The Morning of the World
It was India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on a visit to the island back in 1951 as an official guest, that first used the expression ‘the morning of the world’ to describe Bali. Still in the midst of volcanic upheavals, just as the entire archipelago has been since its creation, the island’s lush vegetation seems to remind us of the lost Garden of Eden. The island has also been called ‘the island of the gods’ as well as ‘Shangri-la’.[geo_mashup_map] [geo_mashup_list_located_posts]
Bali is one of over 17,000 islands comprising Indonesia and the Malay Archipelago. Indonesia is the home to over 222 million people and Bali itself over 3 million. Bali is a small but exquisite province of the Republic of Indonesia. Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country and the largest country, in terms of population, where the majority of its inhabitants are Muslim. However, Balinese religion, unlike the rest of Indonesia, has for the most part remained true to the Hindu-Buddhist traditions that dominated this area before the arrival of Islam.
The official language is Bahasa Indonesia but English of course is used extensively, especially in commerce. There are Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists, in addition to Muslims. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, located on the island of Java. The capital city of Bali province is Denpasar.