Sundaland in the context of "Sahul"

Borneo (/ˈbɔːrnioʊ/) is the third-largest island in the world, with an area of 748,168 km (288,869 sq mi), and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda Islands, located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is crossed by the equator, which divides it roughly in half. In Indonesia, the island is also known as Kalimantan, which is also the name of the Indonesian region located on the island.

The geology of Borneo was formed beginning in the Mesozoic. It formed part of Sundaland, a region connected to mainland Asia, until it became isolated by sea level rise at the end of the last ice age. With seven unique ecoregions, including large expanses of some of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world, Borneo is rich in biodiversity and endemic species.

Southern dispersal, also known as the great coastal migration or rapid coastal settlement, was an early human migration along the southern coastal route, from the Arabian Peninsula via Persia and India to Southeast Asia and Oceania, with later descendants of those migrations eventually colonizing the rest of Eastern Eurasia and the Americas.

According to this thesis, the dispersal was possible thanks to the development of a multipurpose subsistence strategy, based on the collection of organisms, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, algae, which are part of the biotic communities of the intertidal zone, the transition ecosystem between land and sea between the upper limit of high tides and the lower limit of low tides, i.e. organisms left behind by the waters which retreat during ebb tide, and which people could harvest from the ground and reefs left unsubmerged or in shallow water at low tide. - In support of this hypothesis there are the remains found on an ancient Pleistocene reef, now emerged, near the locality of Abdur in Eritrea. Its rocks are the result of the compaction of marine debris about 125,000 years ago and contain fossil remains of a complex biotic community of the coast of the time: large colonies of corals, oyster shells, large clams and other bivalve molluscs, gastropods and echinoderms. A group of geologists and paleontologists found many blades and tools made of quartz, obsidian and other fine volcanic stone, mixed with the remains of shells. This would prove that over 100,000 years ago human populations of Homo sapiens exploited the intertidal zone for food purposes.

The saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats, brackish wetlands and freshwater rivers from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaland to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 1996. It was hunted for its skin throughout its range up to the 1970s, and is threatened by illegal killing and habitat loss. It is regarded as dangerous to humans.

The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile. Males can grow up to a weight of 1,000–1,500 kg (2,200–3,300 lb) and a length of 6 m (20 ft), rarely exceeding 6.3 m (21 ft). Females are much smaller and rarely surpass 3 m (9.8 ft). It is also called the estuarine crocodile, Indo-Pacific crocodile, marine crocodile, sea crocodile, and, informally, the saltie. A large and opportunistic hypercarnivorous apex predator, they ambush most of their prey and then drown or swallow it whole. They will prey on almost any animal that enters their territory, including other predators such as sharks, varieties of freshwater and saltwater fish including pelagic species, invertebrates such as crustaceans, various amphibians, other reptiles, birds, and mammals.

The Indo people (Dutch: Indische Nederlanders, Indonesian: Orang Indo) or Indos are Eurasian people living in or connected with Indonesia. In its narrowest sense, the term refers to people in the former Dutch East Indies who held European legal status but were of mixed Dutch and indigenous Indonesian descent as well as their descendants today.

In the broadest sense, an Indo is anyone of mixed European and Indonesian descent. Indos are associated with colonial culture of the former Dutch East Indies, a Dutch colony in Sundaland, Wallacea, and western Melanesia and a predecessor to modern Indonesia after its proclamation of independence shortly after World War II. The term was used to describe people acknowledged to be of mixed Dutch and Indonesian descent, or it was a term used in the Dutch East Indies to apply to Europeans who had partial southeastern Eurafrasian ancestry. The European ancestry of these people was predominantly Dutch, but also included Portuguese, German, British, French, Belgian and others.