Indonesia

Republik Indonesia Republic of Indonesia
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika"  (Old Javanese) "Unity in Diversity" National ideology: Pancasila
Anthem: Indonesia Raya
Capital	Jakarta 6°08′S 106°45′E
Largest city	Jakarta
Official languages	Indonesian
Government	Presidential Republic
- President	Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
- Vice President	Jusuf Kalla
Independence	from the Netherlands
- Declared	17 August 1945
- Recognized	27 December 1949
Area
- Total	1,904,569 km² (16th) 735,355 sq mi
- Water (%)	4.85
Population
- 2005 estimate	222,781,000 (4th)
- 2000 census	206,264,595
- Density	117 /km² (84th) 303 /sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
- Total	US$977.4 billion (15th)
- Per capita	US$4,458 (110th)
HDI (2004)	0.711 (medium) (108th)
Currency	Rupiah (IDR)
Time zone	various (UTC+7 to +9)
Internet TLD	.id
Calling code	+62

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a nation of 17,508 islands in the Malay archipelago, making it 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. Indonesia is the world's third largest democracy after India and the USA. Its capital is Jakarta and it shares inland borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia.

The Indonesian Archipelago, home of the Spice Islands, has been an important trade destination since Chinese sailors first profited from the spice trade in ancient times. 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 in medieval times, and Europeans who fought for monopolization of the spice trade during the Age of Exploration. Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for over three centuries; however, the nation declared its independence in 1945, which was internationally recognized 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, environmental catastrophe, and a recent democratization process.

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 help to define Indonesia as a state. 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.

Etymology

The name Indonesia was derived from 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, an English ethnologist George Earl proposed to call the inhabitants of "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago" as either "Indunesians" or "Malayunesians"; preferring the latter term. J.C. Logan, Earl's student, used "Indonesia" in the same publication as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". The Dutch academics who had an important position for the East Indies publications, however, were 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 the novel Max Havelaar in 1860. After 1900, the term Indonesia began to spread in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups began to use the term for their 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

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 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, relegating 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 seventh century BCE allowed villages, towns, and eventually small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. 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 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 with grand monuments built, including Borobudur and Prambanan respectively. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in 1294, and unde