Bali
Bali is an
Indonesian
island located at , one of the
Lesser Sunda Islands, and one of the country's 33
provinces. It is in a chain with
Java to the west and
Lombok to the east. Bali is a
tourist destination and, along with Java, known for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather and metalworking, and
music, especially that played on the
gamelan.
Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java and about 8 degrees south of the
equator. The island is 153 km long and 112 km wide (95 by 69 miles), with a surface area of
5,633 km². The highest point is
Mount Agung at 3,142 m (10,308 feet) high, an active
volcano that last erupted in March
1963. Mountains cover from the centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak.
Mount Batur is also still active. About 30,000 years ago it experienced a catastrophic eruption — one of the largest known volcanic events on
Earth.
The principal cities are the northern port of
Singaraja and the capital,
Denpasar, near the southern coast. The town of
Ubud (north of Denpasar), with its art market,
museums and galleries, is regarded as the cultural center of Bali.
In the south the land descends to form an
alluvial plain, watered by shallow rivers, dry in the
dry season and overflowing during periods of heavy rains.
Its population of over 3 million is mainly (about 93%)
Hindu, but a very small part is
Muslim (mostly coastal fishermen).
The main tourist locations are the town of
Kuta (with its beach),
Sanur,
Jimbaran,
Seminyak and the newer development of
Nusa Dua. The
Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the
isthmus joining the southernmost part of the island to the main part of the island.
There are major coastal roads and roads that cross the island mainly north-south. Due to the mountainous terrain in the island's center, the roads tend to follow the crests of the ridges across the mountains. There are no railway lines.
The island is surrounded by
coral reefs.
Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west
black sand. The beach town of
Padangbai in the north east has both: the main beach and the
secret beach have white sand and the south beach and the
blue lagoon have much darker sand.
Pasut Beach (Tabanan), near Sungai Ho and Pura Segara, is a quiet beach 14 km southwest of Tabanan. The Ho River is navigable by small
sampan. Beautiful black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the famous seaside temple of Tanah Lot, this is not yet a tourist area.
Most of the
Balinese people are involved in
agriculture, primarily
rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruits, vegetables and other
cash crops. A significant number of Balinese are also fishermen. Bali is also famous for its
artisans who produce
batik and
ikat cloth and clothing,
wooden carvings, stone carvings and silverware.
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 | Young Balinese dancers perform the Legong Keraton, created in the 18th century and based on a 13th century legend of the King of Lasem |
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| The Bali Starling lives only on Bali. As few as six may exist in the wild |
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Balinese people are descendants of a prehistoric race who
migrated through mainland
Asia to the
Indonesian archipelago, presumably first settling around
2500 BC.
The end of the prehistoric period in
Indonesia was marked by the arrival of Hindu people from
India around
100 BC as determined by
Brahmi inscriptions on
potsherds. The name
Balidwipa has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the
Blanjong charter issued by
Sri Kesari Warmadewa in
913 AD and mentioning
Walidwipa. The Hindu
Majapahit Empire (
1293–
1520 AD) on Eastern
Java island founded a Balinese
colony in
1343. The empire collapsed slightly before
1500 due to assaults, causing an exodus to Bali.
Europeans first discovered Bali when
Dutch explorer
Cornelis de Houtman arrived in
1597, though a
Portuguese ship had foundered off the coast of
Bukit as early as
1585. The Dutch soon established a trade post, and the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) started trading from early
17th century. Dutch control of the island was firmly established after a series of colonial wars (
1846–
1849). These wars were so fierce (with the entire royal court of the
Raja, women and children, plunged into battle armed with
kris and spears, preferring to kill each other on the battlefield rather than be taken captive) that afterwards the Dutch governors exercised little influence over the island, generally allowing local control over religion and culture to remain intact.
After being conquered by
Japan during
World War II, Bali became part of the
Republic of East Indonesia, and in
1948 became part of
United States of Indonesia.
In
1965, after a failed
coup d'etat against the national government, Bali was the scene of widespread killings of members and sympathizers of the
Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by right-wing militias, along with several other parts of Indonesia.
On
October 12 2002, there was a
car bomb attack in the tourist resort of
Kuta, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Another series of terrorist bombings occurred nearly three years later at Kuta and nearby Jimbaran; see
2005 Bali bombings.
Another increasingly important source of income for Bali is what is called "Congress Tourism" from the frequent international conferences held on the island, especially after the terrorist bombings of 2002; ostensibly to resurrect Bali's damaged tourism industry as well as its tarnished image.
The population of Bali is 3,151,000 (at 2005).
Religion
Unlike most of
Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 92% of Bali's population adheres to
Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing
local beliefs and
Hindu influences from mainland
Southeast Asia and
South Asia. Minority religions include
Islam (5.7%),
Christianity (1.4%), and
Buddhism (0.6%).
Language
Balinese and
Indonesian are the most widely spoken
languages in Bali, and many Balinese people are
bilingual or even
trilingual.
English is a common third language owing to the island's large
tourism industry. In the past, the Balinese language was heavily influenced by the
Balinese caste system, but this is becoming less and less pronounced.
Culture
Bali is famous for dance, as well as painting, scuplture, and woodcarving. Balinese
gamelan music is highly developed and varied. The dances portray stories from Hindu Epics such as Ramayana. Famous Balinese dances include
Pendet,
legong,
baris,
topeng,
barong, and
Kecak (the monkey dance).
The problem Bali's culture is facing today is from the tourism industry. Today the culture is slowly changing to attract tourists; its original form is gradually fading away.
* Miguel Covarrubias,
Island of Bali, 1946. ISBN 9625930604
*
Bali Blog Travel Guide*
Average weather condition*
Bali Bliss Travel Forum with images of Bali 
