The Sunda Strait () is the

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

between the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n islands of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

. It connects the

Java Sea The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South Ch ...

with the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

Etymology

The strait takes its name from the

Sunda Kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( , ) was a Sundanese people, Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Lampung, and the western part of ...

, which ruled the western portion of Java (an area covering the present day

West Java West Java (, ) is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten and the country's capital region of Jakarta to t ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Banten Banten (, , Pegon alphabet, Pegon: بنتن) is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang and its largest city is Tangerang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capi ...

, and some of western

Central Java Central Java (, ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogya ...

) from 669 to around 1579."Sunda Islands". Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. The name also alludes to the

Sundanese people The Sundanese (; ) are an Austronesian people, Austronesian ethnic group native to Java in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Ethnic groups in Indonesia, Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. T ...

native to West Java and Banten.

Geography

Extending in a roughly southwest/northeast orientation, with a minimum width of at its northeastern end between Cape Tua on Sumatra and Cape Pujat on Java, the strait is part of the Java Sea. It is essentially triangular in shape, with two large bays on its northern side. It is also very broad and deep at its southwestern end, but as it narrows to the northeast it becomes much shallower, with a minimum depth of only in parts of its northeastern end. The strait is notoriously difficult to navigate because of this shallowness, very strong tidal currents, sandbanks, and man-made obstructions such as

oil platform An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms w ...

s off the Java coast. For centuries, the strait was an important shipping route, especially during the period when the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

used it as the gateway to the

Spice Islands In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for ...

of Indonesia (1602–1799). However, its narrowness, shallowness, and lack of accurate charting make it unsuitable for many modern, large ships, most of which use the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

instead. The strait is dotted with a number of islands, many of which are volcanic in origin. They include: Sangiang (Thwart-the-Way), Sebesi, Sebuku, and Panaitan (Prince's). The 1883 eruption of Krakatau, one of these islands, had a profound effect on the area, both short and long term. Tsunamis and pyroclastic flows which floated on clouds of steam killed tens of thousands. Out of 3,000 people on nearby Sebesi at the time, not one survived. Some land was never resettled and became Ujung Kulon National Park. Port of Bakauheni and Siger Tower

The Krakatoa eruption drastically altered the topography of the strait, with as much as 18–21 km³ of

ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surrou ...

being deposited over an area of 1.1 million km² around the volcano. However, the population has recovered and much of the coastline is now very densely populated. Aside from Krakatoa's sole remaining peak, Rakata, the Krakatoa Archipelago consists of the islands of

Lang Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

(Panjang or Rakata Kecil), Verlaten (Sertung), and most recently,

Anak Krakatau Anak KrakatauEnglish translation and common name: ''Child of Krakatoa'' is a volcanic island in Indonesia. On 29 December 1927, Anak Krakatau first emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption that destroyed the ...

, which emerged in 1927 from the original Krakatoa's shattered remains.

Battle of Sunda Strait

On March 1, 1942, the Battle of Sunda Strait—part of the larger Battle of the Java Sea—took place when the Allied

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

s HMAS ''Perth'' and USS ''Houston'' encountered a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese amphibious landing force near Bantam, commanded by Rear Admiral Kenzaburo Hara. That force included a light cruiser and eleven

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s, four heavy cruisers and a light

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

. The two Allied cruisers were sunk, while a Japanese

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

and a transport vessel were sunk by friendly fire.

Planned bridge

In the 1960s proposals were made for a bridge across the Sunda Strait, and in the 1990s further suggestions arose. A new plan was announced in October 2007. It would use the islands of Ular, Sangiang and Prajurit to create a four-part

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

reaching above sea level. This bridge would have a maximum span of 3 kilometers, around 50% longer than the current record holder, the

1915 Çanakkale Bridge The 1915 Çanakkale Bridge () is a road suspension bridge in the province of Çanakkale Province, Çanakkale in northwestern Turkey. Situated just south of the coastal towns of Lapseki and Gelibolu, the bridge spans the Dardanelles, about sout ...

. Construction was projected to begin in 2014 if funding of at least US$10 billion could be secured. An accord was signed in April 2012 with China Railway Construction Corporation for an $11 billion road and double track rail bridge.

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a British monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by tran ...

June 2012 p25 However, in November 2014 the incoming government of President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

shelved plans to build the bridge.Satria Sambijantoro,
No more Sunda Strait Bridge plan'
''The Jakarta Post'', 3 November 2014. See also
New Government Will Not Prioritize Sunda Strait Bridge Project'
, '' Global Indonesian Voices'', 2 November 2014.

Islands in the strait

* Calmeyer * Krakatau Archipelago **

** Krakatau, mostly destroyed volcanic island *** Danan (volcano), destroyed volcanic cone on Krakatau *** Perboewatan, destroyed volcanic cone on Krakatau *** Rakata, partially destroyed volcanic cone and remnant of original island ** Poolsche Hoed, destroyed in 1883 eruption of Krakatoa ** Panjang, or Rakata Ketjil (Lang) ** Sertung (Verlaten) * Legundi * Panaitan (Prince's Island) * Peucang * Handeuleum * Sangiang (Thwart-the-way) * Sebesi * Sebuku * Steers (island) *

Tabuan Tabuan Island (, also spelled Tabuhan or Taboean) is an island of southern Sumatra, under the jurisdiction of Lampung province. It is administered as part of the Cukuh Balak district of Tanggamus Regency. It lies near the middle of the entrance ...

Bays

* Lampung Bay, Sumatra *

Semangka Bay Semangka Bay () is a large bay located on the southern tip of Sumatra Island. At the southern tip of Sumatra there are two large bays, Teluk Semangka is located in the western part. On the east side of the bay stretches Tanggamus Regency Ta ...

, Sumatra

Gallery of nearby important channels

File:Tamil Nadu topo deutsch mit Gebirgen.png,

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) (; ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .Cocos Strait, Duncan Passage and other Indian channels File:Andaman_Islands.PNG, Cocos Strait is at the northern end of Andaman Islands in red square File:India_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands_relief_map.png, Ten Degrees Channel File:Ten_Degree_Channel,_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands,_India.png, Ten Degrees Channel, closeup File:Strait_of_malacca.jpg,

Malacca Strait The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

File:Straits_of_Singapore_locator_map.PNG,

Singapore Strait The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...

File:Sunda_Strait_map-fr.svg, Sunda Strait File:Lombok_strait.png,

Lombok Strait The Lombok Strait () is a strait of the Bali Sea connecting to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side. Its narrowest point is at its southern opening, with a ...

File:My-map.png, South China Sea,

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea (; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; ; ) is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipela ...

, Celebes Sea

References

{{Authority control Landforms of Banten Landforms of Java Landforms of Sumatra Straits of the Java Sea Straits of the Indian Ocean Western Indo-Pacific