Banda Sea
Over 200,000 square nautical miles, the Banda is Indonesia's largest and deepest sea. It is located in eastern Indonesia and bounded on the south by a series of small islands and archipelagoes that curve east and north toward the eastern coast of Sulawesi. Banda Sea's convoluted sea floor is mostly four to five kilometers deep. It contains basins—such as the North Banda Basin, South Banda Basin, Weber Deep, and Wetar Trough—as deep as seven kilometers. These act as reservoirs, stabilizing fluctuations in the important water exchange between the South Pacific and Indian Oceans that flows through the Lifamatola Strait at depths below 200 to 300 meters.
The Banda Sea is associated with the fabled spice islands—the Moluccas—the origin of cloves, nutmeg, and mace that attracted Indian, Chinese, Arab, and later European traders. The center of the spice islands is Ambon, capital of Maluku province. The Bandas, southeast of Ambon, are among Indonesia's most interesting island groups.
Further Reading
Kent, George, and Mark J. Valencia, eds. (1985) Marine Policy in Southeast Asia. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Tomascik, Tomas, Anmarie Janice Mah, Anugerah Nontji, and Mohammad Kasim Moosa. (1997) The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas, Part One and Part Two. Hong Kong, China: Periplus.
This is the complete article, containing 203 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
