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Bali Villas |
History
Bali has a long
chain of history from the ice-age era (pre-historic time) to modern,
global civilization era. With a dynamic characteristic indicating
selectivity and flexibility, the Balinese culture initially reflects
a configuration of an expressive culture dominated by religious,
solidarity and aesthetic values. Nowadays, it develops along with
the adoption of foreign values especially in the aspects of the
economic, science and technology, as a result of the global
modernization.
In general, the history of Bali is divided into three different eras
including the pre-historic, the Hindu-Buddhist era and the modern
culture.
The pre-historic marked the oldest and simplest way of life, an era
of hunting and food-stuff gathering, verified by the discovery of
several tools and hunting equipments. In the following era there
were also building construction system and a particular
communication system. These were just proofs of the existence and
further development of Balinese culture. The Balinese culture
flourished that nowadays one can indicates a perfect bonds between
religions, tradition and culture to become the identity of the
Balinese community.
The Dutch seamen were the first Europeans to arrive on Bali and
started to introduce western culture in 1597, though they hadn’t
discovered any appealing aspect until 1800s. Around 1846 the Dutch
returned with colonization in their minds, having established a
strong political base as majority of the Indonesian islands were
under their control since the 1700s. The military campaign embarked
from the northern coast of Bali. With the help of Sasak people of
Lombok, by 1911, all Balinese principalities were under the Dutch
control.
The sense of Indonesian nationalism began to grow after the World
War I, with the young generation declaring the national language in
1928, known as Bahasa Indonesia. During the height of World War II
the Japanese arrived, expelling the Dutch and ruled the country for
about 3.5 years, which ended later in 1945 when Indonesia declared
independent led by its very first president, Sukarno. Yet the
new-born nation was only recognized by the international community
as an independent country in 1949.
Geography
Among 17,500 islands across the Indonesian archipelago, Bali is one
of the 33 provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, the largest
archipelagic country in the world, made up of 2,000,000 km2 of land
with a chain of islands stretching over 500,000 km from Sumatra to
Papua, and covers territorial waters of more than 5,000,000 km2.
Situated between Java and Lombok, the island of Bali is located 8 to
9 degrees south of the equator with the Java Sea to the north, the
Indian Ocean to the south. Bali’s covers an area of 5,636 km2 or
0.29% of Indonesia, measuring just 90km long the north-south axis
and less than about 140km from west to east.
Divided into three areas of water, the North Bali Sea is about
3,168km2, the East about 3.350km2, and the West about 2,982km2. Bali
Sea covers an area of 9,500km2. The North Bali sea runs along the
coastline of Buleleng, the East Bali Sea runs along the coastline of
Karangasem, Klungkung and Gianyar, and the West Bali Sea include the
coastline of Badung Tabanan and Jembrana.
People and Lifestyle
Bali’s population of over 3,000,000 souls spread over the whole
island, including those in the smaller islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa
Ceningan, Nusa Lembongan, Serangan and Menjangan Island. The
overwhelming majority of Balinese are Hindus, with the increasing
number on non-Hindu migrating from the closest neighboring islands
of Java and Lombok.
The coastal areas in the south are the most populous area with over
370,000 people living in various professions in the capital of
Denpasar. Farming has been the primary way of living in Balinese
life. Where else fishing, trading and craftsmanship are also in
fashion from generation to generation. Yet with the fast growing of
tourism since past few decades, young people start to build up a new
touch in their living culture.
Life in Bali is very communal under the organization of villages.
Temple ceremonies, marriage, cremation, farming and even the
creative art festivals are decided by the local community
institution called “Banjar”. The responsibilities in the day-to-day
life are normally administered by both the Banjar and the
government. The local government mostly responsible for schools,
health clinics, hospitals and roads, and Banjar is responsible for
all other aspects of life. There is another association exists in
the banjar named “Subak” that concerns to the production of rice and
organizes the complex irrigation system. Every family who owns a
rice field must be a member of their local Subak, which then ensures
that every member gets his fair distribution of water. A banjar
consists of an average of 50 to 150 family members, owning a meeting
venue called the Bale Banjar, which is used for regular gatherings
and a center for local gamelan orchestras and drama groups.
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