Click here for a full-size version of this week’s map.

This map is a choropleth of the provinces of Indonesia. (Do you need a refresher on what a choropleth is? Visit our “Basics” page for a quick primer.) On this map, each province is shaded in accordance with a particular statistic. Darker colors represent higher values of the statistic in question. As always, your job is to figure out what this choropleth represents.

Stumped? Check back Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for hints about where to focus your investigation. The answer will be posted on Monday, October 2. Good luck!

Tuesday’s hint: If you don’t know all that much about Indonesia but want to dig into this map, one starting point that might be helpful is to learn a little about the April 2017 election to be governor of Jakarta. Jakarta, of course, is Indonesia’s capital and largest city; being governor of the province that contains it is akin to being its mayor. This year’s campaign was rough and contentious, and it illuminated a lot of important themes running through modern Indonesian society.

Wednesday’s hint: One thing that stands out on this map is that the island of Bali is much less dark than the islands on either side of it (Java to the west and Lombok to the east). So you have to ask yourself: what’s special about Bali?

Thursday’s hint: The darkest shade on this map is used for many provinces—an indication that the trait in question is common throughout Indonesia. That means that no individual province stands out. But you should know that the single province with the highest value for this week’s mystery statistic is Aceh, a province in the northern part of Sumatra. Aceh has an interesting political history that has led to some unique cultural differences between Aceh and the rest of Indonesia. Can you figure out what makes Aceh’s legal system different from that of the rest of the country?

Friday’s hint: This map has to do with the distribution of religious communities in Indonesia.

Answer: Click here to see an explanation of the answer to this week’s map question.

Next map: Click here to try out our newest map question.