Java is most famous for her great Indianized kingdoms, which developed out of trading contacts with India, beginning in the first millennium A.D. The Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms of central Java produced the largest Buddhist stupa extant, Borobudur on the Kedu plain, and the many Hindu monuments of Prambanan, including the 47-meter high Loro Jonggrang.
East Java's Majapahit, which lasted through the 14th and 15th centuries, was the most successful of the early Javanese kingdoms. According to an old manuscript, Majapahit claimed an area under its control greater than that of present day Indonesia.
By the 16th century, Islam had displaced the old Indianized kingdoms and at the same time, European traders seeking spices began arriving. The Portuguese were first, but it was the Dutch East India Company, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, that established a choke-hold on the spice trade. After the V.O.C. went bankrupt in 1799 the Dutch government ran Indonesia as a colony.
With the imposition of the "Cultivation System" in Java, Dutch planters grew wealthy, and the Javanese worked as near slaves growing export crops like coffee and sugar. Resentment grew and nationalism boiled at the turn of the 20th century.
After World War II and a cruel Japanese occupation, the nationalists declared independence on August 17, 1945. The Dutch were unwilling to relinquish their colony, however, and it took five years of fighting and mounting international opposition to the Dutch to drive them out. The Dutch signed sovereignty to the Republic of Indonesia in December 1949.
People and Culture
The great majority of the Javanese—88 percent—are Muslims, and in fact Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world. Still, older threads of Hinduism, Buddhism and many regional ethnic cultures are deeply woven into Javanese culture. Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, are still the chief source of material for the very popular shadow puppet theater, wayangkulit, and drama, wayang orang.
Javanese music, played on the famous gamelan orchestra of metallophones, drums, gongs and other mostly percussion instruments, is a holdover from the days of the Hindu courts.
Batik, fabric that has been patterned through repeated dyeings over a wax resist, is sometimes considered a Javanese invention, although it is perhaps more likely that the techniques came from India. Whatever the source, Javanese batik is today very popular.
Geography
Several of Java's volcanoes are still active, and Merapi erupted in November 1994, killing more than 60 people. Java's most famous eruption occurred in 1883, when Krakatau exploded.
The Java Sea to the north of the island is quite shallow, less than 200 meters. But to the island's south is the Java trench, where the Indian Ocean reaches its deepest point, 7,450 meters.
Much of the island's forest has been given up to cultivated land. The last wilderness area is Ujung Kulon National Park on Java's westernmost peninsula.
— Janet Boileau and
Debe Campbell
WEST JAVA
Diving Krakatau and Ujung Kulon Park
Diving in the waters off Krakatau, the rocky islands forming the crater of an underwater volcano in the Sunda Strait off West Java, or in the waters around the Ujung Kulon peninsula in southwest Java, is not the best to be found in Indonesia. But the seascape of cracked volcanic rock around Krakatau, and the caves and tunnels around Ujung Kulon provide an interesting underwater experience.
Reaching either of these sites requires some patience and initiative. There is little chance of making a day of it from Jakarta. One must overland to Anyer or Labuhan, and then take a boat to the dive sites.
Recent road repairs make the trip from Jakarta to Anyer quite pleasant. From there, a boat will take you the 50 kilometers to the Krakatau group, a 4-hour crossing (see map page 78). To reach Ujung Kulon, one can go either by train or car to Labuhan, and then by boat to Ujung Kulon.
We strongly suggest that you organize your jaunt with a Jakarta dive outfit. (See "Java Practicalities" page 273). You can either go with your own group, or hook up with one of the many week-end dive excursions. It can be a challenge to find a seaworthy boat, and strong and unpredictable winds in the strait could prove quite troublesome to an inexperienced captain.
If our warning does not deter you, you can charter a boat through the ranger stations at Labuhan, Carita, or Ujung Kulon Park, or through one of the many small hotels scattered along the way. Alternately, a tour agent in Jakarta could arrange a boat charter for you. In any case, do not expect a purpose-built dive boat with an attached Zodiac. What you will likely find is an older wooden pinisi, a traditional sailing craft that has been converted to diesel power.
Krakatau
The famous eruption of Krakatau on August 26, 1883 sent up a plume of ash and pumice 26 kilometers high and 6,000 kilometers wide, and the explosion could be heard from Myanmar to Australia. The huge tsunamis created by the blast destroyed some 165 villages in Sumatra and Java, and killed more than 36,000 people.
The original caldera collapsed in on itself, leaving three islands remaining of its rim: Sertung, Panjang and Rakata. In 1928, Anak Krakatau—"Child of Krakatau"—appeared. This still active daughter cone continues to eject tephra and lava, growing at the rate of 4 meters each year, now having reached 240 meters.
| AT A GLANCE | |
| Krakatau and Ujung Kulon | |
| Reef type: | Volcanic rock slabs and formations, some reef |
| Access: | 4 hrs from Anyer by boat for Krakatau; Ujung Kulon sites 15-30 min from ranger station |
| Visibility: | Fair to good, 10-20 meters |
| Current: | Gentle, to 1 knot; swells and 1.5 knot current at Ujung Kulon sites |
| Fish: | Fair to good variety |
| Highlights: | Underwater landscape at Krakatau; rock tunnels at Karang Copong; good coral at Tg. Jajar |
A rocky, wide skirt of black sand rings the island. Being so new, Anak Krakatau has provided a perfect laboratory for scientists studying early colonization of islands by plant and animal life. So far, 120 species of plants have found their way to the little island. The shoreline is dominated by feathery casuarinas, and a few tough succulents have found a niche further up the slope.
It takes just 20 minutes to climb the 150 or so meters to the rim of the new crater. Inside, the steaming cone is surrounded by a lunar landscape of fumaroles. Looking outward, one can see the surrounding island remains of the once-massive original Krakatau. The descent is easy, and is best finished with a refreshing swim along the black sand beach.
Karang Serang Rocks
These rocks, painted white by the sea birds, mark the site of a dive off Anak Krakatau. The underwater scenery consists of large blocks of volcanic rock, seemingly sheered off by the blast. The cracked and sharp-edged rocks make a west-facing submarine cliff look like the ruin of an ancient Greek temple. In the crevices of the rock, coral growth is beginning.
The visibility