The Sunda Islands is a group of islands composed of the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands (; Tetun: Illa Sunda), the Nusantara (outer islands) of the Indonesian Archipelago.Chisholm, Hugh, Ed. (1911). "Sunda Islands" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Etymology The name of the "Sunda islands" denotes the Sunda Shelf in the west and the Sahul 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" derives from the Sanskrit word "Cuddha," meaning white. During the Pleistocene era, there was a large volcano named Mount Sunda located north of Bandung in West Java. 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 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" 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, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The majority of these islands fall under Indonesia’s jurisdiction. Borneo is split among Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Timor is split between East Timor and Indonesia. Sebatik is split between Indonesia and Malaysia.
List of islands Greater Sunda Islands Borneo Java Sulawesi Sumatra
Lesser Sunda Islands (from west to east) Bali Lombok Sumbawa Sumba Komodo Flores Savu Rote Timor Alor Archipelago Atauro Barat Daya Islands Tanimbar Islands
See also
Name of Indonesia List of islands of Indonesia Komodo (island) Malay Archipelago Sunda Arc Sundaland Sunda Trench Banda Arc Wallacea
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