Java Island

The origins of the name 'Java' are not clear. One possibility is that the island was named the island after the jáwa-wut plant, which was said to be common in the island during the time, and that prior to Indianization the island had different names. There are other possible sources: the word jaú and its variations mean "beyond" or "distant". And, in Sansekerta yava means barley, a plant for which the island was famous. It was hence referred to in Indian, specifically Tamil literature by the Sanskrit name "yāvaka dvīpa" (dvīpa = island). Another source states that the "Java" word is derived from a Proto-Austronesian root word, meaning 'home'.

Formed mostly as the result of volcanic events, Java is the 13th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in Indonesia. A chain of volcanic mountains forms an east-west spine along the island. It has three main languages, though Javanese is dominant and is the native language of 60 million people in Indonesia, most of whom live on Java. Most residents are bilingual, with Indonesian as their first or second language. While the majority of the people of Java are Muslim, Java has a diverse mixture of religious beliefs, ethnicities and cultures.

The area of Java is approximately 139,000 km2. The island's longest river is the 600 km long Solo River. The river rises from its source in central Java at the Lawu volcano, then flows north and eastward to its mouth in the Java Sea near the city of Surabaya. The island is administratively divided into four provinces (Banten, West Java, Central Java, and East Java), one special region (Yogyakarta), and one special capital district (Jakarta).

This island is part of the Greater Sunda islands and the Sunda shelf, which at the time before the ice melts the southeast tip of Asia continent. [Wikipedia]