The Geography of Bali

Bali Island is located 3.2 km or 2 mi easy of Java, 8 degrees south of the equator. Java and Bali are separated by the narrow Bali Strait. Its length from east to west is about 153 km or 95 mi while from north to south it spans up to 112 km or 69 mi. The total measure of the land area is 5,632 km2.

The highest elevation at the central of the main land reaches up to around 3,000 meters above the sea level, the highest of which is Mount Agung which reaches 3,142 meters. This active volcano is also referred as the mother mountain. Form central region to the east runs the mountainous range with Mount Agung as the easternmost highest point. The volcanic nature of the main land, combined with the high mountains which encourage rainfalls, makes Bali extremely fertile for agricultural crop. The most fertile area is located in the center of the main land to the south. Meanwhile, the northern side of the mountains slopes steeply toward the sea. This area becomes the main producer area for coffee, vegetables, rice and cattle. The longest river of the island is Ayung River, which flows as long as approximately 75 km.

Most areas of the island are surrounded by coral reefs and the northern and the western beaches tend to have black sand while those of the southern tend to have white sand. There are not any major waterways in the mainland. However, sampan boats can navigate the Ho River. There are some beaches in the area between Klatingdukuh and Pasut and these beaches are being developed for tourism. However, the most significant tourist spot until today in the area is still the seaside temple Tanah Lot.

Denpasar, located near the southern coast, is the biggest city in the mainland with a total population of approximately 491,500 according to the estimate in 2002. Singaraja, the old colonial capital, home for 100,000 people and situated at the northern coast, is Bali’s second-largest city. Other major cities include Kuta and Ubud. There are three small islands at the southeast of the mainland. They are administratively parts of the Klungkung Regency. They are Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan. The three of them are separated from the main land by Badung Strait.

Lombok Strait at the east separates Bali and the rest of the Lesser Sunda Islands. This strait also marks the bio-geographical division between the fauna of Australasia and the fauna of Indo-Malayan eco-zone. The imaginary separating line is called the Wallace Line, which is named after the biologist Alfred Russell Wallace. Bali was connected to Sumatra, Java and the mainland of Asia during the Pleistocene Ice Age, during which period the levels dropped. Hence Bali at that time shared the same Asian fauna. However, the Lombok Strait at that time had been deep water so that the rest of the Lesser Sunda Islands kept isolated.

History of Bali

The first inhabitants of Bali are Austronesian peoples who came in 2000 BC. They came from Taiwan through the South China Sea. Thus these peoples are closer to the peoples of the Philippines, Oceania and Indonesian Archipelago in terms of linguistic and culture. The historical artifacts dated from this time are stone tools found not too far from Cekik village at the western part of the island. There are nine Hindu sects in the ancient Bali with each has its own personal Godhead, namely Ganapatya, Resi, Brahma, Sora, Waisnawa, Siwa Sidharta, Bodha, Bhairawa and Pasupata.

Various inscriptions show that the name Bali Dwipa or Bali Island had appeared since the first ages of the first millennium. One of the inscriptions that mentioned the island is the Blanjong pillar which was created by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914. The inscription in the pillar mentioned the island as Walidwipa. Subak, the complex irrigation system for which Bali is well known, was developed during this time. Some of the cultural and religious traditions that can be seen until today have their roots from this period too although much older Indian influence is believed to had been present since 1 AD. In 1343, the big Hindu Majapahit Empire from East Java founded a colony in here. Bali became the final destination for the exodus of artists, priests, musicians and priests when the empire eventually declined in the 15th century.

Portuguese was the first European who made a contact with the island. In 1585, a Portuguese ship is believed to be foundered off the Bukit Peninsula. A few Portuguese were then left to serve Dewa Agung. Cornelis de Houtman, the Dutch explorer who had previously made a contact with Banten at the West Java, arrived in Bali in 1597. However, it is only since 1840s that the Dutch held political and economic control over Bali, especially on the northern part. That was the time when Balinese kingdoms fought against each other which was pitted further by the Dutch. The Dutch also exploited the Balinese kingdoms of the southern part since the late 1890s.

The year 1906 saw a massive unbalanced fight at Sanur region between the Dutch forces against thousands of Balinese royal family members and their followers. At that time, the Dutch launched naval and ground campaign to gain control over the southern part of the island. The Balinese responded with suicidal defensive resistance because they did not want to be humiliated for surrender. The same fight, which is known as puputan, also broke in 1908 at Klungkung region. After those unbalanced fights, the Dutch eventually able to take the administrative control over Bali, although culture and religion are generally still maintained at full level by the local powers. However, the Dutch control never succeeded in obtaining total control over the island like the control it had on Ambon and Java.

The popular image of Bali as “an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature” was first created in the 1930s. The works of musicologist Colin McPhee, the artists Walter Spies and Miguel Covarrubias, and the anthropologists Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead, collaborated to build the image which further developed the first western tourism on Bali.

Bali was occupied by the Imperial Japan during the World War II. It was during this time that Gusti Ngurah Rai formed the Freedom Army. However, the Japanese did not able to exert effective control over the administrative matters due to the harshness of the war time and the difficult institutional change from the Dutch rule. After Japan surrendered in August 1945, the Dutch came back to regain control over the entire Indonesia, including Bali. However, this movement met heavy resistance. In Bali, the resistance against the Dutch was launched using the weapons obtained from Japan. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, 29 years old at that time, led his army to Marga Rana in Tabanan, central Bali, to launch a suicidal assault, or puputan, against the heavily armored Dutch power. The battle was fought on 29 November 1946 with the Balinese army entirely eliminated and hence ended the military resistance against the Dutch.

In 1946, the Dutch included Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the State of East Indonesia. This state was founded by the Dutch to rival Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed by Soekarno and Hatta in 17 August 1945. When the Republic of the United States of Indonesia was created in the Round Table Conference on 29 December 1949, Bali was included in the new state that was recognized by the Dutch.

The eruption of Mount Agung in 1963 killed thousands of people. Economic situation was at havoc and thus forced most of the survivors to transmigrate to other areas of the Republic Indonesia. During the 1950s and 1960s, Bali saw the conflict between the supporters of caste system and those that rejected the traditional values. The conflict was typical for that time in Indonesia and had been politicized by Indonesian Communist Party or PKI which rejected the caste system and the Indonesian Nationalist Party of PNI which supported the traditional system. The tension was culminated in Land Reform which was launched by PKI. However, when the coup, which was associated with PKI broke in Jakarta, was followed by the elimination of PKI and its supporters by General Soeharto, Bali was also affected. In Bali alone, at least 80,000 people died because of the anti-communist purge, which is equivalent to 5 percent of the total population of the island at that time. There is no Islamic force in the island so that PNI landlords were rather easy when taking the lead in the purge in Bali.

After General Soeharto took the presidency from President Soekarno in 1966, his New Order regime re-established the relations with the Western countries. The renewed relation resulted in the growth of tourism, with Bali promoted as the Paradise Island. Foreign exchanges and living standard in Bali were dramatically changed with the tourism boom. However, when a massive bombing by militant Islamists in 2002 destroyed the Kuta tourist area and killed 202 people, most of which are foreigners, economic boom ended abruptly. Another bomb attack in 2005 put the tourism industry at hardship. However, the tourist numbers per 2010 had returned to the level before the bomb attacks.

About Bali Island

Bali which is referred also as The Island of Gods, The Paradise Island, or The Island of A Thousand Temples, is located between Java and Lombok. The larger Java is located to the west while Lombok is situated to the east of Bali. Geographically, Bali is the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Administratively, Bali is one of the 33 provinces of Indonesia with Denpasar at the southern part of the island as its capital.

Bali is home for small Hindu community. In 2010, 92.29% of the total population of 3.891,000 adheres to Balinese Hindu. The rest of the number adheres to Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. Bali is famous as the largest tourist destination in Indonesia and also well known all over the world. The popular image of the island is that it is rich with sophisticated arts like traditional and modern sculpture, leather, painting, dance, music, and metalworking.

Mathematical Aspects of Prambanan Temple

We now live in modern times (see 21'st Century) but look on abab IX has built Prambanan. The location is on the border of the Special Region of Yogyakarta and Central Java Province, exactly on the coordinates 7°45'06.96''S and 110°29'28.20'''E. Prambanan temple complex stands 200 feet north of Highway Yogya-Solo.

Both, after all this time when we think we know turns out that such sophisticated technology with a mathematical calculation that is very powerful, in fact we are very far from the name of "sophistication and progress". How could I not! Are you now can build as Prambanan Temple? Of course with material as you see in the temple area.

God is great, what is the creation of "Undifined". Like any mathematics {read divisor 0 (zero)}.

Let us consider some aspects of this temple, namely:

Enshrinement Prambanan complex consisting of lower background, middle ground and background above (center background) are increasingly in the direction of the higher lying. Respectively - helped breadth: 390 square meters, 222 square meters and 110 square meters. Below do not contain any background. In the middle background there are the ruins of the temple - the temple ancillary. Overall, there are 224 temples all the same size which is 6 meters wide square base and height of 14 meters. Background is the background of the most important center in the top 16 pieces stand big and small temples.

Temple - the main temple consists of two rows facing each other: the first series the temple of Shiva, Vishnu Brahma Temple clan. The second series of Nandi Temple, Temple Temple of Garuda clan Geese. At the ends of the hallway that separates the two rows of the temple there are temples wedge. Eight other smaller temples. Four of them are Temple Screen and four other temples called Temple Angle. As a whole consists of 240 temples.

Building construction Prambanan is a pile of stones placed on the mound as the core, so it is not a massive pile of rocks. Soil core also deliberately made terraces - steps and the top flattened to lay a rock temple. Each stone spliced ​​without using cement or adhesive. Stone - the stone is only spliced ​​based on mathematical patterns and stacked.

One thing that is unique, that this temple was architecturally appealing format or structured mathematics. Each of the legs, body and head of the temple always has a ratio or a mathematical pattern. Placement - the placement of his Stûpa also has significance, plus more of the reliefs are estimated berkatian with making astronomical Prambanan is indeed an interesting historical evidence to be observed.

Every part of the temple is made simetrics possible with other forms of "patern" mathematics, such as square, rectangle, triangle, circle and other patern. Besides the many stupas are installed from the legs, body, and the top of the temple following a series of mathematical patterns.

Conclusion - the conclusion above eventually led me to a conclusion mum that Prambanan different from other ancient buildings filled with mystery and mysticism. This temple is more can be explained by simple mathematics. How to build this temple is not something that is considered especially mistic.Candi mystery is more valuable and famous rather than on the mystery - the mystery is scattered, but this temple has a design value of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Project Management skills are high that shows the progress of the nation's thinking predecessors we. We should be proud!