Why is Borneo vast and sparsely populated?

Borneo, kalimantan island, is the only island in the world belonging to three countries.

Borneo, with an area of more than 740,000 square kilometers, is the third largest island in the world, more than twice the total area of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui, but its population is only over 20 million, which is not as good as the permanent population of Shanghai.

For thousands of years, Borneo has been a big island with vast territory and abundant resources, and a small population. In terms of population density, Borneo has 30 people per square kilometer, which is far below the world average.

Southeast Asia is a world-famous densely populated place, but compared with other places in Southeast Asia, the population of Borneo is indeed a little too small, and the reasons for this phenomenon are very complicated.

First, the climate is really hard and dangerous, and it is not suitable for survival. Borneo is surrounded by the equator and surrounded by the sea. It belongs to the tropical rain forest climate. It is humid, muggy and rainy all the year round, and more than 80% of the island is dense primitive tropical rain forest.

Besides the Amazon rain forest in South America and the Congo Basin in Africa, Borneo is the third largest tropical rain forest distribution area in the world.

High temperature and high humidity environment may be a paradise for animals and plants, but it is really terrible for human beings.

There are many islands in the world with similar climatic conditions to Borneo, but not all of them are vast and sparsely populated. For example, Java Island in the south has a population of more than 65.438+0.3 billion and an area of only 65.438+0.4 million square kilometers, which is far from it.

In fact, the key lies in the fact that the area of Borneo is too large, and the influence of the ocean can't reach the interior of Borneo effectively, which makes most parts of kalimantan island more humid than other tropical islands.

Second, the development time is very late, which is not convenient for development. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains dynasty was closely related to Borneo. Fa Xian, a famous monk, went to Tianzhu and went home through Borneo, which was recorded in the historical materials of the Central Plains later.

However, in the past, the connection between the Central Plains and Borneo was limited to its northern region, that is, a large area of East Malaysia and Brunei. It was called Boni in ancient times.

During the farming period, because of the limited conditions, people mostly choose places that are more convenient for reclamation.

Obviously, in the past thousands of years, Borneo and most tropical areas were not ideal agricultural lands.

The land in Borneo was wet and sticky, and it was difficult to cultivate at that time. Moreover, the local temperature and humidity are high and the soil nutrient content is very low. It is impossible to form a large-scale agricultural settlement, and naturally it is difficult to raise a large number of people.

Some people will say, for example, Mekong Delta, Chao Phraya Delta, Ganges Plain and other places are also hot and rainy in tropical areas, so why does densely populated agriculture flourish?

In fact, even in the tropics, they are not exactly the same.

In areas with large rivers and river deltas, after long-term erosion and accumulation, the land is very fertile. These places are close to more advanced civilized areas and have higher agricultural reclamation technology.

Borneo is a very special place, which has long been the territory of Malays. Because of the mountainous rainforest on the island, the environment is too dangerous, and no outsiders dare to cultivate it.

The development of civilization in most tropical regions in the world is relatively slow, and only those tropical regions close to advanced civilization can take the lead in development, while Borneo has no such advantages and opportunities.

Third, in modern times, the Dutch and Indonesians did it on purpose. At present, Borneo belongs to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, while in early Borneo, there was only Brunei, and it was limited to the northern part of the island. Most of the south-central areas are primitive tribes, isolated from the world.

With the invasion of modern western colonists, the fate of Borneo began to be rewritten.

Under the influence of the British, Sabah and Sarawak in Brunei were taken away and merged into later Malaysia, while the area of Brunei decreased sharply and became what it is today.

As for the vast majority of south-central Borneo, it belonged to Dutch East India under Dutch rule at that time in modern times.

Borneo is very large, and the northern part of Borneo was developed earlier and the conditions are better, so the population is relatively dense. However, the southern part of Borneo has a bad environment and no decent resources. After the Dutch acquisition, it did not attach importance to development.

Although the scope of Dutch East India is very large, the Netherlands is a small place after all, and there are many colonies all over the world in its heyday, so it has no energy to fully develop Dutch East India.

In fact, the main development areas of Dutch East India were concentrated in Java Island and Spice Islands. Focusing on Batavia, the predecessor of Jakarta, Java Island concentrates most of the Dutch resources in the Dutch East India.

For hundreds of years, the development process of Java Island has been far superior to other islands, which has also formed a cycle.

Islands with good conditions, early development and good foundations in all aspects will gather more people and then develop better and better. On the contrary, islands with poor conditions will be given a cold shoulder and then get worse and worse.

Borneo, which was neglected in colonial times, is still in poor conditions in all aspects. Until today, there are still a large number of unknown areas and primitive tribes. Whoever it is, he would rather go to Java to find opportunities.

Indonesia after solo flight basically inherited the original plan of Dutch East India.

Indonesia, known as the country of ten thousand islands, is composed of 18 thousand islands, with a huge span from east to west and from north to south. Such a divided country is actually very dangerous and may collapse at any time.

For the sake of Indonesia's integrity, Indonesia has adopted the method that the strong will always be strong and the weak will always be weak, that is, concentrating on developing Java Island and weakening other island areas, so that Java Island has absolute advantages to control the overall situation.

This method is indeed effective, but at the same time it has greatly curbed the development of Indonesia.

If we didn't have the ability to develop Borneo in the past, then now people are restricting the development of Borneo. Borneo is a huge island. Once it develops strongly, it is bound to compete with Java, and the consequences can be imagined.

Fourth, with limited strength, Borneo is difficult to be densely populated. Borneo belongs to Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, but none of these three countries has the demand and ability to make Borneo densely populated.

The first is Brunei and Malaysia. Brunei is a country that is extremely dependent on oil and natural gas resources. It doesn't need so many people to divide its living standard. Moreover, its population base is very small, and it is useless to toss and turn.

The Borneo part of Malaysia is called East Malaysia, mainly Sabah and Sarawak. These two areas belong to Malaysia's outlying islands, not the core of Malaysia, and have been guarded by Malaysia.

In fact, the vast majority of Borneo's population is located in Indonesia, mostly on the coast of Indonesia. These places have relatively good conditions and early development, so the population is relatively large.

However, Borneo is covered with a large area of tropical rain forest, which is a rare ecological resource. Once developed on a large scale, it will inevitably lead to a huge ecological disaster.

In fact, the benefits of developing tropical rain forests are very limited, but the harm is extremely alarming, especially in countries like Indonesia, where the level of development in all aspects is still very low, and the consequences are even more unimaginable.

In the past, Indonesia also reclaimed the virgin rain forest in Borneo for development. Therefore, in addition to some benefits brought by exporting timber, more disasters are caused by environmental damage, resulting in losses in all aspects.

Population growth is a long-term accumulation process, even if the population leaps and bounds in a short time, it will bring serious consequences.

Three countries in Borneo either don't need to accelerate population growth or don't have the relevant capacity. The current situation in Borneo is vast and sparsely populated, and it will be so for a long time to come.

Borneo is another name for kalimantan island. Kalimantan island is the third largest island in the world, with an area of 743,300 square kilometers, second only to Greenland and new guinea. However, the population is 10 largest island in the world, which is even smaller than Sri Lanka Island with an area of only 65,600 square kilometers and Taiwan Province Island with an area of only 36,000 square kilometers, with a total population of about 210.2 million. The population density is less than 30 people per square kilometer. Indonesia is known as the country of ten thousand islands, and China has more than ten thousand islands. The two most populous islands are Java Island, with an area of 65.438+038.8 thousand square kilometers, but the population reaches 65.438+045 billion, and the population density exceeds 0/000 people per square kilometer/kloc. The population density of Java is similar to that of Bangladesh. Another island with a large population is Sumatra, with an area of 473,000 square kilometers and a population of 506.55.

Borneo belongs to three countries, of which Brunei accounts for 0.8% of the total island area, with an area of 5,765 square kilometers and a population of 460,000 (20 19). Malaysia accounts for 26.2% of the total island area. Sarawak and Sabah cover an area of196,500 square kilometers with a population of about 6 million. Indonesia accounts for 73% of the total island area, with five provinces covering an area of 539,500 square kilometers and a population of about 1.6 1.300. The forest coverage rate of Garimanda Island reaches 80%, and the area of tropical rain forest in kalimantan island is the largest in the world except that in Amazon basin. It is one of the most important concentrations of biodiversity in the world. Kalimantan island is home to 10 species of primates, 350 species of birds, 65,438+050 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 65,438+05,000 species of plants. It is also home to rare and endangered species such as orangutans, Malay bears and rhinos.

Therefore, Gariman Island is a treasure house of species genes and an important world natural heritage.

Then why is kalimantan island so sparsely populated with a large area and abundant biological resources?

The main reasons for kalimantan island's sparse population are as follows.

1. Although kalimantan island has a large area and rich biological resources, there are not many mineral resources with economic value, and there are no precious metals with high development value and high strategic value. Some people will say that Malaysia and Brunei are rich in oil resources. It is a good thing that Brunei and Malaysia have oil resources, but these oil resources are mainly stored on the continental shelf of the South China Sea, not in the inland areas of kalimantan island.

Therefore, it can be said that the lack of mineral resources in kalimantan island has prevented Kalimantan from being wantonly destroyed by human beings, and the ecological environment has been well protected, making it a paradise for animals and plants.

2. Except for a few fertile volcanic areas, most of the land in kalimantan island is barren, which is not suitable for developing agricultural production and has a low population carrying capacity. Therefore, although the island area is large, it cannot support more people because there is no strong agriculture. 3. kalimantan island is densely forested, and the infrastructure such as transportation is very backward. There is no transportation network and system extending in all directions on the island, and the inconvenient transportation is naturally not conducive to the economic development and population growth of the whole island. Fourth, kalimantan island's geographical position is not on the world's important commercial routes, and its geographical advantages are far inferior to those of Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Therefore, trade and shipping resources are basically absorbed by Malay Peninsula and Singapore, and kalimantan island can't get a slice of international shipping and trade.

5. kalimantan island is a treasure house of biological resources. There are many nature reserves in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Tropical rainforests and other nature reserves are large in area, and their development is prohibited by law. Therefore, it is impossible to destroy forests on a large scale like other islands to open up wasteland and provide living space for more people. On the whole, it is not surprising that Kalimantan is vast and sparsely populated.

However, kalimantan island's long-term backward development has begun to change, and this change is the Indonesian decision to move its capital to kalimantan island. If the new capital of Indonesia is successfully built, it may attract tens of millions of people from Indonesia to the new capital in the future. Therefore, with the development and construction of the new Indonesian capital, the population of kalimantan island may increase greatly in the future.

Borneo is mountainous in the north and densely covered with peat bogs in the south. It is hot and rainy all the year round, sultry and humid; Poor soil and poor agricultural foundation; Due to the short development history and great difficulty, Borneo can't carry too many people at present, so the population density is much lower than that of Java Island in the south and Philippine Islands in the northeast.

Borneo, also known as kalimantan island, is the third largest island in the world, belonging to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Borneo covers an area of 743,000 square kilometers, with Indonesia accounting for 73%, Malaysia accounting for 26.2% and Brunei accounting for 0.8%. Borneo has a population of 210.3 million and a population density of 29 people /km2, which is lower than that of the Philippine Islands in the northeast, Java Island in the south and Sulawesi Island in the east.

The 300,000-square-kilometer Philippine archipelago is crowded with a population of 1 100 million, and the population density is close to 300 people/square kilometer; Java Island with 65.438+0.4 million square kilometers is crowded with 65.438+0.5 billion people, and the population density is 6.5438+0.00 million people/square kilometer; Sulawesi Island,175,000 square kilometers, is basically mountainous, with nearly 20 million people crowded, and the population density exceeds 100 people/square kilometer. Even the population of Sumatra is more than twice that of Borneo. Why is Borneo so sparsely populated? The reason is very simple, but it can't support too many people.

There are many mountains in northern Borneo. Lushan Mountain in Beijing, Na Ba is 4095 meters above sea level, which is the highest peak on Beijing Island. The central part is a mountain rainforest with an average elevation of 1000 meters. The south is low-lying, but there are many rivers and swamps.

The average annual rainfall in Borneo is as high as 3800mm, and the area is at least 1.600mm, and the average annual temperature is 24-25. The leaching effect is strong, and alkaline salts such as calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are leached out. The soil is latosol, weakly acidic, reddish brown or reddish yellow, with low nutrients, especially lack of phosphorus and potassium, which is not suitable for cultivation. This is a serious injury. Soil that can grow trees may not be able to grow food, just like the Amazon rainforest.

Although the area of Java Island is much smaller than Borneo, and the terrain is mainly mountainous, the volcanic ash produced by many volcanoes on Java Island continuously enriches the soil, making Java Island more suitable for farming than Borneo, thus feeding more than 654.38 billion people.

The degree of development in Borneo is also low. Historically, the political and economic centers of Malay Archipelago were all in Sumatra or Java, the center of Sanyuan Kingdom was in Sumatra, and the center of Boyi Kingdom in Manchu Dynasty was in Java, while South Borneo was controlled by Sanyuan in the 9th century and Java in the13rd century. Because the ruling center was not in Borneo, the major dynasties were not interested in the development of Borneo, and even during the Dutch colonial period, there was no large-scale development of Borneo.

After Indonesian independence, Su Jianuo put forward an immigration plan to move some farmers from densely populated Java, Madura and Bali to develop Borneo. In the 1990s, it was proposed to develop 1 10,000 hectares of fertile land in the marshland in southern Borneo. As a result, the forest was ignited in a hurry. Peat swamps in southern Borneo are densely covered. Once it is burned, it is difficult to control, causing serious air pollution. Singapore knows this very well.

Moreover, after deforestation, soil erosion is serious, soil fertility is further reduced, and it is almost impossible to grow food. It's impossible to feed too many people just by palms and rubber.

Therefore, Borneo is sparsely populated and has poor natural conditions, so it is difficult to support too many people.

20 19 reports that Indonesia will move its capital to the east of Borneo, and it is planned to start the construction of a new capital on 202 1 to relieve the population pressure in Java, but it is temporarily impossible to start construction.

Why is Borneo vast and sparsely populated? Borneo is located in the middle of Southeast Asia, with an area of 743,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 20 million, with about 30 people per square kilometer. It is a large island with a vast territory and sparse population in Southeast Asia. Borneo's vast territory and sparse population are mainly caused by geographical and climatic factors. Let's analyze them one by one.

The first is the climate factor. Borneo is located in the tropical region, and the equator crosses the whole island, belonging to the tropical rainforest climate. It is hot and rainy all the year round, and the jungle is densely covered. Due to the leaching of rain, the land is barren, which is not conducive to the early agricultural development. Therefore, historically, Borneo was a sparsely populated area.

Of course, it is not necessarily impossible to carry out early agricultural development in tropical rain forest areas. If it is located in the volcanic earthquake zone, the early agricultural civilization can also be developed if volcanic ash supplements the fertility of the land. For example, Java Island, which is adjacent to Borneo, developed very early and developed agriculture in ancient times, so it has a large population. Today, there are more than 6,543.8+0.78 million people living on the land of 6,543.8+0.5 million square kilometers in Java Island, and the population per square kilometer exceeds/kloc-0.000, which is a highly densely populated area in the world.

However, although the Nanyang Islands belong to the intersection of the Pacific Rim volcanic seismic belt and the alpine-Himalayan volcanic seismic belt, Borneo is the only big island in the Nanyang Islands that is not in the volcanic seismic belt. Because there is no fertilization effect of volcanic ash, the land in Borneo is very barren under the high temperature and rainy climate of tropical rain forest, which is affected by rainwater leaching. Therefore, even today, agriculture in Borneo is extremely underdeveloped, and only tropical cash crop plantations can be developed, so the population is naturally small.

Of course, it is not only developed agriculture that can gather population. If you are located on an important trade and transportation line, you can also gather population through the development of industry and commerce, thus making the local area a densely populated area. Singapore, for example, is so small that agriculture hardly exists. However, because it is located at the "crossroads" of international shipping, it has developed into a highly densely populated city country through industry and commerce.

But unfortunately, although Borneo is located in Southeast Asia, which is known as the "crossroads" of international maritime transport lines, it has not been on the main international shipping channel for a long time. Since ancient times, shipping in Southeast Asia has been carried out along the west side of the South China Sea for a long time. The west side of Borneo is not the main channel of maritime trade in Southeast Asia for a long time because of its proximity to Nansha Islands, shallow water depth and dense underwater reefs. However, there are few ships passing through these places in the east and south, because they are far away from the major economically developed areas. Therefore, Borneo does not have the conditions to gather population through the development of industry and commerce.

But after the late 20th century, with the appearance of giant oil tankers and cargo ships, more and more oil tankers and cargo ships passed through Lombok Strait and makassar strait, and more and more ships passed through the east coast of Borneo. In addition, the eastern and southern parts of Borneo are rich in oil and natural gas resources. Affected by the change of sea routes and stimulated by the development of oil and gas industry, the population of southeast Borneo has increased greatly.

Not only the population is sparse, but even the gorilla's mouth is sparse. In the tropical rain forests of Africa, chimpanzees and gorillas live in groups, but Borneo gorillas live alone. The reason is that the volcanic movement in Borneo stopped long ago, the erosion of rain made the topsoil extremely barren, and the output of fresh fruit in the rainforest was extremely scarce, forcing orangutans to live and eat alone. In the same way, this kind of soil agriculture can't develop at all! This land can't carry a large number of people.

Indonesia's most populous island is Jawa Island, which is home to half of the country's population. The island is active in volcanoes, and volcanic ash provides rich nutrients for crops.

I think the key reason is: not under China!

Everyone has given so many reasons, if it is under China, it is not established. ...

In ancient East Asia, only the Central Plains of China had a complete national system. In other words, whoever is close to the Central Plains Dynasty will have a more complete or mature national system in China. The most important links in the national system are population, medical care and food. In ancient times, the farther south Southeast Asia went, the farther it was from China, and the longer it was from the center of civilized society, its own ethnic group could only be a long-term stagnant and barbaric ethnic group, and the population naturally could not get up.

Southeast Asian countries, before the arrival of colonists, just appeared a small-scale budding state model, and most areas have not yet been inhabited by primitive tribes. Before long, the colonists drew the sphere of influence and circled some irrelevant areas. After they left, these countries were all bitter countries, such as Indonesia. Although the religions of the major ethnic groups were relatively strong and soon wiped out other ethnic groups, remote areas still could not develop.