Map of Lesser Sunda Islands, east of JavaSatellite picture of the Lesser Sunda Islands
TheLesser Sunda Islands (Indonesian:Kepulauan Sunda Kecil,Tetum:Illá Sunda ki'ik sirá,Balinese:ᬓᬧᬸᬮᭀᬯᬦ᭄ᬲᬸᬦ᭄ᬤᬘᬾᬦᬶᬓ᭄,romanized: Kapuloan Sunda cénik), now known asNusa Tenggara Islands (Indonesian:Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, or "Southeast Islands"),[1] are anarchipelago in theIndonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within theWallacea region, except for theBali province which is west of theWallace Line and is within theSunda Shelf. Together with theGreater Sunda Islands to the west, they make up theSunda Islands. The islands are part of avolcanic arc, theSunda Arc, formed bysubduction along theSunda Trench in theJava Sea. In 1930 the population was 3,460,059;[2] today over 17 million people live on the islands. Etymologically, Nusa Tenggara means "Southeast Islands" from the words ofnusa which means 'island' fromOld Javanese language andtenggara means 'southeast'.
The Lesser Sunda Islands consist of two geologically distinct archipelagos.[3] The northern archipelago, which includesBali,Lombok,Sumbawa,Flores andWetar, is volcanic in origin. A number of thesevolcanoes, likeMount Rinjani on Lombok, are still active while others, such as Ilikedeka on Flores, are extinct. The northern archipelago began to be formed during thePliocene, about 15 million years ago, as a result of the collision between theAustralian and theAsian plates.[3] The islands of the southern archipelago, includingSumba,Timor andBabar, are non-volcanic and appear to belong to theAustralian plate.[4] The geology and ecology of the northern archipelago share similar history, characteristics, and processes with the southernMaluku Islands, which continue the same island arc to the east.
There is a long history of geological study of these regions sinceIndonesian colonial times; however, the geological formation and progression is not fully understood, and theories of the geological evolution of the islands changed extensively during the last decades of the 20th century.[5]
Lying at the collision of twotectonic plates, the Lesser Sunda Islands comprise some of the most geologically complex and active regions in the world. The province ofBali is the only part of Nusa Tenggara located on theSunda Shelf and that is not within theWallacea region and that is west of theWallace Line.[5]
There are a number of volcanoes located on the Lesser Sunda Islands.[6]
The Lesser Sunda Islands differ from the large islands ofJava orSumatra in consisting of many small islands, sometimes divided by deepoceanic trenches. Movement of flora and fauna between islands is limited, leading to the evolution of a high rate of localized species, most famously theKomodo dragon.[5] As described byAlfred Wallace inThe Malay Archipelago, theWallace Line passes between Bali and Lombok, along the deep waters of theLombok Strait which formed a water barrier even when lower sea levels linked the now-separated islands and landmasses on either side. The islands east of the Lombok Strait are part ofWallacea, and are thus characterised by a blend of wildlife ofAsian andAustralasian origin in this region.[7] Asian species predominate in the Lesser Sundas:Weber's Line, which marks the boundary between the parts of Wallacea with mainly Asian and Australasian species respectively, runs to the east of the group. These islands have the driest climate in Indonesia, andtropical dry broadleaf forests are predominant, in contrast to thetropical moist forests that prevail in most of Indonesia.
TheLesser Sundas deciduous forests include the northern chain of islands, from Lombok and Sumbawa east to Flores and Alor. The higher slopes of the islands contain forests of tallPodocarpus conifers andEngelhardias with an undergrowth oflianas,epiphytes, and orchids such asCorybas,Corymborkis, andMalaxis (adder's mouth), while the coastal plains were originallysavanna grasses such as the savanna withBorassus flabellifer palm trees on the coasts of Komodo, Rincah and Flores. Although most of the vegetation on these islands is dry forest there are patches of rainforest on these islands too, especially in lowland areas and riverbanks on Komodo, and there is a particular area of dry thorny forest on the southeast coast of Lombok. Thorn trees used to be more common in coastal areas of the islands but have largely been cleared. These islands are home to unique species including seventeen endemic birds (of the 273 birds found on the islands). The endemic mammals are the endangered Flores shrew(Suncus mertensi), the vulnerable Komodo rat(Komodomys rintjanus), and Lombok flying fox(Pteropus lombocensis), Sunda long-eared bat(Nyctophilus heran) while the carnivorous Komodo dragon, which at three metres long and ninety kilograms in weight is the world's largest lizard, is found on Komodo, Rincah, Gili Motang, and the coast of northwestern Flores.
More than half of the original vegetation of the islands has been cleared for planting of rice and other crops, for settlement and by consequent forest fires. Only Sumbawa now contains a large area of intact natural forest, while Komodo, Rincah and Padar are now protected asKomodo National Park.
While many ecological problems affect both small islands and large landmasses, small islands suffer their particular problems and are highly exposed to external forces. Development pressures on small islands are increasing, although their effects are not always anticipated. Although Indonesia is richly endowed with natural resources, the resources of the small islands of Nusa Tenggara are limited and specialised; furthermore human resources in particular are limited.[9]
General observations[10] about small islands that can be applied to Nusa Tenggara include:[9]
A higher proportion of the landmass will be affected byvolcanic activity, earthquakes, landslips, and cyclone damage;
Climates are more likely to bemaritime influenced;
The Lesser Sundas comprise many islands stretching east ofJava, most of which are part ofIndonesia and from 1945 were administered (apart from the easternmost islands which have been always administered as part ofMaluku Province) as the Lesser Sunda Islands (Sunda Kecil) Province of Indonesia, later called Nusa Tenggara. In 1958 this was split into three new provinces, as theprovinces ofBali,West Nusa Tenggara andEast Nusa Tenggara.
The eastern half ofTimor Island is the separate nation ofEast Timor (officially Timor Leste}.
^"Badak Sunda dan Harimau Sunda". "[...] Mr. M. Yamin yang pada 1950-an ketika menjadi Menteri P.P. dan K. mengganti istilah Kepulauan Sunda Kecil menjadi Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara. Sebab, istilah Kepulauan Sunda Kecil diganti dengan Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, maka istilah Kepulauan Sunda Besar juga tidak lagi digunakan dalam ilmu bumi dan perpetaan nasional Indonesia – meskipun dalam perpetaan Internasional istilah Greater Sunda Islands dan Lesser Sunda Islands masih tetap digunakan." –Ajip Rosidi: Penulis, budayawan.Pikiran Rakyat, 21 August 2010. Archived fromthe original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved7 July 2015.
^abAudley-Charles, Michael Geoffrey (1987). "Dispersal of Gondwanaland: relevance to evolution of the Angiosperms". In Whitmore, T.C. (ed.).Biogeographical Evolution of the Malay Archipelago (International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology). Oxford Monographs on Biogeography 4. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press. pp. 5–25.ISBN0-19-854185-6.OCLC14692633.
^Veevers, J.J. (1991). "Phanerozoic Australia in the changing configuration of ProtoPangea through Gondwanaland and Pangea to the present dispersed continents".Australian Systematic Botany.4 (1):1–11.doi:10.1071/SB9910001.
^"Indonesia Volcanoes".volcano.si.edu. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Global Volcanism Program. Retrieved7 June 2024.; "Holocene Volcano List".volcano.si.edu. Retrieved7 June 2024.
^Wikramanayake, Eric; Dinerstein, Eric; Loucks, Colby J.; Olson, David M.; Morrison, John; Lamoreaux, John; McKnight, Meghan (2002).Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press.ISBN9781559639231.OCLC48435361.
^Beller, William S.; D'Ayala, Pier Giovanni; Hein, Philippe (1990).Sustainable development and environmental management of small islands (Papers from the Interoceanic Workshop on Sustainable Development and Environmental Management of Small Islands, Puerto Rico, Nov. 3-7, 1986). Man and the biosphere (5). Paris, Carnforth (England) and Park Ridge (N.J.):UNESCO and Parthenon Publishing Group Inc.OCLC21044238.; including Hess, Allison L., 1990. "Overview: Sustainable Development and Environmental Management of Small Islands". (both cited inMonk, Fretes & Reksodiharjo-Lilley 1996)
^"Jumlah Penduduk Menurut Agama" (in Indonesian).Ministry of Religious Affairs. 31 August 2022. Retrieved29 October 2023.Muslim 241 Million (87), Christianity 29.1 Million (10.5), Hindu 4.69 million (1.7), Buddhist 2.02 million (0.7), Folk, Confucianism, and others 192.311 (0.1), Total 277.749.673 Million
