Indonesia has a vast territory. Why are Jakarta, Surabaya and other big cities located on a small Java island?

Indonesia's land area is 1904569 square kilometers, ranking 15 among more than 200 countries and regions in the world. With a population of 264 million, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, next to China, India and the United States. In addition, Indonesia has a territorial sea area of 3 166000 square kilometers, with about 17508 islands.

Java is a small island in Indonesia, with a prosperous economy and a dense population. Java island only accounts for about 7% of Indonesia's territory, but its GDP accounts for more than half and its population accounts for more than half.

Compared with other areas such as New Guinea, Java Island is small in size, but it often has obvious advantages. Even the capital was once located on this island. It was not until August 26th, 20 19 that the capital was moved from Jakarta to East Kalimantan. In addition to the capital Jakarta, there is also a big city Surabaya on this island.

Why does India focus on developing this small island when such a large area is not used?

Geographical factor

Java has a tropical monsoon climate and is most suitable for human habitation. The air is warm and not humid, and the annual precipitation is moderate. People are not easy to get sick in this environment and live a very moist life.

The climate in other parts of Indonesia is far less comfortable than the tropical monsoon climate, and many places belong to the tropical rainforest climate.

Tropical rain forest climate has two characteristics:

First: the weather is hot;

Second: the air is humid;

In this climate, people are prone to get sick, and clean clothes are hung outside, sometimes they are still wet after a long time of drying. And in this climate, food is easy to get moldy. In short, it is a very unsuitable place for life. Therefore, people from other places have moved to Java in order to live a better life.

Another geographical advantage of Java Island is that there used to be many volcanoes, which will form volcanic ash and fall to the ground. The mixing of volcanic ash with local soil makes the soil extremely fertile, and the crops planted in this soil have larger particles and higher yield. Moreover, the fruits grown here taste better, and this place is close to the sea, so people can easily eat seafood.

Other places are not so lucky. Other places belong to the tropical rain forest. The tropical rain forest has a hot climate and is not suitable for growing many crops. Moreover, tropical rainforests are forested and mountainous, and it is difficult to cultivate them. Therefore, Indonesia has not invested much energy in reclamation for many years, and many lands are barren and barren.

Historical reasons

On the ancient Java Island, the largest dynasty in Southeast Asia was once established, called the Manchu Boyi Empire, and it was in Surabaya on this island that this empire gradually developed.

With the prosperity of the empire, Surabaya began to pay attention to construction. Over time, the port trade business in this place is very good, and the economy has developed accordingly. Rich people from all over the world slowly gathered in this place, and the economy has further developed.

However, Jakarta was originally developed by the Dutch. Holland is a maritime country with many colonies. In order to get rich profits overseas, the Netherlands established the East India Company.

The East India Company was originally based in Jakarta. After the East India Company settled in Jakarta, it developed its trade rapidly and made a lot of money by doing business with many countries in the world. After making a fortune, the East India Company also established its own foothold in Jakarta.

Initially, there were modern ports and facilities in the world. Although the Netherlands is no longer so powerful and no longer directly manages Indonesia, the ports and buildings originally built have remained for the benefit of future generations.

According to these two historical reasons, we know that Jakarta and Surabaya developed not in modern times, but in ancient times. Surabaya and Jakarta in history, one as the development center of the empire and the other as the economic center of Dutch East India. Nature develops rapidly and has deep roots, so it is difficult for some places around to surpass these two cities.

Why doesn't India develop other places?

Although Java Island is well developed, Indonesia is a country, not an island, and it is impossible to develop all the resources of an island. Has Indonesia never thought about developing other places? For example, when the United States developed the western region, shouldn't Indonesia develop some backward places?

In fact, many people in Indonesia have put forward this idea and tried it, but the final result is not ideal.

The first is the climate: people like to live in a comfortable environment and don't want to go to some hot or cold places.

Few places in Indonesia have such a pleasant climate except Java, so people from other places have moved to Java in order to get a better quality of life.

There is a strange phenomenon in Indonesia, that is, if a person lives in other places instead of Java. Then this person will try his best to move to Java. Even if he used to be a landlord, he would rather give up the landlord and go to Java as an office worker than go back to his former place. Java has become a sacred place for many Indonesians.

It costs a lot of money to reclaim other land. In the tropical rain forest, in addition to the hot climate, it is not suitable for crop growth, and the land is relatively barren. If land is reclaimed from the sea, it needs to invest a huge amount of money, and Indonesia is a developing country after all, so it is under great pressure to develop on such a large scale.

Over the years, Indonesia's development is still extremely uneven. Java accounts for half of the country's population and more than half of the country's economy, and the development of other places can't keep up.

In fact, there are still many countries with unbalanced development like this. Take China as an example. Like China, Shanghai's economy is particularly prosperous, but in some remote mountainous areas, it is extremely backward, and even there are no cars.

This is a very special social phenomenon in the short term, but in the long run, the most important thing for a country to become a developed country is balanced development. Only in this way can we be in an invincible position in future international competition.

The above is just my humble opinion, so please give me more opinions. Welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!