Island group in the Malay Archipelago
TheSunda Islands (Indonesian:Kepulauan Sunda;Tetun:Illa Sunda) are a group of islands in theNusantara (Indonesian Archipelago).[1][2] They consist of theGreater Sunda Islands and theLesser Sunda Islands.
"Sunda" denotes the continental shelves or landmasses: the Sunda Shelf in the west and the Sahul/Arafuru Shelf in the east. Other terms associated with "Sunda" include the Sunda Island Arc or the arc of Sunda Islands, Sunda Fold or tectonic folding in the Natuna Sea, the Sunda Trench, and Sundaland.[3]
The term "Sunda" has been traced back to ancient times. The name "Sunda" originates from theSanskrit word "Cuddha," meaning white. During thePleistocene era, there was a large volcano namedMount Sunda located north ofBandung inWest Java. Its eruption covered the surrounding area with white volcanic ash, giving rise to the name "Sunda."The use of the term "Sunda" to refer to the Indonesian region dates back to the claims ofClaudius Ptolemaeus in 150 AD.
In the 16th century, the Portuguese established diplomatic relations with theSunda Kingdom and mapped the territory of the Sunda Kingdom and its surroundings.[4] They categorized the region intoGreater Sunda (Sunda Besar) for the larger western islands andLesser Sunda (Sunda Kecil) for the smaller eastern islands.Since then, the term "Sunda" has been widely adopted in earth sciences (geology-geography) as a reference for the Indonesian region, surpassing the usage of "Indonesia" in this field. The terms Greater Sunda and Lesser Sunda are commonly used in geological-geographical literature.
The Sunda Islands are divided among five countries:Brunei,East Timor,Indonesia,Singapore andMalaysia. The majority of these islands fall under the jurisdiction of Indonesia.Borneo is split among Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.Timor is split between East Timor and Indonesia.Sebatik is split between Indonesia and Malaysia.
Look up
Sunda in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
2°00′S110°00′E / 2.000°S 110.000°E /-2.000; 110.000
