Bali Travel Guide

Bali Introduction: Geography

Bali is a small volcanic island covering around 5000 square kilometers, south of the equator. Central Bali is dominated by large volcanic peaks of the island, from which the earth regularly descends all the way to sea level on the north coast and east; Bali's southern peninsula is largely flat. There are four great volcanoes of Bali, being the highest Mt Agung at 3124m. Bali is a small island, has little room to create rivers of any significant size. On the contrary, it is full of small streams that are routed to the complex irrigation system that feeds the Balinese rice fields. However, some of the major rivers that flow, namely the Sungai Pakrisan ( "Kris River"), the Sungai Petanu ( "Cursed River") and the Ayung, the longest river in Bali.

Bali Introduction: History

It several years ago, Bali was divided into eight Hindu kingdoms. These small kingdoms were powerful but prone to fight each other, which weakened their resistance to foreign invasion. In the sixth century, the Javanese kings conquered parts of Bali that often princes continued to rule as puppets with Javanese sovereignty pulling his strings. Despite the power he continued to jump between different kingdoms of Bali and Java. As links with improved Java, Javanese script, sculpture and temples began to appear on the island. The kingdom of Majapahit Java conquered Bali in the thirteenth century by winning the semi-demon king Bali at the moment, "Dalem Bedulu 'and try to eradicate the princes of Bali" vile "and" barbaric "customs. Ironically, the supreme ruler of Majapahit gave a Balinese position of "King of Bali", a position that has won little respect most Balinese who continued to refuse to recognize the sovereignty Javanese. The presence Majapahit in Bali turned out to be short and turbulent and over the following centuries, much of the culture and traditions that we see in Bali's unique Hindu Bali today were created. With the Dutch royalty forward to establishing relationships, gifts to Bali Dutch ships bearing kings were sent. However, from a business perspective, Bali had little to offer the possibility of developing international relations was restricted in the first place. Originally, its main export was slaves, but as the trafficking of slaves World was reduced, the Balinese kings turned to other products such as coconut oil, which makes it able Bali to enter the world trade market.

Dutch interests in the Indonesian islands have changed in the seventeenth century merchant ships gave way to warships. The Dutchman had overcome many Javanese kingdoms through ancient principles of divide and rule and the same approach was taken in Bali. As the Balinese have continued to resist, the Dutch have become increasingly aggressive. Surprisingly, as the Dutch secured control, they protected the island against external influences and encouraged them to keep much of their culture and traditions. The Japanese presence in Bali was short and left without a trace, as they lost the war. The Dutch tried to return to the islands of Indonesia, but their desperate attempts to regain power in the colony were condemned worldwide. With the rest of the archipelago of the Dutch East Indies, Bali was awarded to a new independent Indonesian government that emerged in 1949. Bali had finally lost his freedom and fell to his target economic and political dependence on neighboring Java.

Bali Introduction: Population

Bali is full, with a population of over three million people. With the controversial transmigration program, Balinese communities developed in the outer regions of Indonesia, such as Sumatra and Sulawesi to relieve natural resources already strained islands.