Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago nationcomprising over 17000 islands. It is the most culturally diverse nationcontaining an extraordinary melange of racesreligionslanguagesand cultures. In this bookauthor Ian Burnet takes a journey across the archipelago. He intertwines the history and geographyas well as the many raceslanguagesand cultures that make up a country whose motto is "Unity in Diversity." Traveling by bustrainplaneand motorcyclefrom Java to TimorBurnet hops from island to island across the archipelago. He traces the history of the early Malay people and the influence of Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. He discovers the heritage of the IndiansChineseand Arabs trading in spice and sandalwood and follows the rise of Islam. Burnet traces of the first Europeans to enter Asia - the early Portuguese and priests. Illustrated with photographs and historical mapshis book takes the reader on a personal journey through geographic space and historical time. It offers a rich and deep understanding of this complex nationits cultureand its people. *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO *** "The next best thing to touring Indonesia in personArchipelago: A Journey Across Indonesia is a 'must-read' for travel literature connoisseursand highly recommended for public and community library collections." -- Midwest Book ReviewLibrary Bookwatch: February 2016The Travel Shelf ? ? Subject: Indonesian StudiesAsian StudiesCultural StudiesHistoryTravel]