Lombok-Island
Diving: Lombok is a destination for diving tourism. There are various diving areas on the fringing reefs around the island, mainly in the bay in front of the town of Sekotong in the southwest and in the direction of Gili Trawangan northwest of Lombok. There are some diving centers on the island; Due to the proximity to Bali, however, day boat trips are also possible. Similar to the diving areas around Bali, the reefs provide habitat for 1200-3000 different species of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, including 21 different scorpion fish, 14 puffer fish species, 20 seahorses or pipefish and 75 Lobstery and Prawns.
History: The earliest known state establishment on Lombok was a kingdom of the Sasak with the name Selaparang. It was founded by three brothers (including Nek Laki Sutanata, Prabu Kusuma Merapit). In Selaparang, the eldest was not allowed to become king, but only to stand by the king as an advisor. The kingdom split into smaller states and was ruled by Balinese princes from the mid-18th century.
The Samalas volcano on Lombok discharged during the eruption of the Samalas in 1257 in one of the largest volcanic explosions of the last millennia.
The first Dutch landed in 1674 and later settled in the east of the island. In 1891 they fought together with the Sasak in a revolt against the Hindu dynasty from Bali, which ruled in the west. The revolt was bloodily suppressed by Dutch troops (in the Netherlands at that time euphemistically referred to as the "Lombok Expedition") and ended in 1894 with the annexation of the entire island to the Dutch colonial possessions. During the Second World War, the island was occupied by the Japanese in 1942. Lombok has been part of Indonesia since the declaration of independence on August 17, 1945. During political unrest in the 1960s they became communists and members of the Chinese minority killed. In the year 2000 there were again unrest and attacks against the Christian and against the Chinese minority, so that the number of foreign tourists fell sharply for several years.
