Introduction

Introduction to Nusa Tenggara

The chain of islands east of Bali is named Nusa Tenggara in modern Indonesia: the Southeastern Islands. Among geographers the archipelago is known as the Lesser Sunda Islands, as a separation from the Big Sunda Islands; Sumatera, Jawa and Borneo. For what tourist places concerned, there is nothing 'small' about Nusa Tenggara. In contrary: a region of this size with a rich cultural and natural dive (...)

Flora & fauna	Coral reefs, dragons and bushes

Travellers which visit Nusa Tenggara should not expect that they will find an exotic world of animals like in Borneo, Sulawesi and Papua. The relatively dry and rocky Lesser Sunda's are not home to impressive rainforests or a big diversity in strange local animals. In fact these islands are kind of low populated with big animals. Areas which are covered in shrubs are the habitat of deer, wild (...)

Geology	Islands with vulcanos and corals

Nusa Tenggara forms the cental chain in the vast Indonesian chain of islands: it connects the Bigger Sunda Islands in the west with the Maluku islands and Papua in the east. The Lesser Sunda Islands form two separate bows. The long northern bow - Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Lembata - has an vulcanic origin. The islands of the shorther, southern bow - Sumba, Savu, Roti, Timor - consist of rais (...)

History	Unity in diversity

The national motto of Indonesia is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika: 'Unity in Diversity'. This can best be used on provinces east of Bali: Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur and Timor Timur. In the beginning the diversity is much more obvious than the unity, since about 50 languages are spoken, of which many know numerous dialects. Most however, are closely related. They belong to the linguistic (...)

Prehistory	Earliest migrations and influences

The first inhabitants of Nusa Tenggara originate without doubt from mainland Asia. They came via Jawa and Balo to Lombok. One of the main questions concerning this period until the prehistory of Indonesia is: when did it happen? About one milion year ago, people lived there - Homo erectis, ancestors of the modern man - on Jawa, as is prooved by discoveries near Sangiran and Trini on Central (...)

Religion	Vision of unity and duality

The official statistics show an easy view of the religious landscape of Indonesia: 88 per cent of the population is islamic, 5.8 per cent protestant, 2.9 per cent catholic, 2 per cent hinduist and 0.9 per cent buddhist. A very small group is indicated as 'those which don't have yet a religion'. These categories are separated into unequal parts over the islands of the archipelagio, but there is a c (...)