Qualla: Lesser Sunda Islands

Lesser Sunda Islands: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 06Ivonne, CC BY-SA 4.0. Between Bali and Lombok -- two islands separated by only 35 kilometers of water -- the natural world changes more dramatically than across entire continents. The Lombok Strait runs deep, and it ran deep even during ice ages when lower sea levels welded Bali to the Asian mainland. Alfred Russel Wallace noticed this in the 1850s, describing a boundary so sharp that Asian barbets and woodpeckers on Bali gave way to Australasian cockatoos and honeyeaters on Lombok. The line that bears his name passes right through the Lesser Sunda Islands, also known as Nusa Tenggara -- the 'Southeast Islands' in Old Javanese. This volcanic archipelago, curving east from Bali through Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, and Timor, sits at the collision zone of two tectonic plates, two biological realms, and centuries of competing colonial ambitions. More than 17 million people live here now. So does the world's largest lizard.

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Image: 06Ivonne | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lesser Sunda Islands: Born from Collision

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lencer, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Lesser Sundas exist because the Australian and Eurasian plates have been grinding into each other for roughly 15 million years. The collision produced the Sunda Arc, a chain of volcanic islands formed by subduction along the Sunda Trench in the Java Sea. The northern chain --...

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Image: Lencer | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lesser Sunda Islands: Wallace's Invisible Wall

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Elsa Primadita, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Wallace Line is one of the most important concepts in biogeography, and the Lesser Sundas are where it becomes visible. During glacial periods, lower sea levels connected Bali to Java, Sumatra, and the Asian mainland -- a vast landmass called Sundaland. Elephants, tigers, and...

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Image: Elsa Primadita | CC BY-SA 4.0

Lesser Sunda Islands: Kingdom of the Dragon

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adhi Rachdian from Indonesia, CC BY 2.0. The most famous resident of the Lesser Sundas needs no introduction, though its dimensions bear repeating: three meters long, ninety kilograms, carnivorous. The Komodo dragon survives on just five islands -- Komodo, Rinca, Gili Motang, Gili Dasami, and the northwestern coast of F...

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Image: Adhi Rachdian from Indonesia | CC BY 2.0

Lesser Sunda Islands: Islands of Isolation

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MODIS Response Rapid Team, Public domain. Small islands breed specialization and vulnerability in roughly equal measure. The Lesser Sundas' endemic mammals include the endangered Flores shrew, the vulnerable Komodo rat, and the Lombok flying fox -- species that evolved in isolation on islands where a single cyclone or fo...

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Image: MODIS Response Rapid Team | Public domain

Lesser Sunda Islands: Divided by Decree

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Burmesedays, CC BY-SA 3.0. Politically, the Lesser Sundas trace an equally complicated arc. From 1945, the Indonesian government administered the islands as a single province called Sunda Kecil -- 'Lesser Sundas' -- later renamed Nusa Tenggara. In 1958, this was split into three provinces: Bali, West Nusa ...

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Image: Burmesedays | CC BY-SA 3.0