Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island. It is located in a chain with Java to the west and Lombok to the east. The island is a popular tourist destination.

Name

In Hinduism, Bali is a Daitya, an enemy of the gods, who claimed all of the heavens, earth and the underworld. Vishnu, in his avatar as Vamana, asked for a piece of land only three paces wide. Bali agreed and Vishnu crossed the heavens in one step, the earth in another and left Bali only the underworld to rule over.

Geography

Bali is part of the Lesser Sunda Islands[?], 145 km long and 80 km wide, 3.2 km east of Java. Its surface is 5,700 km². The highest point of the island is Mount Agung[?], 3,142 m high, an active volcano that last erupted in March 1963. The principal cities are the northern port of Singaraja and the capital, Denpasar[?], near the southern coast.

In the south the land descends to form an alluvial plain, watered by shallow rivers, dry in the dry season and overflowing whenever there are periods of heavy rains.

Its 3 million population is Hindu.

History

The 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 prehistoric period in Indonesia was marked by the arrival of the Hindu people arriving from India around 400 AD.

The name Balidwipa has been discovered from various inscriptions, among others the Blanjong charter which was issued by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 913 AD and mentions the word Walidwipa.

The Hindu Majapahit (1293-1520 AD) empire on Eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The Majapahit empire collapsed slightly before 1500, before Muslim assaults, causing an exodus to Bali.

Europeans first discovered the island when the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the coast of Bukit[?] as early as 1585. The Dutch established a trade post soon after, and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) started trading from early 17th century onwards. 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, killing each other on the battlefield rather than be taken captive) that the Dutch governors afterwards exercised a lenient control, showing great respect for and protecting the local religion and culture.

Tourism started in the 1920s.

Bali became part of the Republic of East Indonesia after the World War II Japanese conquest and part of United States of Indonesia in 1948.

On October 12, 2002, the island was the location of a car bomb attack aimed at tourists.

External link

http://www.balibagus.com/generalinfo/history.html

Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)

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