JAWA BARAT

English West Java provinsi (province), western Java, Indonesia. It is bounded by Jawa Tengah (Central Java) province on the east, the Indian Ocean on the south, the Java Sea on the north, and the Sunda Strait on the west. It has an area of 17,877 square miles (46,300 square km) that includes a few small offshore islands. The landscape of Jawa Barat is dominated by a chain of volcanoes, both active and extinct, that includes from west to east Mounts Sanggabuwana (6,596 feet ), Gede (9,705 feet), Pangrango (9,905 feet), Kendang (8,556 feet), and Tjereme (10,098 feet). A series of these volcanoes cluster together to form a great tangle of upland that also includes the Priangar Plateau, which has an elevation of about 1,000 feet (300 m), and consists of almost horizontal, gently folded limestone. The plateau extends for more than 100 miles (160 km) along the southern coast and fronts a relatively narrow strip of coastal lowlands. Along the northern shore of the province is a wider coastal plain of alluvium developed by the weathering of lava and ash into fertile soils; much of the province's population is concentrated here. The northern coastal lowlands are drained by the Manuk, Bekasi, and Berang rivers flowing into the Java Sea, and the southern coastal lowlands by the Wulan, Laki, Sadea, and Letuh rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean. Jawa Barat's original lowland forests have been entirely removed, leaving farmlands and patches of grassland, village woodlots, and scattered trees. The mountains and uplands have a dense growth of tropical rain forests comprising teak, sal (Shorea), eucalyptus, rhododendron, juniper, banyan, oak, ash, maple, and ironwood. Agriculture dominates the economy of the province, and cultivated lands are extensively irrigated and double cropped. Rice, sugarcane, corn (maize), cassava, peanuts (groundnuts), and quinine (from cinchona bark) are produced; rubber is grown at elevations of from 300 to 1,500 feet (90 to 460 m). The province's industrial products include textiles, processed food, wood carving and furniture, paper, tanned goods, printing, chemicals, and the machinery for the manufacture of leather goods, metal goods, and transport equipment. A network of roads and railways links Bandung, the capital of the province, with Sukabumi, Bogor, Serang, Jakarta, and Cirebon. The Javanese are the largest ethnic group, followed by Sundanese and Badui, and almost all are Muslims. Pop. (1988 est.) 33,084,700.