Waterborne commerce, vital to any archipelago, was conducted in crude sailing craft. |
As on many of the thousand islands in the archipelago, there are no roads and no electricity. |
She also said her top priority was to prevent the diverse archipelago being torn apart by separatist rebellions. |
During the 32-year long kleptocratic rule of the authoritarian president Soeharto the huge Indonesian archipelago was ruled from Jakarta. |
There are 13 main islands in the archipelago, plus four islets and some 40 outcrops of jagged rocks. |
Wire communications facilities across the Philippine Islands linked the archipelago by submarine cable. |