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The map of Indonesia suggests a high diversity in types of agriculture. The archipelago has countless different islands that stretch out over thousands of kilometers from east to west, above and below the equator. It has a rich biodiversity and the techniques the people developed to benefit from the natural environment have distinct features on each of the islands. Despite all this diversity, some clear patterns can be detected, based on three major factors. The first is the monsoon climate that divides the year into a dry and wet season with an overall high precipitation of roughly 1,700–3,000 mm in the lowlands and to over 6,000 mm in the mountainous regions. The combination of high rainfall and, for tropical conditions, not excessively high temperatures throughout the year creates a favorable climate for many different crops. The geology and elevation of the landscape is a second factor. The islands are positioned on the edges of different tectonic plates, resulting in vast...

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Maat, H. (2014). Agriculture in Indonesia. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10229-1

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