Districts of Indonesia in the context of "Alor archipelago"

Sangiran is an archaeological excavation site in Java in Indonesia. According to a UNESCO report (1995) "Sangiran is recognized by scientists to be one of the most important sites in the world for studying fossil man, ranking alongside Zhoukoudian (China), Willandra Lakes (Australia), Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), and Sterkfontein (South Africa), and more fruitful in finds than any of these."

The area comprises about 56 km (7 km x 8 km). It is located in Central Java, about 15 kilometers north of Surakarta in the Solo River valley. Administratively, Sangiran area is divided between 2 regencies: Sragen (districts of Gemolong, Kalijambe, and Plupuh) and Karanganyar (district of Gondangrejo). An important feature of the site is the geology of the area. Originally a dome was created millions of years ago through tectonic uplifts. The dome was then eroded exposing beds within the dome which are rich in archeological records.

Provinces are the first-level administrative divisions of Indonesia. They were formerly called first-level provincial regions (provinsi daerah tingkat I), before the Reform era. Provinces have a local government, consisting of a governor (Gubernur) and a regional legislative body (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Provinsi, DPRD Provinsi). The governor and members of local representative bodies are elected by popular vote for five-year terms, but governors can only serve for two terms. Provincial governments have the authority to regulate and manage their own government affairs, subject to the limits of the central government. The average land area of all 38 provinces in Indonesia is about 49,800 km (19,200 sq mi), and they had an average population of 7,410,626 people in mid-2024.

Indonesia is divided into 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. The terms for special status are "Istimewa" and "Khusus", which translate to "special", or "designated". Provinces are further divided into regencies and cities (formerly called second-level region regencies/cities, or kabupaten/kotamadya daerah tingkat II), which are in turn subdivided into districts (kecamatan). Proposals for the creation of additional provinces (by the splitting of existing ones) have been considered by the Indonesian government, but further action has been suspended since 2013 under a moratorium. However, in 2022, nine years later, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and Southwest Papua were created and became the youngest provinces in the country. The enactment of the Law on State Capital in 2022 established a future provincial-level city, Nusantara, which would officially become the 39th province after a presidential decree on relocating the state capital is issued, and it would replace Jakarta as the nation's capital city.

Regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota) are the second-level administrative subdivision in Indonesia, immediately below the provinces, and above the districts. Regencies are roughly equivalent to American counties, although most cities in the United States are below the counties. Following the implementation of decentralization beginning on 1 January 2001, regencies and city municipalities became the key administrative units responsible for providing most governmental services. Each of regencies and cities has their own local government and legislative body.

The difference between a regency and a city lies in demography, size, and economy. Generally, a regency comprises a rural area larger than a city, but also often includes various towns. A city usually has non-agricultural economic activities. A regency is headed by a regent (bupati), while a city is headed by a mayor (wali kota). All regents, mayors, and members of legislatures are directly elected via elections to serve for a five-year term which can be renewed once. Each regency or city is divided further into districts more commonly known as kecamatan (except in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, where kapanewon and kemantren are used, and Western New Guinea (Papua), where distrik is used).

A regency (Indonesian: kabupaten; Indonesian pronunciation: [kabuˈpat̪ɛn]), sometimes incorrectly referred to as a district and previously known as second-level region regency, is an administrative division of Indonesia, directly under a province and on the same level with city (kota). Regencies are divided into districts (Kecamatan, Distrik in Papua region, or Kapanewon and Kemantren in the Special Region of Yogyakarta). The average area of Indonesian regencies is about 4,578.29 km (1,767.69 sq mi), with an average population of 670,958 people. Most regencies on the island of Java has their regency capitals as the titular name of their regency.

The English name "regency" comes from the Dutch colonial period, when regencies were ruled by bupati (or regents) and were known as regentschap in Dutch (kabupaten in Javanese and subsequently Indonesian). Bupati had been regional lords under the precolonial monarchies of Java. When the Dutch abolished or curtailed those monarchies, the bupati were left as the most senior indigenous authority. They were not, strictly speaking, "native rulers" because the Dutch claimed full sovereignty over their territory, but in practice, they had many of the attributes of petty kings, including elaborate regalia and palaces and a high degree of impunity.

Hinduism is the third-largest religion in Indonesia, based on civil registration data in 2023 from Ministry of Home Affairs, is practised by about 1.68% of the total population, and almost 87% of the population in Bali. Hinduism was the dominant religion in the country before the arrival of Islam and is one of the six official religions of Indonesia today. Hinduism came to Indonesia in the 1st century CE through Indian traders, sailors, scholars and priests. A syncretic fusion of pre-existing Javanese folk religion, culture and Hindu ideas, that from the 6th-century also synthesized Buddhist ideas as well, evolved as the Indonesian version of Hinduism. These ideas continued to develop during the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires. About 1400 CE, these kingdoms were introduced to Islam from coast-based Muslim traders, and thereafter Hinduism, which was previously the dominant religion in the region, mostly vanished from many of the islands of Indonesia.

Indonesia has the fifth-largest population of Hindus in the world, after India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Though being a minority religion, the Hindu culture has influenced the way of life and day-to-day activities in Indonesia. Outside of Bali, many adherents of traditional indigenous religions identify as Hindus in order to gain official recognition.

Several different religions are practised in Indonesia, which is officially a secular state without an established state religion. The first principle of Indonesia's philosophical foundation, Pancasila, requires its citizens to state the belief in "the one and almighty God". Although, as explained by the Constitutional Court, this first sila of Pancasila is an explicit recognition of divine substances (i.e. divine providence) and meant as a principle on how to live together in a religiously diverse society. Blasphemy is a punishable offence (since 1965, see § History) and the Indonesian government has a discriminatory attitude towards its numerous tribal religions, atheist and agnostic citizens. In addition, the Aceh province officially applies Sharia and implements different practices towards religious minorities.