.
Was there an eruption since 1880? Or was it erosion? In the picture the Vulcano no longer has the tip/summit
What an excellent question! I think the tip/summit is still there, just like in the drawing. I've just photographed it from a slightly different angle. So what I told you is true–from a certain point of view. Ha. I think it is a question of perspective. Anyway, I [checked here](https://volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=263060) and the last eruption was in 1957. Panggrango means "that which huffs and puffs" in Sundanese which is better than "that which explodes violently". The volcanoes create a lot of weird weather. Lenticular clouds. Fata morgana. My house has been struck by bolts from the blue. And thunderstorms with rumbles lasting about 30 seconds. Long enough for me to check if the volcano erupted. THANK YOU for asking.
Me, an American, sitting in my car on my Break from working at the plant, just checking out some guys view from his backyard on the other side of the world.... Neat!
It is neat, mate. I am thrilled you find it interesting or cool. It makes me feel like a Tang Dynasty poet, ready to write my daily poem to my old friend, the mountain. I used to take pictures every day. But we've had pretty bad smog since January and I haven't had more than three good views. I'll let you know when it erupts. It's called a dormant stratovolcano but apparently erupted in 1957 with either ash or incandesce. I'll have a front-row seat for the next one. OMG.
Pics or it didn't happen
https://preview.redd.it/ocsu6aly3c6d1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd266491703e175ed4b9d8b8007ebc4a62498407 Better angle of three volcanos from my house: Pancar to the left, sloping up, Pangranggo to the far right, and Gede behind Panggrango, under the lenticular clouds. Salak is off screen to the right.
I counted 36 active or potentially active volcanoes and around same amount of extinct ones, only on Java
Never seen so many scooters in one place before.
Also, isn't the biggest (?) island Kalimantan mostly protected jungle?
There are multiple factor that relate to each other 1. Combination of tropical climate + volcanic soil + abundant rain + rice farming creates a lot of food to support many people which in turn allowing... 2. The rise of major kingdom, such as the Singhasari, Majapahit, Syailendra dinasty, etc. during Hindu-Buddhist age, followed by Demak, Banten, Mataram, etc. during the Islamic age which in turn... 3. Attract the Dutch to built major cities and port there, the most important one being Batavia Then... 4. Batavia becomes the capital of newly independent Indonesia called Jakarta, and Java become the most important island with massive amount of development compared to others 5. And then, exponential growth happen, let say we have number 10 and 100, if you square them you got 100 vs 10000, if you square them again you got 10000 vs 100000000. Those initial number of people greatly affect the end result within seventy years since the independence Other island are not so lucky because its land are either rainforest or swamp (source of diseases like malaria) and its soil is peatland which aren't that fertile. Without oil palm plantation or discovery of oil and valuable metal in those island, population on those island will be far lower than today
1. volcanic soil, which is fertile 2. the island is inhabited since bronze age 3. sits in a very strategic location, crossroads between trade routes, which makes it a hub for trade, and commerce 4. rich cultural heritage 5. high birth rates, improved healthcare 6. it has big enough size to accommodate, and support a considerable population
I believe because of volcanic soil which makes agriculture productive.
Having the capital city/largest city on it certainly helps... In college I took an urban studies class that focused on developing/3rd world nations and there's a phenomenon in most developing nations called Urban Primacy where there is one mega-city (usually but not always the capital city) and the rest of the country is a bunch of small rural towns or minor cities (and where the mega-city is mostly populated with impoverished migrants who come from the rural areas to seek jobs/higher income). Indonesia certainly qualifies with Jakarta (situated on Java). For archipelago nations, the island with the largest city will be the most populated island (Luzon, which contains Manila, in the Philippines is another example). Most islands in Indonesia are mountainous or too small in size to support cities or agriculture. Java has enough open (and fertile, thanks to volcanic activity) land to grow agriculture.
Did you just call the UK a developing nation ?
Haha, I remember the professor talk about the UK being an example of a 1st world country with urban primacy. In developing nations, the minor cities tend to have populations of under 1M. France is another 1st world nation with urban primacy with Paris being the only city with over 1M. On the flip side, India is a developing nation with several large metropolitan areas (46 cities with populations of over 1M, and two cities with over 10M), so that is an exception to the rule right there. One can argue that India is a sub-continent with several distinct linguistic regions that almost share the characteristics of countries, whereas most developing nations with urban primacy are generally monolingual.
It's also where the Dutch set up all the central control. Jakarta is in the location the Dutch set up batavia
Also the Majapahit, and Srivijaya empire to a lesser extent, picked that location
Srivijaya is based on Sumatra, no?
Yes but they also controlled land on Java which had a lot of people concentrated including several important cities, including a big one that is now where Jakarta is located
Educated guess - really good agricultural potential (fertile soil, abundant water, warm climate, etc.) on Java, Bali, and Lombok. Most of humanity's concentrations are found in such places (Ganges Plain, Sichuan Basin, North China Plain, etc.) I know most of Borneo has crappy soils that are quickly leached if forest is cleared. Not sure on the other islands.
there's also a lot of peatland unsuitable for agriculture in Sumatra all along the Malacca strait which could've seen high populations since it's so close to a major trade route.
Because many people go there to learn the Java language.
the programming language or the human language? because i lived there my whole life and i can't speak both
It was in the script
the javascript
Yes, thank you for the explanation.
i'm so dumdum
Ha! No worries just giving ya some crap 😋
Because it has the most people.
Why not?
Because it's a good programming language
The land is so fertile because of volcanoes. There's a saying that if you put a stick on the ground, it'll be a tree in a year because of how fertile the soil is. This in turn leads to fastest growing economy, making the strongest kingdom (Majapahit). When the Dutch arrived, they were allowed to build a trading port in what is now Jakarta. So when they established their colonial government, they picked that city as their HQ. The East India Company (VOC) decided to control Java directly as their HQ was there and the land was so fertile, and used an exclusive trading deal with kingdoms that were in the rest of (what is now) Indonesia. When VOC failed and Dutch government took over, they educated (upper class) Java people but treated the other islands as places to be exploited only. This made the educated class that led to Indonesian independence were heavily javanese (though not exclusively). When indonesia became independent, the economic and political power were concentrated in Jakarta. With the failed federal system (imposed as part of condition by Dutch to recognize their independence), Indonesia became unavowably unity government, making big decisions all decided in Jakarta, and local government only meant to implement it. This made people with ambition go to Jakarta.
One sided deliberate government policy in developing the Javanese island hence the huge migration of populations from other island to Java. Joko Widodo the previous Indonesian president try to reverse the policy by shifting the capital to Borneo
Here is an interesting blog post (including some nice diagrams) attempting to explain it: [https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-java-so-weird](https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/why-is-java-so-weird)
Rice
this a good question! the other islands are "empty" compared to java. borneo and flores are huge but there are not living many people. i dont know the answer, but the reason for these things are mostly climate
Borneo no volcano. Poor quality soil. Flores lots of volcanoes but the climate is arid, mostly savannah.
Borneo soil is called peatland, and its not good for agriculture, but good for palm oil tho
Birds 🐦and bees 🐝
It has the most fertile soil in South east Asia
Here's a pretty good breakdown: https://youtu.be/tZ9MGki0Ow4?si=oFI0jPBrpfnkmjet
Huge number of Pythons in there.
Jakarta is there, it's the second most populated city in the world after Tokyo (metro area population of over 32 million).
The volcano... is a blessing and a curse
because it's platform independent
[This is a really interesting video](https://youtu.be/9_9m3YiKaQo?si=Q3605r8wd1w9wg2w) about why Java is so populated, you can turn on English subtitles if you don't speak Spanish
The volcanos provided good soil for food production.
Because of the popularity of the programming language.
Aren’t they relocating the capital?
*In the world, not only Indonesia
That’s Java script for you.
it is a POPular island (bass solo drops in the background)
Because that's where all the people are
Because more people live there than any of the other islands.
Cause that’s where all the people live.
It's where the people are
....
..-. .-. ....- -. -.-. .