Karimunjawa Islands or Karimunjava Islands ( id, Kepulauan Karimunjawa) is an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

of 27 islands in the

Java Sea The Java Sea ( id, Laut Jawa, jv, Segara Jawa) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its nort ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Jepara. They have a total land area of 71.2 km². The main island is known as Karimun (2,700 ha), while the second-largest island is Kemujan (1,400 ha). At the 2020 Census, the population of the island group was 9,789Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. who lived on five of the islands. The population is largely Javanese, with pockets of

Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawe ...

and Madurese inhabitants. Javanese culture is dominant in the islands which are the only islands off Java where Javanese is the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

. Twenty-two of the islands have been declared 2001 as a marine reserve, the

Karimunjawa National Park Karimunjawa National Park, also Crimon Java National Park, is a national marine park designated in the Karimun Java archipelago, Jepara Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. It lies 80 km north west of Jepara, Central Java in the Java Sea. Th ...

. Five more islands are either privately owned or are under the control of the Indonesian Navy. The archipelago is served by Dewadaru Airport which provides scheduled airline services to

Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...

and

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

Islands and administration

The Karimunjawa islands comprise a district (''kecamatan'') which is made up of five villages (Karimun, Kamagin, Kemujan, Digimon, and Parang) and forms a part of the Jepara Regency (''kabupaten'') of

Central Java Central Java ( id, Jawa Tengah) is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in t ...

province. The island of Bawean lies east of this group, and is part of Gresik Regency, in

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

province.

History

Apart from use as a

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

base, the islands are believed to have been uninhabited until a penal settlement was established during the British occupation of Java in the early seventeenth century. Archeological finds of Chinese ceramics on the seabed near the islands which date from around the 13th century suggest that the islands were once part of a trade route to Java. The settlement was abandoned by the Dutch during the Java War of 1825–1830, but the former

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

remained as settlers. Cotton plantations set up during the convict period became a major source of income, as did goldsmithing. The islands were declared a national park in 1988.

Geology and climate

The archipelago consists predominantly of pre-Tertiary continental islands primarily of

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

s and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s covered by

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic lava. Geologically, the islands are part of

Sundaland Sundaland (also called Sundaica or the Sundaic region) is a biogeographical region of South-eastern Asia corresponding to a larger landmass that was exposed throughout the last 2.6 million years during periods when sea levels were lower. It ...

. The islands have extensive fringing and patchy

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

. The best time to visit the islands is during the dry season, generally from April to October.

Economy

The main source of income for the local population is fishing, followed by services and commerce. Travel to the islands from Java is sometimes limited during the rainy season around the January–March period during bad weather which can bring large waves to the area.Suherdjoko, '
/ref> There are a number of snorkeling spots. There is pressure on local environmental resources because of the rapidly expanding tourist industry.

References

{{authority control Archipelagoes of Indonesia Java Sea Greater Sunda Islands Islands of Central Java Islands of the Java Sea