The Sunda Strait ( id, Selat Sunda) is the

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

between the

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 ...

n islands of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

and

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. It connects 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 ...

with the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

Etymology

The strait takes its name from the

Sunda Kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( su, , Karajaan Sunda, ) was a Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Centra ...

, which ruled the western portion of Java (an area covering the present day

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

Banten Banten ( id, Banten; Sundanese: , romanized ''Banten'') is the westernmost province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capital Region of Jakarta on the east, the Java Se ...

, and some of western

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 ...

) from 669 to around 1579."Sunda Islands". Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. John Everett-Heath. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. The name also alludes to the

Sundanese people The Sunda or Sundanese ( id, Orang Sunda; su, ᮅᮛᮀ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ, Urang Sunda) are an indigenous ethnic group native to the western region of Java island in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form ...

native to West Java and Banten, as distinct from the

Javanese people The Javanese ( id, Orang Jawa; jv, ꦮꦺꦴꦁꦗꦮ, ''Wong Jawa'' ; , ''Tiyang Jawi'' ) are an ethnic group native to the central and eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java. With approximately 100 million people, Javanese people ...

, who live mostly in Central and East Java.

Geography

Extending in a roughly southwest/northeast orientation, with a minimum width of at its northeastern end between Cape Tua on Sumatra and Cape Pujat on Java, the strait is part of the Java Sea. It is essentially triangular in shape, with two large bays on its northern side. It is also very broad and deep at its southwestern end, but as it narrows to the northeast it becomes much shallower, with a minimum depth of only in parts of its northeastern end. The strait is notoriously difficult to navigate because of this shallowness, very strong tidal currents, sandbanks, and man-made obstructions such as

oil platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

s off the Java coast. For centuries, the strait was an important shipping route, especially during the period when the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

used it as the gateway to the

Spice Islands A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices ar ...

of Indonesia (1602–1799). However, its narrowness, shallowness, and lack of accurate charting make it unsuitable for many modern, large ships, most of which use the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

instead. The strait is dotted with a number of islands, many of which are volcanic in origin. They include:

Sangiang Sangiang is an island midway in the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. Administratively it is a part of Banten province of western Java. One current design for the ambitious Sunda Strait Bridge The Sunda Strait ...

(Thwart-the-Way),

Sebesi Sebesi (also Sebeezee, or 'Bleezie') is an Indonesian island in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, and part of the province of Lampung. It rises to a height of and lies about north of the Krakatoa Archipelago; it is the closest large i ...

, Sebuku, and

Panaitan Panaitan (Prinsen, or Prince's Island; sometimes also Princess Island) (1450 m) is an island in the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, and in the Indonesian province of Banten. It is the largest island in the strait, and is located near the ...

(Prince's). The most famous of the islands, however, is

Krakatoa Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. Tw ...

, which exploded in 1883 in one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history. The islands in the strait and the nearby surrounding regions of Java and Sumatra were devastated in that eruption, primarily due to the intense pumice fall and the huge

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

s the eruption caused. Port of Bakauheni and Siger Tower

The Krakatoa eruption drastically altered the topography of the strait, with as much as 18–21 km³ of

ignimbrite Ignimbrite is a type of volcanic rock, consisting of hardened tuff. Ignimbrites form from the deposits of pyroclastic flows, which are a hot suspension of particles and gases flowing rapidly from a volcano, driven by being denser than the surrou ...

being deposited over an area of 1.1 million km² around the volcano. Some areas, such as the coastal region of Java now incorporated into the

Ujung Kulon National Park Ujung Kulon National Park is at the westernmost tip of Java, in Banten province of Indonesia. It includes the volcanic island group of Krakatoa in Lampung province, and other islands including Panaitan, as well as smaller offshore islets such as ...

, have never been resettled, but much of the coastline is now very densely populated. Aside from Krakatoa's sole remaining peak,

Rakata Rakata ( ), also called Greater Krakatau, is a partially collapsed stratovolcano on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa ( id, Krakatau) in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Sumatra and Java. Standing tall, it was the largest and southernmo ...

, the

Krakatoa Archipelago The Krakatoa Archipelago is a small uninhabited archipelago of volcanic islands formed by the Krakatoa stratovolcano located in the Sunda Strait, nestled between the much larger islands of Java and Sumatra. As of 2018, the archipelago consists ...

consists of the islands of

Lang Lang may refer to: *Lang (surname), a surname of independent Germanic or Chinese origin Places * Lang Island (Antarctica), East Antarctica * Lang Nunatak, Antarctica * Lang Sound, Antarctica * Lang Park, a stadium in Brisbane, Australia * Lang, ...

(Panjang or Rakata Kecil),

Verlaten Verlaten Island (Dutch: "Abandoned", "Deserted" or "Forsaken"; modern Indonesian: Sertung) is an island that was likely created in the 535 Eruption of Krakatoa. It is located in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, between Java and Sumatra. It is part ...

(Sertung), and most recently,

Anak Krakatau Anak Krakatoa ( id, Anak Krakatau)English translation and common name: ''Child of Krakatoa'' is a volcanic island in Indonesia. On 29 December 1927, Anak Krakatoa first emerged from the caldera formed in 1883 by the explosive volcanic eruption ...

, which emerged in 1927 from the original Krakatoa's shattered remains.

Battle of Sunda Strait

On March 1, 1942, the

Battle of Sunda Strait The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser , American heavy cruiser , ...

—part of the larger

Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...

—took place when the Allied

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s HMAS ''Perth'' and USS ''Houston'' encountered a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese amphibious landing force near Bantam, commanded by Rear Admiral Kenzaburo Hara. That force included a light cruiser and eleven

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s, four heavy cruisers and a light

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

. The two Allied cruisers were sunk, while a Japanese

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

and a transport vessel were sunk by friendly fire.

Planned bridge

In the 1960s proposals were made for a bridge across the Sunda Strait, and in the 1990s further suggestions arose. A new plan was announced in October 2007. It would use the islands of Ular,

and Prajurit to create a four-part

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

reaching above sea level. This bridge would have a maximum span of 3 kilometers, nearly 50% longer than the current record holder, the

Akashi Kaikyō Bridge The is a suspension bridge which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese island of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It is part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, and crosses the busy and turbulent Akashi Strait (''Akashi Kaikyō'' in Japane ...

. Construction was projected to begin in 2014 if funding of at least US$10 billion could be secured. An accord was signed in April 2012 with

China Railway Construction Corporation China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (abbreviated CRCC) is a listed construction enterprise based in Beijing, China, that was the second largest construction and engineering company in the world by revenue in 2014. The limited compan ...

for an $11 billion road and double track rail bridge.

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport p ...

June 2012 p25 However, in November 2014 the incoming government of President

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

shelved plans to build the bridge.Satria Sambijantoro,
No more Sunda Strait Bridge plan'
''The Jakarta Post'', 3 November 2014. See also
New Government Will Not Prioritize Sunda Strait Bridge Project'
, '' Global Indonesian Voices'', 2 November 2014.

Islands in the strait

* Calmeyer * Krakatau Archipelago **

Krakatau Krakatoa (), also transcribed (), is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group (Krakatoa archipelago) comprising four islands. T ...

, mostly destroyed volcanic island ***

Danan (volcano) Danan (uncertain derivation) was one of the three volcanic cones (the others being Perboewatan and Rakata) on the island of Krakatoa, in the Sunda Strait, in Indonesia. It stood , lay in the central area of the island, and may have been a twin ...

, destroyed volcanic cone on Krakatau ***

Perboewatan Perboewatan (also spelled Perbuatan; apparently a Malay word of uncertain derivation) was one of the three main volcanic cones (the others being Danan and Rakata) on the island of Krakatoa (or Krakatau), in the Sunda Strait, in Indonesia. It was ...

, destroyed volcanic cone on Krakatau ***

, partially destroyed volcanic cone and remnant of original island **

Poolsche Hoed The Krakatoa Archipelago is a small uninhabited archipelago of volcanic islands formed by the Krakatoa stratovolcano located in the Sunda Strait, nestled between the much larger islands of Java and Sumatra. As of 2018, the archipelago consists ...

, destroyed in 1883 eruption of Krakatoa ** Panjang, or Rakata Ketjil (Lang) **

Sertung Verlaten Island (Dutch: "Abandoned", "Deserted" or "Forsaken"; modern Indonesian: Sertung) is an island that was likely created in the 535 Eruption of Krakatoa. It is located in the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, between Java and Sumatra. It is part ...

(Verlaten) *

Legundi Pulau Legundi (also spelled Lagoendi) is an Indonesian island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. It is one of the larger islands in the Strait and lies at the western end of Sumatra's Lampong Bay, in the province of Lampung. Populat ...

(Prince's Island) *

(Thwart-the-way) *

* Sebuku *

Steers (island) The Krakatoa Archipelago is a small uninhabited archipelago of volcanic islands formed by the Krakatoa stratovolcano located in the Sunda Strait, nestled between the much larger islands of Java and Sumatra. As of 2018, the archipelago consis ...

Tabuan Tabuan Island ( id, Pulau Tabuan, also spelled Tabuhan or Taboean) is an island of southern Sumatra, under the jurisdiction of Lampung province. It is administered as part of the Cukuh Balak district of Tanggamus Regency. It lies near the middle ...

Bays

Lampung Bay Lampung Bay ( id, Teluk Lampung) is a large bay located on the southern tip of Sumatra Island in the Sunda Strait waters. At the southern tip of Sumatra there are two large bays, Semangka Bay is located in the Eastern part. On the east side of ...

, Sumatra *

Semangka Bay Semangka Bay ( id, Teluk Semangka) is a large bay located on the southern tip of Sumatra Island. At the southern tip of Sumatra there are two large bays, Teluk Semangka is located in the western part. On the east side of the bay stretches Tang ...

, Sumatra

Gallery of nearby important channels

File:Tamil Nadu topo deutsch mit Gebirgen.png,

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .

File:Andaman_nicobar_76.jpg,

Cocos Strait Cocos may refer to: Geography * Cocos, Bahia, Brazil * Cocos, Quebradillas, Puerto Rico, a barrio * Cocos Island (disambiguation) ** Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean *** Shire of Cocos, a local government are ...

Duncan Passage Duncan Passage is a strait in the Bay of Bengal. It is about wide; it separates Rutland Island (part of Great Andaman and South Andaman administrative division) to the north, and Little Andaman to the south. West of Duncan Passage is the Bay of ...

and other Indian channels File:Andaman_Islands.PNG, Cocos Strait is at the northern end of Andaman Islands in red square File:India_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands_relief_map.png, Ten Degrees Channel File:Ten_Degree_Channel,_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands,_India.png, Ten Degrees Channel, closeup File:Strait_of_malacca.jpg,

Malacca Strait The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, conne ...

File:Straits_of_Singapore_locator_map.PNG,

Singapore Strait The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...

File:Sunda_Strait_map-fr.svg, Sunda Strait File:Lombok_strait.png,

Lombok Strait The Lombok Strait ( id, Selat Lombok), is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side. Its narrowest point is at its southern o ...

File:My-map.png, South China Sea,

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...

Sulu Sea The Sulu Sea ( fil, Dagat Sulu; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; Chavacano: ''Mar de Sulu''; Cebuano: ''Dagat sa Sulu''; Hiligaynon: ''Dagat sang Sulu''; Karay-a: ''Dagat kang Sulu''; Cuyonon: ''Dagat i'ang Sulu''; ms, Laut Sulu) is a body o ...

Celebes Sea The Celebes Sea, (; ms, Laut Sulawesi, id, Laut Sulawesi, fil, Dagat Selebes) or Sulawesi Sea, of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by ...

References

{{Authority control Landforms of Banten Landforms of Java Landforms of Sumatra Java Sea Straits of the Indian Ocean Western Indo-Pacific