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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a nation of 17,508 islands in South East Asia, and the world's largest archipelagic state. With a population of over 200 million, it is the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority nation. With a democratically elected parliament and president, Indonesia is considered the world's third largest democracy (after India and the United States).Its capital is Jakarta, and the country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia and by sea Indonesia neighbours Singapore, The Philippines and Australia.

The Indonesian archipelago, home of the Spice Islands, has been an important trade destination since at least the time of the Srivijaya Kingdom with whom seventh century Chinese sailors traded. Indonesia's history has been influenced by numerous foreign powers that were drawn to the archipelago by its wealth of natural resources; these have included Indians, under whose influence Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished beginning in the early centuries CE, Muslim traders who spread Islam from the thirteenth century, and Europeans who fought for monopolization of the spice trade during the Age of Exploration. A Dutch colonial presence existed in Indonesia for over three centuries; however, Indonesian independence was declared in 1945, which received official international recognition four years later. Indonesia's post-independence history has been turbulent, with political instability including separatism and corruption, periods of rapid economic growth and decline, natural disaster, and a democratization process since 1998.

Indonesia is a unitary state consisting of numerous distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups spread across its numerous islands that have not always been united. However, a shared history of colonialism, rebellion against it, a national language, and a Muslim majority population have helped to define Indonesia as a state and nation. Indonesia's national motto, "Bhinneka tunggal ika" ("Unity in diversity", derived from Old Javanese), reflects the amalgamation of a myriad cultures, languages, and ethnic groups that shape every aspect of the country.Sectarian tensions and separatism, however, have threatened political stability in some regions, leading to violent confrontations.

The name Indonesia was derived from the Latin Indus, meaning "India", and Greek nesos, meaning "island".Dating back to the eighteenth century, the name far predates the formation of the Indonesian nation. In 1850 George Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed either the term "Indunesians" or his preference "Malayunesians" for the inhabitants of "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication a student of Earl's, J.C. Logan, used "Indonesia" as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". Dutch academics with important positions in East Indies publications were, however, reluctant to use "Indonesia".They used either the term of "Malay Archipelago" (Maleische Archipel), the "Netherlands East Indies" (Nederlandsch Oost Indïes), popularly Indïe, "the East" (de Oost) or even Insulinde, a term introduced in 1860 in the influential novel Max Havelaar critical of Dutch colonialism. From 1900, the term Indonesia began to spread in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups began to use the term for political expression. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara) when he established a press bureau with the name of Indonesisch Pers-bureau in the Netherlands in 1913.

 History

The nutmeg plant; native to Indonesia's Banda Islands and once one of the world's most valuable commodities, which drew European colonial powers to Indonesia.

 History of Indonesia

Fossil evidence suggests the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo erectus,^[ popularly known as the "Java Man". Estimates of its existence range from 500,000 to 2 million years ago. The Austronesian people who form the majority of today's population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan and first arrived in Indonesia around 2,000 BCE, pushing an existing population of Melanesian people to the far eastern regions as they expanded. Ideal agricultural conditions and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE allowed villages, towns, and eventually small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. The region established trade between both India and China several centuries BCE.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 CE. 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 CE, the agriculturally-based Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java, building grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's Borobudur and Mataram's Prambanan. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in East Java in the late thirteenth century, and under its mid fourteenth century military commander, Gajah Mada, its influence stretched over much of modern day Indonesia. This period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" of Indonesian history.

The logo of the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC.

Islam is thought to have been brought to Indonesia by Muslim traders and there were Muslim populations in northern Sumatra by the thirteenth century.Islam was gradually adopted by other Indonesian areas, often along trade routes, and was the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the sixteenth century. 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 1512, the Portuguese, led by Francisco Serrão, 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. Following bankruptcy, however, the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800 and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a nationalised 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.

Contemporary issues

As of 2006, an estimated 17.8% of the population live below the poverty line and 49.0% of the population live on less than US$2 per day.The East Asian financial crisis of 1998 severely increased levels of poverty. The average annual growth rate of 5% in recent years is not enough, however, to make a significant impact on unemployment. In 2005, the Government was forced to reduce its large subsidies on fuel prices drastically as international oil prices climbed, which, combined with stagnant wages growth and increasing rice prices, have worsened poverty levels. Another stated Government priority is to reduce corruption and the lack of judicial independence, which significantly raises producers' costs and business uncertainty, and deters vital domestic and foreign investment.Despite a significant degree of economnic stability returning, economic watchers and most significantly investors, remain sceptical about the government's reform measures.

Significant separatist movements in the provinces of Aceh and Papua have led to armed conflict and allegations of human rights abuses. Following a long standing guerrilla war between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian military, a ceasefire agreement was reached in 2005. In Papua, there has been a significant, albeit imperfect, implementation of regional autonomy laws, and a reported decline in the levels of violence and human rights abuses since the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

National flags at the site of the 2002 terrorist bombing in Kuta, Bali.

Terrorist bombings linked to extreme Islamism and Al-Qaeda have occurred in Bali and Jakarta; the most deadly killed 202 people (including 164 international tourists) in the Bali resort town of Kuta in 2002. The attacks combined with travel warnings issued by other countries have severely damaged the Indonesia's important tourist industry and the economy's foreign investment prospects. In cooperation with other countries, the Government has achieved substantial, but so far incomplete, success in apprehending and prosecuting the perpetrators and fracturing their organizations.

In the freer political environment of the post-Suharto years, the role of religion, particularly Islam, in society and politics is hotly debated. The current "anti-pornography" bill before Parliament, for example, is aimed not only at publications and movies, but also at outlawing immodest dress and public displays of affection such as kissing and dancing. Its supporters argue that it is a necessity to maintain moral standards; its detractors maintain it would be an unwelcome control of individual freedoms and would be discriminatory towards women in particular.

Etymology