Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) stretching along the equator in South East Asia. The country's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade, trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history. The area is populated by peoples of various migrations, creating a diversity of cultures, ethnicities, and languages.
Fossil evidence suggests the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo erectus, popularly termed the "Java Man". Estimates of its existence range from 500,000 to 2 million years ago. The modern peoples of Indonesia are of Malay origin and are descendant from immigrants from mainland South East Asia who first arrived around 6,000 years ago. Ideal agricultural conditions and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the seventh century BC allowed villages, towns, and eventually small kingdoms to flourish by the first century AD. Around the same time, the region established trade between both India and China. Fostered by Indonesia’s strategic sea-lane position, trade continued to be one of the most important influences on the country’s history.
It was upon this trade, and the Hinduism and Buddhism that was brought with it, that the Sriwijaya kingdom flourished from the seventh century AD. It became a powerful naval state, growing wealthy on the international trade it controlled through the region until its decline in the twelfth century. During the eighth and tenth centuries AD, the agriculturally-based Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java with grand monuments built, including Borobudur and Prambanan respectively. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in 1294, and under its military commander Gajah Mada stretched over much of modern day Indonesia in 1350. This period is referred to as a "Golden Age" in the country’s history.
Arab traders first brought Islam to Indonesia in the late twelfth century, establishing settlements in the Aceh region. It spread across the Indonesian archipelago, following trade routes. Rather than a violent conquest, it was, for the most part, peacefully laid over and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences shaping what is still the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java. European traders first arrived in the early sixteenth century seeking to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in The Moluccas. In 1506, the Portuguese, led by Ferdinand Magellan, were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia; the Dutch and British followed. The Dutch became the dominant traders in Indonesia, establishing the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602. The VOC, however, was dissolved in 1798 and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a fully-fledged colony.
The Dutch colonial presence in Indonesia existed in various forms for over three hundred years until the Japanese occupation during World War II. During the war, Sukarno, a popular leader of the Indonesian Nationalist Party, cooperated with the occupying Japanese with the intention of strengthening the independence movement. On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender, Sukarno unilaterally declared Indonesian independence. Sukarno was declared the first president and Muhammad Hatta the vice-president. Over the next four years, a bitter armed conflict was fought as the Netherlands tried to win back its colony; in the face of international pressure, the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence in 1949.
Sukarno's presidency relied on balancing the often opposing forces of the Military, Islam and Communism. Increasing tensions, however, between the powerful Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and the Military culminated in an abortive coup on 30 September 1965, during which six top-ranking generals were murdered in contentious circumstances. A quick counter-coup led by Major General Suharto resulted in a violent anti-communist purge centered mainly in Java and Bali. Hundreds of thousands were killed– the exact figure is uncertain with estimates ranging from 100,000 to as many as two million– and the dominant PKI was in effect destroyed. Politically, Suharto capitalized on Sukarno's gravely weakened position; by March 1967, he had maneuvered himself into the presidency in a drawn out power play between the two. Commonly referred to as the "New Order", Suharto's administration encouraged foreign investment in Indonesia, which become a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth.
In 1997-98, however, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian Financial Crisis. This aggravated popular discontent with Suharto, who was already facing accusations of corruption. Popular protests against his now weakened presidency broke out in early 1998 and on 21 May 1998, Suharto announced his resignation, ushering in the Reformasi era in Indonesia. East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999, following the 1975 invasion and subsequent twenty-five-year occupation marked by repression and human rights abuses, for which Indonesia was internationally condemned.
A wide range of reforms have been introduced since Suharto's resignation, including Indonesia's first direct presidential election in 2004, although progress has been slowed by political and economic instability, social unrest, terrorism and recent natural disasters. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent, even violence, remains a problem in some areas. A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in Aceh was achieved in 2005.
Fossil evidence suggests the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo erectus, popularly termed the "Java Man". Estimates of its existence range from 500,000 to 2 million years ago. The modern peoples of Indonesia are of Malay origin and are descendant from immigrants from mainland South East Asia who first arrived around 6,000 years ago. Ideal agricultural conditions and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the seventh century BC allowed villages, towns, and eventually small kingdoms to flourish by the first century AD. Around the same time, the region established trade between both India and China. Fostered by Indonesia’s strategic sea-lane position, trade continued to be one of the most important influences on the country’s history.
It was upon this trade, and the Hinduism and Buddhism that was brought with it, that the Sriwijaya kingdom flourished from the seventh century AD. It became a powerful naval state, growing wealthy on the international trade it controlled through the region until its decline in the twelfth century. During the eighth and tenth centuries AD, the agriculturally-based Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java with grand monuments built, including Borobudur and Prambanan respectively. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in 1294, and under its military commander Gajah Mada stretched over much of modern day Indonesia in 1350. This period is referred to as a "Golden Age" in the country’s history.
Arab traders first brought Islam to Indonesia in the late twelfth century, establishing settlements in the Aceh region. It spread across the Indonesian archipelago, following trade routes. Rather than a violent conquest, it was, for the most part, peacefully laid over and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences shaping what is still the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java. European traders first arrived in the early sixteenth century seeking to monopolize the sources of nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in The Moluccas. In 1506, the Portuguese, led by Ferdinand Magellan, were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia; the Dutch and British followed. The Dutch became the dominant traders in Indonesia, establishing the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602. The VOC, however, was dissolved in 1798 and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a fully-fledged colony.
The Dutch colonial presence in Indonesia existed in various forms for over three hundred years until the Japanese occupation during World War II. During the war, Sukarno, a popular leader of the Indonesian Nationalist Party, cooperated with the occupying Japanese with the intention of strengthening the independence movement. On 17 August 1945, two days after the Japanese surrender, Sukarno unilaterally declared Indonesian independence. Sukarno was declared the first president and Muhammad Hatta the vice-president. Over the next four years, a bitter armed conflict was fought as the Netherlands tried to win back its colony; in the face of international pressure, the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence in 1949.
Sukarno's presidency relied on balancing the often opposing forces of the Military, Islam and Communism. Increasing tensions, however, between the powerful Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and the Military culminated in an abortive coup on 30 September 1965, during which six top-ranking generals were murdered in contentious circumstances. A quick counter-coup led by Major General Suharto resulted in a violent anti-communist purge centered mainly in Java and Bali. Hundreds of thousands were killed– the exact figure is uncertain with estimates ranging from 100,000 to as many as two million– and the dominant PKI was in effect destroyed. Politically, Suharto capitalized on Sukarno's gravely weakened position; by March 1967, he had maneuvered himself into the presidency in a drawn out power play between the two. Commonly referred to as the "New Order", Suharto's administration encouraged foreign investment in Indonesia, which become a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth.
In 1997-98, however, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian Financial Crisis. This aggravated popular discontent with Suharto, who was already facing accusations of corruption. Popular protests against his now weakened presidency broke out in early 1998 and on 21 May 1998, Suharto announced his resignation, ushering in the Reformasi era in Indonesia. East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999, following the 1975 invasion and subsequent twenty-five-year occupation marked by repression and human rights abuses, for which Indonesia was internationally condemned.
A wide range of reforms have been introduced since Suharto's resignation, including Indonesia's first direct presidential election in 2004, although progress has been slowed by political and economic instability, social unrest, terrorism and recent natural disasters. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent, even violence, remains a problem in some areas. A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in Aceh was achieved in 2005.
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