Indonesia,[b] officially the Republic of Indonesia,[c] is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Comprising over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world’s fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world’s most populous island, is home to more than half of the country’s population.
Indonesia operates as a presidential republic with an elected legislature and consists of 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. Jakarta, the largest city, is the world’s most-populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and East Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity.
The Indonesian archipelago has been a valuable region for trade since at least the seventh century, when Sumatra’s Srivijaya and later Java’s Majapahit kingdoms engaged in commerce with entities from mainland China and the Indian subcontinent. Over the centuries, local rulers assimilated foreign influences, leading to the flourishing of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms. Sunni traders and Sufi scholars later brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolise trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945. Since then, it has faced challenges such as separatism, corruption, and natural disasters, alongside democratisation and rapid economic growth.
Indonesian society comprises hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups, with Javanese being the largest. The nation’s identity is unified under the motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, defined by a national language, cultural and religious pluralism, a history of colonialism, and rebellion against it. A newly industrialised country, Indonesia’s economy ranks as the world’s 17th-largest by nominal GDP and the 7th-largest by PPP. As the world’s third-largest democracy and a middle power in global affairs, the country is a member of several multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, G20, MIKTA, BRICS and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, APEC and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Etymology
The name Indonesia derives from the Greek words Indos (Ἰνδός) and nesos (νῆσος), meaning “Indian islands”.[12] The name dates back to the 19th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, Malayunesians—for the inhabitants of the “Indian Archipelago or Malay Archipelago“.[13][14] In the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago.[15][16] Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia. They preferred Malay Archipelago (Dutch: Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost); and Insulinde.[17]
After 1900, Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and native nationalist groups adopted it for political expression.[17] Adolf Bastian of the University of Berlin popularised the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first native scholar to use the name was Ki Hajar Dewantara, who established a press bureau in the Netherlands, Indonesisch Pers-bureau, in 1918.[14]
History
The Indonesian archipelago has been inhabited since the time of Homo erectus or “Java Man,” with fossils dating back 2 million to 500,000 BCE.[18][19][20] Fossils of Homo floresiensis, found on Flores, date around 700,000 to 60,000 BCE, while Homo sapiens arrived around 50,000 BCE.[21][22] Sulawesi and Borneo are home to the world’s oldest known cave paintings, dating back 40,000 to 60,000 years,[23][24] and megalithic sites such as western Java’s Gunung Padang, Sulawesi’s Lore Lindu, as well as Sumatra’s Nias and Sumba reflect early human settlements and ceremonial practices.[25]
Around 2,000 BCE, Austronesian peoples began arriving in Southeast Asia from the island of Taiwan,[26] gradually displacing native Melanesians to the far eastern part of the archipelago as they spread east,[27] and would eventually form the majority of Indonesia’s modern population. Favourable agricultural conditions and advancements like wet-field rice cultivation by the 8th century BCE[28] enabled the growth of villages and kingdoms by the first century CE. The archipelago’s strategic location fostered inter-island and international exchange with civilisations from the Indian subcontinent and mainland China, profoundly influencing Indonesian history and culture through trade.[29][30][31]
By the 7th century CE, the Srivijaya naval kingdom thrived on trade, adopting Hindu and Buddhist influences.[32][33] The 8th to 10th centuries saw the rise and decline of the Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties, leaving monumental legacies like the Borobudur and Prambanan temples.[34] After the failed Mongol invasion of Java in the late 13th century,[35] the Hindu Majapahit kingdom rose to dominate much of the archipelago under Gajah Mada‘s leadership—a period often called the “Golden Age” of Indonesian history.[36] Islam arrived in the 13th century in northern Sumatra,[37] and following gradual adoption in other islands, it became the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the 16th century, blending with pre-existing traditions to form a distinct Islamic culture, particularly in Java.[38]
Colonial era
In 1512, Europeans began arriving in the archipelago, led by Portuguese traders under Francisco Serrão, to seek a monopoly of the lucrative spice trade in the Maluku Islands.[39] Dutch and British traders soon followed, with the former establishing the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) in 1602,[40] which eventually became the dominant European power for almost two centuries. After the VOC’s dissolution in 1799 during the French Revolutionary Wars,[40] the Dutch East Indies was established as a nationalised colony,[41] marking the beginning of formal colonial rule by the Netherlands.
Over the next century and a half, Dutch control over the archipelago was tenuous, as they faced continuous rebellions from local leaders like Prince Diponegoro in central Java, Imam Bonjol in central Sumatra, Pattimura in Maluku, and fighters in Aceh.[42][43][44] Dutch dominance only extended to Indonesia’s modern boundaries in the early 20th century,[44][45][46][47] with the establishment of Dutch posts in New Guinea.[48]
During World War II, the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Indies ended Dutch rule[49] and encouraged Indonesia’s independence movement.[50] Only two days after Japan’s surrender in August 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta issued the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, and they became the country’s first president and vice-president, along with Sutan Sjahrir as Prime Minister.[51][52][53][51] The Netherlands attempted to re-establish their rule, prompting the start of Indonesia’s war of independence against the Dutch. The conflict lasted until 1949, when the Dutch recognised Indonesian independence in the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference following international pressure.[54][53] Despite political, social, and sectarian divisions, Indonesians found unity in their fight for independence.[55][56]
