INDONESIA

The name of Indonesia has its roots in two Greek words. Indos meaning Indian and Nesos meaning islands. This is an excellent description about the archipelago, as there are estimated 17,508 islands, some nothing more than tiny outcroppings of barren rocks, others as big as California or Spain and covered in dense tropical jungle. Approximately 6,000 of these islands are inhabited, with five main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos serving as home to the majority of the population. The main islands are Sumatera (473,606 km².), Kalimantan (539,460 km².), Sulawesi (189,216 km².), West Papua (421,981 km².) and Java (132,187 km².).

With more than 255 million people, the islands and people of Indonesia constitutes the  fourth most populated nation in the world. Indonesia's republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighbouring countries include Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian economy is the world's 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP.

Indonesian provinces and their capitals, listed by region
Indonesian name is in parentheses if different from English.
* indicates provinces with special status

Sumatra

Aceh (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) * – Banda Aceh
North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) – Medan
West Sumatra (Sumatera Barat) – Padang
Riau – Pekanbaru
Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau) – Tanjung Pinang
Jambi – Jambi (city)
South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) – Palembang
Bangka-Belitung (Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) – Pangkal Pinang
Bengkulu – Bengkulu (city)
Lampung – Bandar Lampung

Java
Special Capital Region of Jakarta* (Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta)  – Jakarta
Banten – Serang
West Java (Jawa Barat) – Bandung
Central Java (Jawa Tengah) – Semarang
Yogyakarta Special Region* (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) – Yogyakarta (city)
East Java (Jawa Timur) – Surabaya
Lesser Sunda Islands

Bali – Denpasar
West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat) – Mataram
East Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Timur) – Kupang

Kalimantan

West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat) – Pontianak
Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah) – Palangkaraya
South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) – Banjarmasin
East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) – Samarinda
North Kalimantan (Kalimantan Utara) – Tanjung Selor

Sulawesi
North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara) – Manado
Gorontalo – Gorontalo (city)
Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah) – Palu
West Sulawesi (Sulawesi Barat) – Mamuju
South Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan) – Makassar
South East Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tenggara) – Kendari

Maluku Islands
Maluku – Ambon
North Maluku (Maluku Utara) – Sofifi
Western New Guinea

West Papua* (Papua Barat) – Manokwari
Papua* – Jayapura