bali island

Bali, Indonesia

Bali is one of the most famous island in the Indonesian archipelago. The island’s home to an ancient culture that's known for its warm hospitality.

Over the years, the grace and charm of Bali and its people have earned this tiny Indonesian island numerous sobriquets of praise and homage including Island of the Gods, The Last Paradise, Land of a Thousand Temples, and Morning of the World.

Varied landscape of hills and mountains, rugged coastlines and sandy beaches, lush rice terraces and barren volcanic hillsides all providing a picturesque backdrop to its colourful, deeply spiritual and unique culture, stakes a serious claim to be paradise on earth

Bali is a province of Indonesia and is approximately 153km wide and 112km high with a total land area of approximately 5,780 squa

re km (2,231 squa)re miles

The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, such as Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa

Denpasar is Bali's largest and capital city and is located in the south of Bali, which situated 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the island of Java, separated by the narrow Bali Strait. Area province, 2,232 square miles (5,780 square km)..

Bali Location & Map

Bali is an island of Indonesia and is situated 8 degrees from the equator, in the Java Sea.

Bali's location is 4,555 km (2,830 miles) from Australia and is situated between Indonesia's islands of Lombok and Java.

Bali is a province of Indonesia and is approximately 153km wide and 112km high with a total land area of approximately 5,780 square km (2,231 square miles).

And Denpasar is Bali's largest and capital city and is located in the south of Bali.

Bali is located to the north of Australia, the south of Malaysia, the south east of Singapore and the south west of Indonesia.

Bali has a population of approximately 4.22 million with the majority of people following the religion of Balinese Hinduism and the remainder following a mostly Islamic religion although there are also other religions observed on the island including Christianity.

Bali's main ethnic groups include Balinese, Javanese, Madurese and Baliaga.

Bali is Indonesia's largest and most popular tourist destination and continues to attract thousands of tourists each year with its highly developed art, culture and leisure scenes.

The main regions of Bali include Ubud, Kuta, Seminyak, Legian, Nusa Dua and Sanur. Close to the centre of Bali, Ubud is considered the island's cultural hub while Kuta in the south is Bali's party destination.

Seminyak is a southern coastal destination that is a major tourist hub, as is Legian a little further south.

Nusa Dua is located on the south east coast and offers a high end atmosphere while Sanur boasts absolute peace and luxury just outside of Denpasar.

Bali History

The history of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia.

In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with the arrival of Europeans, to become, after a long and difficult colonial period under the Dutch, an example of the preservation of traditional cu

ltures and a key tourist destination.

Bali being part of the Sunda shelf, the island had been connected to the island of Java many times through history. Even today, the two islands are only separated by a 2.4 km Bali Strait.

The ancient occupation of Java itself is accredited by the findings of the Java man, dated between 1.7 and 0.7 million years old, one of the first known specimens of Homo erectus.

Bali also was inhabited in Paleolithic times (1 my BCE to 200.000 BCE), testified by the finding of ancient tools such as hand axes were found in Sembiran and Trunyan villages in Bali.

A Mesolithic period (200.000-30.000 BCE) has also been identified, characterized by advanced

Neolithic: Austronesian migrations (3000-600 BCE)

From around 3000 to 600 BCE, a Neolithic culture emerges, characterized by a new wave of inhabitants bringing rice-growing technology and speaking Austronesian languages.

These Austronesian peoples seem to have migrated from South China, probably through the Philippines and Sulawesi. Their tools included rectangular adzes and red slipped decorated pottery.

Forests and jungles were cleared for the establishment of cultures and villages.They also made some plaited craft and a small boat was also found.

Their culinary habits included pork-eating and betel-chewing. They are thought to have focused on mountain cults.

They buried some of their more prestigious dead in oval stone sarcophagi, with human heads or zoomorphic figures sculpted on them. The bodies were either deposited in the sleeping position, or folded in two or three for compactness.

An important neolithic archaeological site in Bali is that of Cekik, in the western part of the island.

These same Austronesian people are thought to have continued their expansion eastward, to occupy Melanesian and Polynesian islands around 2000 years ago.

The cultural traits of this period are still clearly visible in the culture of Bali today, and connect it to the cultures of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.