Bali Facts:
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Bali is a small island in the Indonesian archipelago - with Java to the West and Lombok to the East, it is only 8 degrees south of the equator. The island is volcanically active and extremely fertile, its mountainous terrain boast many peaks around 2000m, with the tallest Gunung Agung (known as the "mother mountain") is over 3000m.
In 2009 the population was recorded at just over 3.5 million - Bali is home to the vast majority of Indonesia's small Hindu minority. Balinese Hinduism is practiced by over 90% of Bali's population with the remainder following Islam. Bali is the tourist destination of choice in Indonesia, while also being renowned for its highly developed arts - sculpture, painting, music and dancing, leather and metalwork.
Prior to independence, proclaimed after WWII in August 1945, Bali was a Dutch colony. Prior to this time, Bali also endured a period of Japanese occupation. Even though the Dutch-rule was not for a great period of time, a lot of older Balinese also speak the Dutch language.
The path to independence has been riddled with conflicts, military confrontation with the British and allies, and an attempted coup by the communists. While political stability and national democracy appears to have been achieved, Bali can attribute its economic growth to the huge expansion of tourism which has completely transformed the southern part of the island - in fact tourism accounts for 80% of the Balinese economy.
