THE PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF AN AREA AND HUMAN ACTIVITIES

Indonesia lies in the position where three plates meet. They are Eurosia, Pacific, and Indies-Australia plates.  As a result, it has various forms of earth’s surface.  If you travel from the mountain or mountainous area to the beach, you will notice convex parts like mountains and mountain ranges, flat areas such as high lands and low lands, as well as beaches (coasts). Those different forms of the earth’s surface mentioned above do not stay the same, but keep changing from time to time.  The bumpy, flat, and concave appearances on the earth’s surface are called the reliefs of the earth’s surface.

            The various forms of the earth’s surface can be found both on the land and at the bottom of the sea.  Those various forms are in fact closely related to human activities. The social condition of an area cannot be separated from its physical condition. The study of the interrelationship between the physical and social elements on the earth surface is one of the main characteristics of the geographical studies.

The utilization of the physical environment by humans essentially depends on the condition of the physical environment itself and the human’s quality.  The mastery of science and technology is very influential on the human’s activities to manage and utilize the condition of the physical environment. Do you know what the physical condition of an area is? It constitutes the physical characteristics of an area, which among other things are the air temperature, rain, climate, soil condition, water, land topography.  In this chapter we discuss the relationship between the physical condition of an area and human’s activities.

1. PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF THE LAND

            Land consists of various forms of the earth surface, mountain ranges, hills, valleys, highlands, lowlands, and beaches. In this chapter, the physical conditions of the main areas of the appearance, namely mountains, highlands, lowlands, and beaches are discussed.

            1.  Physical Conditions of Mountain Ranges

                        A line of mountains with various heights is called a mountain range. It is more than 500 meters high above the sea level. The air temperature in this area ranges from cool to cold. Do you know that the air temperature in the mountain range around Dieng (Central Java) reaches 5˚C. This area usually has a high level of rainfall.  The topography is mountainous; its soil is thin and relatively less fertile and the ground water is deeply located.  The following are the examples of the mountain ranges in Indonesia:  Kendeng Mountain Range (Central Java), Mekongga Mountain Range (South West Sulawesi) and Sudirman Mountain Range (Central Papua).

2. Physical Conditions of High Lands

                             The form of the relief of the earth’s surface which is relatively flat and located in the high areas is called a high land.  According to Yusman Hestiyanto (2005: 54) a high land is more than 500 m above the sea level. The air temperature in the high lands ranges from cool to cold. Do you know that the air temperature of Dieng high land (Central Java) sometimes reaches 5 - 6˚C. It usually has a high level of rainfall. The topography is flat, the soil ranges from rather thin to fairly thick and relatively less fertile, and the groundwater is relatively shallow. The following are the examples of high lands in Indonesia: Dieng high land (Central Java), Bandung high land (West Java) and Gayo high land ( Aceh)

3.    Physical Conditions of Low Lands

     

            The form of the relief of the earth surface which is relatively flat and located less than 500 m high above the sea level is called a low land. Most of the low lands in Indonesia are less than 200 m high above the sea level. The air temperature in this area is usually hot with the average temperature of approximately 25˚C. The low land areas usually have a high level of rainfall.  Its topography is flat, its soil ranges from quite thick to thick and relatively fertile, and the ground water is shallow. Some examples of the low lands in Indonesia are  Sidoarjo low land (East Java),  Surakarta low land (Central Java) and  Gayo low land (Aceh).

3.    The Physical Condition of Beaches (Coasts)

                  Indonesia is an archipelago country so it has a lot of beaches (coasts). Beaches are areas located between flux and reflux, whereas coasts are the areas located adjacent to the sea and the situation is influenced by the situation of the sea.  The beaches in Indonesia have a high air temperature and rainfall, flat up to wavy topography, unfertile land, shallow ground water and in some places, estuaries can be found. The groundwater of some beaches is salty and some others have freshwater.  Some examples of beach areas in Indonesia are  Kuta Beach (Bali), Parangtritis Beach (Yogyakarta) and Losari Beach ( Makasar ).

B.Relationship between the Physical Condition of an Area and People’s Activity

Have you ever been to a high land, low land and mountain? If yes, are there any differences between the people’s activitis in the mountanious areas and those living in the beaches? How are the people’s dwellings in the mountainous areas different from those in the beaches? How do most of the people earn their living?  What are the differences of the farming comodities in those different areas? How is the transportation condition in those areas? Try to identify the  people’s various activities in terms of the jobs, the forms of the dwellings, the arrangement of farming comodities, land utilization and jeans of transportation.

1. People’s Activities in the Mountainous Areas  

         Most of the mountanious areas in Indonesia are utilized for forest plants, both of natural and production forests. Forests play important roles in human life. Their roles are lessening the soil erosión and regulating the water system of the area below them.  Considering the importance of the forests’ roles, we must not cut down trees carelessly. When cutting down trees, we have to replant the forests so that the function of the forest can be preserved.

         Most of those living in the mountains are farmers. In general the plants cultivated are vegetables and fruits, as well as plantation crops. Why aren’t rice plants grown in the mountains? Because the topography is mountainous with steep slopes and the temperature is rather cold. These are not suitable for rice plants. Such a condition is suitable for vegetables, fruits and perennials. Perennials are grown planted in the steep slopes instead of  food crops so that the rate of erosion can be minimizad. In this way landslides or floods do not happen in the slopes. 

The air temperature of high mountainous areas is high so the roofs of most houses are made of  iron sheets and the houses have few ventilations. The purpose of using iron sheets is to absorb heat during the day to keep the house warm and few ventilators  do not let cold wind enter the house. The settlement pattern in the mountainous areas tends to be in groups to be close to water sources or quite fertile lands for farming.         

Mountainous areas have relatively steep slopes so that not all kinds of land transportation can be used. The forms of transportation used are motorcycles, cars, and bus. It is not common to use bicycles, pedicabs, horse drawn carts, and trains. Water transportations like ships or small rafts are not used. 

2. People’s Activites in High Lands

         Most of the high lands in Indonesia are used for forest plants, plantation and farming. The existence forests in the low lands must be kept so that the water system of the areas below them can be preserved. We are not allowed to cut down trees carelessly. If the trees are cut down for a certain purpose, the forests must replanted. In this way, the function of the forests will be sustained.

         Most of the people in this area are farmers. The kinds of vegetables cultivated in this area are vegetables and fruits as what is done in the mountainous areas. Why are rice plants not grown in the high lands? In this area the air temperature is quite cold so that the areas are not suitable for them.  

The air temperature of the high land is cold like that of the mountainous areas, so the roofs of most houses are iron sheets;   furthermore, the houses do not have many ventilations. The purpose of using iron sheets is to absorb heat during the day to keep the house warm. Few ventilators  do not let cold wind enter the house. The settlement pattern in the mountainous areas tend to be in groups to be close to water sources or quite fertile lands for farming.         

         High lands have flat slopes so that all kinds of transportation can be used in this area. The transportations that can be used are bicycles, cars, bicycles, pedicabs, horse-drawn carts, and bus. The uncommonly used ones are trains. Water transportations like ships or small rafts are not used either because the areas in the high lands are narrow.  

3.  People’s Activities in the Low Lands

In Indonesia the low lands are full of dynamics and have various people’s activities. The various activities of the people show heterogenity of people’s jobs. The people in the low lands are farmers, traders, office workers, and others. 

    In general, the linear, convergent, and spreading settlement patterns are mixed into one unity. Easy transportations lead the low lands to be the centres of the people’s activities. Besides, they become the centres of government, communication, education, industry, culture, and other activities.  

      The low lands in Indonesia have high air temperature and rainfall as well as fertile land. The kinds of farming developed in this areas are rice plants and secondary crops. The ease of building the irrigation system enables the rice farming to develop well. 

4. People’s Activities in Beaches

Do you know the job of most people in the beaches (coasts)? Most people in the beaches are fishermen.  Why do they work as fishermen? Because the beaches are near the sea where a great deal of fish are available. The fishermen just take the fish from the sea without firstly having to sow seed fish. Indonesia has amazingly abundant fish resources so this needs to be protected from foreign fishermen stealing the fish. Some people also breed fish in the beaches by making fishponds.

The land in the beaches is not fertile and even some of the land is in the form of swamps. Thus, the farming activities in the beaches do not develop well. The production cost and the production output are not in balance so farmers get only small profits. Most of the swamp areas in the beaches are used for mangroves. The functions of mangroves are 1. prevent the beaches from abrasion, 2. to become the habitat of various water species and 3. to lessen the sea water intrusión. That is why mangroves need to be conserved.

Some beaches in Indonesia are used as tourism objects so the trading activities can occur. Some beaches are also used for the activities of sea transportation in the form of harbour.  The topography of the beaches is relatively flat so various kinds of land transportation can be used. Groundwater can be easily found, but don’t take it too much to avoid sea water intrusión

  In general the air temperature in the beaches is high so it is hot. Therefore, the roofs of the houses in this area are tiles and the houses have many ventilators to make them cool. The settlement pattern is usually linear following the beach line. Such a pattern is very risky when tsunami happens. That is why, people in the beaches must be alert when earthquakes causing tsunami happens.