ABSTRACT
The Moluccas (Maluku Islands), the original ‘Spice Islands’, and the Indonesian part of the world’s second largest island, New Guinea (Papua), comprise the easternmost part of the country. To the north-west is the Philippines, to the east, beyond one of the few Indonesian land borders, is Papua New Guinea and to the south Australia. The Pacific Ocean lies to the north. The Equator passes just to the north of New Guinea and through the northern Moluccas. Indonesia’s eastern land border is largely defined by the line of longitude, 141°E, which bisects the island of New Guinea, apart from a short stretch in the centre-south, where the Fly river pushes it westwards for a space. Indonesian Papua covers an area of 416,060 sq km (160,642 sq miles—77% in Papua province) and the Maluku Islands 78,897 sq km.
