Bali....island and province of Indonesia

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Bali is an island and province of Indonesia

The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands

It`s located between Java to the west and Lombok to the east

Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island

With a population of 4,225,000 (January 2014) the island is home to most

of Indonesia's Hindu minority

According to the 2010 Census, 84.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism and 12% to Islam and most of the remainder followed Christianity

                    Since the late 20th century, the province has had a rise in tourism

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the

highest biodiversity of marine species

In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found

For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean

There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs

Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia

Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania

Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD

It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation

Some religious and cultural traditions of this periode still practised today