The Indonesian and Philippine Archipelagos

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state, commonly described as comprising approximately 17,000 islands, although official counts have varied over time — Indonesian government surveys have produced figures ranging from roughly 13,466 to over 17,000 depending on the counting methodology and mapping technology used. The country stretches about 5,120 kilometers from Sabang, at its northwestern tip near Sumatra, to Merauke in the far east of Papua, a span comparable to the width of the continental United States. Its major islands include Sumatra, Java, Borneo (whose Indonesian portion is called Kalimantan, shared with Malaysia and Brunei), Sulawesi, and the western half of the island of New Guinea, known within Indonesia as Papua.