The Sunda Islands (; Tetun: ''Illa Sunda'') are a group of islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. They consist of the Greater Sunda Islands and the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

Etymology

"Sunda" denotes the continental shelves or landmasses: the Sunda Shelf in the west and the Sahul/Arafuru Shelf in the east. Other terms associated with "Sunda" include the Sunda Island Arc or the arc of Sunda Islands, Sunda Fold or tectonic folding in the Natuna Sea, the Sunda Trench, and Sundaland. The term "Sunda" has been traced back to ancient times. The name "Sunda" originates from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word "Cuddha," meaning white. During the Pleistocene era, there was a large volcano named Mount Sunda located north of Bandung in

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 ...

. Its eruption covered the surrounding area with white volcanic ash, giving rise to the name "Sunda." The use of the term "Sunda" to refer to the Indonesian region dates back to the claims of Claudius Ptolemaeus in 150 AD. In the 16th century, the Portuguese established diplomatic relations with 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 ...

and mapped the territory of the Sunda Kingdom and its surroundings. They categorized the region into Greater Sunda (Sunda Besar) for the larger western islands and Lesser Sunda (Sunda Kecil) for the smaller eastern islands. Since then, the term "Sunda" has been widely adopted in earth sciences (geology-geography) as a reference for the Indonesian region, surpassing the usage of "

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, ...

" in this field. The terms Greater Sunda and Lesser Sunda are commonly used in geological-geographical literature.

Administration

The Sunda Islands are divided among five countries: Brunei, East Timor,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The majority of these islands fall under the jurisdiction of Indonesia.

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

is split among Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

is split between East Timor and Indonesia. Sebatik is split between Indonesia and Malaysia.

List of islands

* Greater Sunda Islands **

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 ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

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. ...

(from west to east) **

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

** Lombok ** Sumbawa ** Sumba ** Komodo ** Flores ** Savu ** Rote **

** Alor Archipelago ** Atauro ** Barat Daya Islands ** Tanimbar Islands

References

External links

*
Visible earth page on the lesser Sunda islands
*
Map of a Part of China, the Philippine Islands, the Isles of Sunda, the Moluccas, the Papuans
is a map from around 1760 featuring the Sunda Islands
Historical 1767 Map of the Sunda Islands , Southeast Asia Digital Library
{{Coord, 2, 00, S, 110, 00, E, region:ID_type:isle, display=title Archipelagoes of Indonesia Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean * * Malaya Maritime Southeast Asia Archipelagoes of Southeast Asia Arcs of Indonesia Geology of Indonesia Islands of Indonesia Volcanic arc islands

Etymology

Administration

List of islands

See also

References

External links