Indonesia, officially

the Republic of
Indonesia, formerly
Netherlands East
Indies, Archipelago
country, located off
the coast of mainland
Southeast Asia.
 Languages:
Indonesian (Bahasa
Indonesia; official),
several hundred
languages from
different ethnic
groups.
 Religions: Islam;
also Christianity,
Hinduism,
 The islands are
characterized by
rugged volcanic
mountains and
tropical rainforests.
Geologically unstable,
Indonesia has
frequent earthquakes
and hundreds of
active volcanoes,
including Krakatoa
(Krakatau).
Austronesian-
speaking peoples
began migrating to
Indonesia about the
3rd millennium BCE.
Commercial relations
were established with
Africa about the 1st
century CE, and
Hindu and Buddhist
cultural influences
from India began
 European influence
began in the 16th
century, and the
Dutch gradually
established control of
Indonesia from the
late 17th century
until 1942, when the
Japanese invaded.
Sukarno declared
Indonesia’s
independence in
1945, which the
Dutch granted, with
nominal union to The
Netherlands, in 1949;
Indonesia dissolved
this union in 1954.
 Muslim leader
Abdurrahman Wahid
was elected president
in 1999 but was
replaced in 2001 by
his vice president,
Megawati
Sukarnoputri, the
eldest daughter of
Sukarno.
 In 2004 she was
succeeded by Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono
 1. It comprises some 17,500 islands, of which more than 7,000 are uninhabited. Area: 740,122 sq mi
(1,916,907 sq km). Population: (2023 est.) 278,946,000. Capital: Jakarta (on Java). Indonesia has more than 300 ethnic groups, which in the
western islands fall into three broad divisions: the inland wet-rice cultivators (primarily of Java and neighboring islands); the coastal trading,
farming, and fishing peoples, including the Malays of Sumatra; and the inland societies of shifting cultivators, such as the Dayak communities
of Borneo. In the east, the distinction is between coastal and interior peoples.
2. . Currency: rupiah. The Indonesian archipelago stretches 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from west to
east. Major islands include Sumatra, Java (with more than half of Indonesia’s population), Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, about three-fourths of
Borneo (Kalimantan), Celebes (Sulawesi), the Moluccas, and the western portions of Timor and New Guinea.
3. Roughly one-fifth of its land is arable, and rice is the staple crop. Petroleum, natural gas, timber
products, garments, and rubber are major exports. Indonesia is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and
government is the president.
4. Indian traders also brought Islam to the islands, and by the 13th century, it had spread throughout the islands—except Bali, which
retained its Hindu religion and culture. Indonesia now has the largest Muslim population of any country.
5. The suppression of an alleged coup attempt in 1965 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people the government
claimed to be communists, and by 1968 Gen. Suharto had taken power. His government forcibly incorporated East Timor into Indonesia in
1975–76, with much loss of life. In the 1990s the country was beset by political, economic, and environmental problems, and Suharto was
deposed in 1998
6. . In 1999 the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia, which was granted; after a period under UN supervision,
it achieved full sovereignty in 2002. In 2004 a large tsunami generated by an earthquake off the western coast of Sumatra caused widespread
death and destruction.
History of
Indonesia