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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and
Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
between the
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
and
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
, and parts of
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
and
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
. Indonesia is the world's largest
archipelagic state An archipelagic state is an island country that consists of an archipelago. The designation is legally defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In various conferences, The Bahamas, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guine ...
and the 14th-largest country by area, at . With over 275 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 is a presidential
republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
with an elected
legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
. It has 38 provinces, of which nine have
special status Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...
. The country's capital,
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
, is the world's second-most populous urban area. Indonesia shares
land borders Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ca ...
with
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
,
East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
, and the eastern part of
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, as well as
maritime border A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of the Earth's water surface areas using physiographic or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Bound ...
s with
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...
, and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
(
Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
). 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 The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands. History ...
has been a valuable region for trade since at least the 7th century when
Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
and later
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
traded with entities from
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign influences from the early centuries, and
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
kingdoms flourished.
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
traders and
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
scholars brought
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, while
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
was spread by Europeans. Although the
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
, the French and British also ruled at some point, the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
were the foremost
colonial power Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
for much of their presence in the archipelago. The concept of "Indonesia" as a nation-state emerged in the early 20th century, culminating later in the
proclamation of Indonesian Independence The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence ( id, Proklamasi Kemerdekaan Indonesia, or simply ''Proklamasi'') was read at 10:00 on Friday, 17 August 1945 in Jakarta. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed resistance of th ...
in 1945. However, it was not until 1949 that the Dutch recognised Indonesia's sovereignty following an armed and diplomatic conflict between the two. Indonesia consists of thousands of distinct native ethnic and hundreds of
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
groups, with Javanese being the largest. A shared identity has developed with the motto ''"
Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ''Bhinneka Tunggal Ika'' is the official national motto of Indonesia, inscribed in the National emblem of Indonesia, the Garuda Pancasila, written on the scroll gripped by the Garuda's claws. The phrase comes from the Kawi language, Old Javanes ...
"'' ("Unity in Diversity" ''literally'', "many, yet one"), defined by a
national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
, cultural diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. The
economy of Indonesia The economy of Indonesia is the largest in Southeast Asia and is one of the emerging market economies. As a middle-income country and member of the G20, Indonesia is classified as a newly industrialized country. It is the 17th largest economy ...
is the world's 17th-largest by nominal GDP and the 7th-largest by PPP. It is a
regional power In international relations, since the late 20thcentury, the term "regional power" has been used for a sovereign state that exercises significant power within a given geographical region.Joachim Betz, Ian Taylor"The Rise of (New) Regional Pow ...
and is considered a
middle power In international relations, a middle power is a sovereign state that is not a great power nor a superpower, but still has large or moderate influence and international recognition. The concept of the "middle power" dates back to the origins of ...
in global affairs. The country is a member of several multilateral organisations, including the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
,
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
,
G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...
, and a founding member of the
Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
,
Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
,
East Asia Summit The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Oceanian regions, based on the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism. Membership expanded to 18 countrie ...
, D-8 and the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...
.


Etymology

The name ''Indonesia'' derives from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
words () and (), meaning "Indian islands". The name dates back to the
19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...
, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850,
George Windsor Earl George Windsor Earl (1813–1865), was an English navigator and author of works on the Indian Archipelago. He coined the term 'Indu-nesian', later adopted as the name for Indonesia. Biography Earl was born in London around 1813. He travelled to ...
, an English
ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
, proposed the terms ''Indunesians''—and, his preference, ''Malayunesians''—for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...
". In the same publication, one of his students,
James Richardson Logan James Richardson Logan (born 10 April 1819 in Berwickshire, Scotland, died 20 October 1869 in Penang, Straits Settlements) was a lawyer who popularised the name Indonesia after it was coined by the English ethnologist George Windsor Earl. He was ...
, used ''Indonesia'' as a synonym for ''Indian Archipelago''. Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use ''Indonesia''. They preferred ''Malay Archipelago'' ( nl, Maleische Archipel); the ''
Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
'' (), popularly ; ''the East'' (); and . After 1900, ''Indonesia'' became more common in academic circles outside the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and native nationalist groups adopted it for political expression.
Adolf Bastian Adolf Philipp Wilhelm Bastian (26 June 18262 February 1905) was a 19th-century polymath best remembered for his contributions to the development of ethnography and the development of anthropology as a discipline. Modern psychology owes him a great ...
of the University of Berlin popularized the name through his book . The first native scholar to use the name was
Ki Hajar Dewantara Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat ( EYD: Suwardi Suryaningrat); from 1922 also known as Ki Hadjar Dewantara (EYD: Ki Hajar Dewantara), which is also written as Ki Hajar Dewantoro to reflect its Javanese sounds (2 May 1889 in Pakualaman – 26 Ap ...
when in 1913, he established a press bureau in the Netherlands, .


History


Early history

Fossilised remains of ''
Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'', popularly known as the "
Java Man Java Man (''Homo erectus erectus'', formerly also ''Anthropopithecus erectus'', ''Pithecanthropus erectus'') is an early human fossil discovered in 1891 and 1892 on the island of Java (Dutch East Indies, now part of Indonesia). Estimated to be ...
", suggest the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. ''
Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'' reached the region around 43,000 BCE.
Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austro ...
, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to Southeast Asia from what is now Taiwan. They arrived in the archipelago around 2,000 BCE and confined the native
Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fa ...
to the far eastern regions as they spread east. Ideal agricultural conditions and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. The archipelago's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade, including with Indian kingdoms and Chinese dynasties, from several centuries BCE. Trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history. From the seventh century CE, the
Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
naval kingdom flourished due to trade and the influences of
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
and
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. At that time, ancient Indonesian sailors had made long voyages to
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...
. Between the eighth and tenth centuries CE, the agricultural Buddhist
Sailendra The Shailendra dynasty (, derived from Sanskrit combined words ''Śaila'' and ''Indra'', meaning "King of the Mountain", also spelled Sailendra, Syailendra or Selendra) was the name of a notable Indianised dynasty that emerged in 8th-century ...
and Hindu Mataram dynasties thrived and declined in inland Java, leaving grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
and Mataram's
Prambanan Prambanan ( id, Candi Prambanan, jv, ꦫꦫꦗꦺꦴꦁꦒꦿꦁ, Rara Jonggrang) is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the P ...
. The Hindu
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under
Gajah Mada Gajah Mada (c. 1290 – c. 1364), also known as JirnnodharaMunandar, 2010: 77 was, according to Old Javanese manuscripts, poems, and inscriptions, a powerful military leader and '' Mahapatih'' (the approximate equivalent of a modern Prime ...
, its influence stretched over much of present-day Indonesia. This period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" in Indonesian history. The earliest evidence of Islamized populations in the archipelago dates to the 13th century in northern
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
. Other parts of the archipelago gradually adopted Islam, and it was the dominant religion in
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, which shaped the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java.


Colonial era

The first Europeans arrived in the archipelago in 1512, when Portuguese traders, led by
Francisco Serrão Francisco Serrão (died 1521) was a Portuguese explorer and a possible cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through modern Indonesia and the East Indies. He became a confidant of Su ...
, sought to monopolise the sources of
nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...
,
cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, s ...
, and cubeb pepper in the
Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
. Dutch and British traders followed. In 1602, the Dutch established the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
(VOC) and became the dominant European power for almost 200 years. The VOC was dissolved in 1799 following bankruptcy, and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
established the
Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
as a nationalised colony. For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over the archipelago was tenuous. Dutch forces were engaged continuously in quelling rebellions both on and off Java. The influence of local leaders such as
Prince Diponegoro Prince Diponegoro ( jv, ꦢꦶꦥꦤꦼꦒꦫ; born Bendara Raden Mas Mustahar, ; later Bendara Raden Mas Antawirya ; 11 November 1785 – 8 January 1855), also known as Dipanegara, was a Javanese people, Javanese prince who opposed the Dutch Colo ...
in central Java,
Imam Bonjol Tuanku Imam Bonjol (1772 – 6 November 1864), also known as Muhammad Syahab, Peto Syarif, and Malim Basa, was one of the most popular leaders of the Padri War, Padri movement in Central Sumatra. He was declared a National Hero of Indonesia ...
in central Sumatra,
Pattimura Thomas Matulessy (8 June 178316 December 1817), also known as Kapitan Pattimura or simply Pattimura, was a famous Ambonese soldier who became a symbol of both the Maluku and Indonesian struggle for independence, praised by President Sukarno a ...
in Maluku, and the bloody 30-year war in Aceh weakened the Dutch and tied up the colonial military forces. Only in the early 20th century did Dutch dominance extend to what was to become Indonesia's current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during World War II ended Dutch rule and encouraged the previously suppressed independence movement. Two days after the
surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...
in August 1945,
Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...
and
Mohammad Hatta Mohammad Hatta (; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman and nationalist who served as the country's first vice president. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indone ...
, influential nationalist leaders, proclaimed Indonesian independence and were appointed president and vice-president, respectively. The Netherlands attempted to re-establish their rule, and a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle ended in December 1949 when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesian independence in the face of international pressure and transferred sovereignty to the
United States of Indonesia The United States of Indonesia ( nl, Verenigde Staten van Indonesië, id, Republik Indonesia Serikat, abbreviated as RIS), was a short-lived federal state to which the Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies (except ...
. Despite extraordinary political, social, and sectarian divisions, Indonesians, on the whole, found unity in their fight for independence.


Post-World War II

As president, Sukarno moved Indonesia from democracy towards authoritarianism and maintained power by balancing the opposing forces of
the military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, political Islam, and the increasingly powerful
Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. ...
(PKI). Tensions between the military and the PKI culminated in an attempted coup in 1965. The army, led by Major General
Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
, countered by instigating a violent anti-communist purge that killed between 500,000 and one million people. The PKI was blamed for the coup and effectively destroyed. Suharto capitalised on Sukarno's weakened position, and following a drawn-out power play with Sukarno, Suharto was appointed president in March 1968. His "New Order" administration, supported by the United States, encouraged
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
, which was a crucial factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth. Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the
1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
. It brought out popular discontent with the New Order's corruption and suppression of political opposition and ultimately ended Suharto's presidency. In 1999, East Timor seceded from Indonesia, following its 1975 invasion by Indonesia and a 25-year occupation marked by international condemnation of
human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
. Since 1998, democratic processes have been strengthened by enhancing regional autonomy and instituting the country's first direct presidential election in 2004. Political, economic and social instability, corruption, and instances of
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
remained problems in the 2000s; however, the economy has performed strongly in the last 15 years. Although relations among the diverse population are mostly harmonious, acute sectarian discontent and violence remain problematic in some areas. A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in
Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
was achieved in 2005 following the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
that killed 130,000 Indonesians.


Geography

Indonesia lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N and longitudes 95°E and 141°E. It is the world's largest
archipelagic state An archipelagic state is an island country that consists of an archipelago. The designation is legally defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In various conferences, The Bahamas, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guine ...
, extending from east to west and from north to south. The country's
Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investments Affairs Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs ( id, Kementerian Koordinator Bidang Kemaritiman dan Investasi) is the Indonesian government ministry in charge of planning, coordinating as well as synchronizing policies in maritime af ...
says Indonesia has 17,504 islands (with 16,056 registered at the UN) scattered over both sides of the equator, around 6,000 of which are inhabited. The largest are
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
,
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
(shared with Brunei and Malaysia),
Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
, and
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
(shared with Papua New Guinea). Indonesia shares land borders with
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
on Borneo and
Sebatik Sebatik Island (Indonesian/ Malay: ''Pulau Sebatik'') is an island off the eastern coast of Borneo, partly within Indonesia and partly within Malaysia. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia. Sebatik has an area ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
on the island of New Guinea,
East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
on the island of
Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...
, and maritime borders with
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, Malaysia,
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...
, and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. At ,
Puncak Jaya Puncak Jaya (; literally "Glorious Peak") or Carstensz Pyramid, Mount Jayawijaya or Mount Carstensz () on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the list of islands by highest point, highest mountain peak of an island on Earth. Th ...
is Indonesia's highest peak, and
Lake Toba Lake Toba ( id, Danau Toba) ( Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: ''Tao Toba'') is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of a supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the ...
in Sumatra is the largest lake, with an area of 1,145 km2 (442 sq mi). Indonesia's largest rivers are in Kalimantan and
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
and include Kapuas, Barito,
Mamberamo The Mamberamo (''Indonesian: Sungai Mamberamo'') is the second longest river on the island of New Guinea, after Sepik River (1,146 km) and third largest in Oceania by discharge (5,500 m3/s) volume after Fly River (7,500 m3/s) and Sepik (7,000 m3/ ...
,
Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepi ...
and
Mahakam The Mahakam River ( Indonesian: ''Sungai Mahakam'') is third longest and volume discharge river in Borneo after Kapuas River and Barito River, it is located in Kalimantan, Indonesia. It flows from the district of Long Apari in the highlands ...
. They serve as communication and transport links between the island's river settlements.


Climate

Indonesia lies along the equator, and its climate tends to be relatively even year-round. Indonesia has two seasons—a
wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...
and a
dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...
—with no extremes of summer or winter. For most of Indonesia, the dry season falls between May and October, with the wet season between November and April. Indonesia's climate is almost entirely
tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
, dominated by the
tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...
found on every large island of Indonesia. More cooling climate types do exist in mountainous regions that are above sea level. The oceanic climate (Köppen ''Cfb'') prevails in highland areas adjacent to rainforest climates, with reasonably uniform precipitation year-round. In highland areas near the tropical monsoon and tropical savanna climates, the subtropical highland climate (Köppen ''Cwb'') is prevalent with a more pronounced dry season. Some regions, such as
Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...
and
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
, experience only slight differences in rainfall and temperature between the seasons, whereas others, such as Nusa Tenggara, experience far more pronounced differences with droughts in the dry season and floods in the wet. Rainfall varies across regions, with more in western Sumatra, Java, and the interiors of Kalimantan and Papua, and less in areas closer to Australia, such as Nusa Tenggara, which tends to be dry. The almost uniformly warm waters that constitute 81% of Indonesia's area ensure that land temperatures remain relatively constant.
Humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...
is quite high, at between 70 and 90%. Winds are moderate and generally predictable, with
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
s usually blowing in from the south and east in June through October and from the northwest in November through March.
Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
s and large-scale storms pose little hazard to mariners; significant dangers come from swift currents in channels, such as the
Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...
and Sape straits. Several studies consider Indonesia to be at severe risk from the projected effects of climate change. These include unreduced emissions resulting in an average temperature rise of around by mid-century, raising the frequency of drought and food shortages (with an impact on precipitation and the patterns of wet and dry seasons, and thus Indonesia's agriculture system) as well as numerous diseases and wildfires.
Rising sea levels Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
would also threaten most of Indonesia's population, who live in low-lying coastal areas. Impoverished communities would likely be affected the most by climate change.


Geology

Tectonically Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...
, most of Indonesia's area is highly unstable, making it a site of numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. It lies on the Pacific
Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
, where the
Indo-Australian Plate The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and the surrounding ocean and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of the Indian an ...
and the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
are pushed under the
Eurasian plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
, where they melt at about deep. A string of volcanoes runs through Sumatra,
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
,
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
and
Nusa Tenggara The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...
, and then to the
Banda Islands The Banda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Banda) are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central M ...
of Maluku to northeastern
Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...
. Of the 400 volcanoes, around 130 are active. Between 1972 and 1991, there were 29 volcanic eruptions, mostly on Java.
Volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcano, volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used t ...
has made agricultural conditions unpredictable in some areas. However, it has also resulted in fertile soils, a factor in historically sustaining the high population densities of Java and Bali. A massive supervolcano erupted at present-day
Lake Toba Lake Toba ( id, Danau Toba) ( Toba Batak: ᯖᯀᯬ ᯖᯬᯅ; romanized: ''Tao Toba'') is a large natural lake in North Sumatra, Indonesia, occupying the caldera of a supervolcano. The lake is located in the middle of the northern part of the ...
around 70,000 BCE. It is believed to have caused a global
volcanic winter A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, particularly explosiv ...
and cooling of the climate and subsequently led to a
genetic bottleneck A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as specicide, widespread violen ...
in human evolution, though this is still in debate. The
1815 eruption of Mount Tambora Mount Tambora is a volcano on the island of Sumbawa in present-day Indonesia, then part of the Dutch East Indies, and its 1815 eruption was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history. This volcanic explosivity index (VEI) 7 ...
and the
1883 eruption of Krakatoa The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa ( id, Letusan Krakatau 1883) in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago w ...
were among the largest in recorded history. The former caused 92,000 deaths and created an umbrella of volcanic ash that spread and blanketed parts of the archipelago and made much of the Northern Hemisphere without summer in 1816. The latter produced the loudest sound in recorded history and caused 36,000 deaths due to the eruption itself and the resulting tsunamis, with significant additional effects around the world years after the event. Recent catastrophic disasters due to seismic activity include the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the
2006 Yogyakarta earthquake The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake (also known as the Bantul earthquake) occurred at with a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum MSK intensity of VIII (''Damaging''). Several factors led to a disproportionate amount of damage and number of casualt ...
.


Biodiversity and conservation

Indonesia's size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography support one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity, and it is among the 17 megadiverse countries identified by
Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and communities. The organ ...
. Its flora and fauna are a mixture of Asian and Australasian species. The
Sunda Shelf Geologically, the Sunda Shelf is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura, and Sumatra, as well as their surrounding smaller islands. ...
islands (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Bali) were once linked to mainland Asia and have a wealth of Asian fauna. Large species such as the
Sumatran tiger The Sumatran tiger is a population of ''Panthera tigris sondaica'' on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is the only surviving tiger population in the Sunda Islands, where the Bali and Javan tigers are extinct. Sequences from complete mitochon ...
, rhinoceros, orangutan,
Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
, and leopard were once abundant as far east as Bali, but numbers and distribution have dwindled drastically. Having been long separated from the continental landmasses, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku have developed their unique flora and fauna. Papua was part of the Australian landmass and is home to a unique fauna and flora closely related to that of Australia, including over 600 bird species. Indonesia is second only to Australia in terms of total
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species, with 36% of its 1,531 species of bird and 39% of its 515 species of mammal being endemic. Tropical seas surround Indonesia's of coastline. The country has a range of sea and coastal ecosystems, including
beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
, dunes, estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds, coastal mudflats, tidal flats, algal beds, and small island ecosystems. Indonesia is one of the
Coral Triangle The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in ea ...
countries with the world's most enormous diversity of
coral reef fish Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants, the fish stand out as colourful and interesting to watch. Hundreds ...
, with more than 1,650 species in eastern Indonesia only. British naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...
described a dividing line (
Wallace Line The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a tran ...
) between the distribution of Indonesia's Asian and Australasian species. It runs roughly north–south along the edge of the Sunda Shelf, between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and along the deep
Lombok Strait The Lombok Strait ( id, Selat Lombok), is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side. Its narrowest point is at its southern o ...
, between
Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...
and Bali. Flora and fauna on the west of the line are generally Asian, while east from Lombok is increasingly Australian until the tipping point at the
Weber Line Max Carl Wilhelm Weber van Bosse or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852, in Bonn – 7 February 1937, in Eerbeek) was a German-Dutch zoologist and biogeographer. Weber studied at the University of Bonn, then at the Humboldt University in B ...
. In his 1869 book, ''
The Malay Archipelago ''The Malay Archipelago'' is a book by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace which chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight-year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, S ...
'', Wallace described numerous species unique to the area. The region of islands between his line and New Guinea is now termed
Wallacea Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lo ...
. Indonesia's large and growing population and rapid industrialisation present serious
environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
. They are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels and weak, under-resourced governance. Problems include the destruction of peatlands, large-scale illegal
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
(causing extensive haze across parts of Southeast Asia), over-exploitation of marine resources, air pollution, garbage management, and reliable water and wastewater services. These issues contribute to Indonesia's low ranking (number 116 out of 180 countries) in the 2020
Environmental Performance Index A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
. The report also indicates that Indonesia's performance is generally below average in both regional and global context. Indonesia has one of the world's fastest deforestation rates. In 2020, forests covered approximately 49.1% of the country's land area, down from 87% in 1950. Since the 1970s, log production, various plantations and agriculture have been responsible for much of the
deforestation in Indonesia Deforestation in Indonesia involves the long-term loss of forests and foliage across much of the country; it has had massive environmental and social impacts. Indonesia is home to some of the most biologically diverse forests in the world and ra ...
. Most recently, it has been driven by the
palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
industry, which has been criticised for its environmental impact and displacement of local communities. The situation has made Indonesia the world's largest forest-based emitter of greenhouse gases. It also threatens the survival of indigenous and endemic species. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
(IUCN) identified 140 species of mammals as
threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...
and 15 as critically endangered, including the Bali myna,
Sumatran orangutan The Sumatran orangutan (''Pongo abelii'') is one of the three species of orangutans. Critically Endangered, and found only in the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, it is rarer than the Bornean orangutan but more common than the recent ...
, and
Javan rhinoceros The Javan rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros sondaicus''), also known as the Javan rhino, Sunda rhinoceros or lesser one-horned rhinoceros, is a very rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant rhinoceroses. It belongs to the same ge ...
.


Government and politics

Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system. Following the fall of the New Order in 1998, political and governmental structures have undergone sweeping reforms, with four constitutional amendments revamping the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Chief among them is the delegation of power and authority to various regional entities while remaining a
unitary state A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only th ...
. The
President of Indonesia The President of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Presiden Republik Indonesia) is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president leads the executive branch of the Indonesian government and is ...
is the
head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
and
head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...
, commander-in-chief of the
Indonesian National Armed Forces , founded = as the ('People's Security Forces') , current_form = , disbanded = , branches = , headquarters = Cilangkap, Jakarta , website = , commander-in-chief = Joko Widodo , ...
(''Tentara Nasional Indonesia'', TNI), and the director of domestic governance, policy-making, and foreign affairs. The president may serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The highest representative body at the national level is the
People's Consultative Assembly The People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, MPR-RI) is the legislative branch in Politics of Indonesia, Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the membe ...
(''Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat'', MPR). Its main functions are supporting and amending the constitution, inaugurating and impeaching the president, and formalising broad outlines of state policy. The MPR comprises two houses; the
People's Representative Council The People's Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Republik Indonesia, DPR-RI), also known as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected chambers of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), ...
(''Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat'', DPR), with 575 members, and the
Regional Representative Council The Regional Representative Council ( id, Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD; alternatively translatable as the House of Regions or the House of Regional Representatives or the Senate of Indonesia), is one of two parliamentary chambers in Indonesia ...
(''Dewan Perwakilan Daerah'', DPD), with 136. The DPR passes legislation and monitors the executive branch. Reforms since 1998 have markedly increased its role in national governance, while the DPD is a new chamber for matters of regional management. Most civil disputes appear before the State Court (''Pengadilan Negeri''); appeals are heard before the High Court (''Pengadilan Tinggi''). The
Supreme Court of Indonesia The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Mahkamah Agung Republik Indonesia) is the independent judicial arm of the state. It maintains a system of courts and sits above the other courts and is the final court of appeal. It can also ...
(''Mahkamah Agung'') is the highest level of the judicial branch and hears final cessation appeals and conducts case reviews. Other courts include the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
(''Mahkamah Konstitusi'') which listens to constitutional and political matters, and the Religious Court (''Pengadilan Agama''), which deals with codified Islamic Personal Law (''sharia'') cases. Additionally, the Judicial Commission (''Komisi Yudisial'') monitors the performance of judges.


Parties and elections

Since 1999, Indonesia has had a multi-party system. In all
legislative elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
since the fall of the New Order, no political party has won an overall majority of seats. The
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle ( id, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, PDI-P) is an Indonesian political party, and the party of the current President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. The PDI-P was founded and is currently led by Me ...
(PDI-P), which secured the most votes in the 2019 elections, is the party of the incumbent president,
Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...
. Other notable parties include the
Party of the Functional Groups The Party of Functional Groups ( id, Partai Golongan Karya), often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a political party in Indonesia. It was founded as the Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups ( id, Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya, links=no, ...
(''Golkar''), the
Great Indonesia Movement Party The Gerindra Party (acronym for , ) is a political party in Indonesia. Formed in 2008, Gerindra serves as the political vehicle of former general Prabowo Subianto. It is presently the third-largest party in the House of Representatives, where it ...
(''Gerindra''), the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
, and the
Prosperous Justice Party The Prosperous Justice Party ( id, Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, sometimes called the Justice and Prosperity Party), frequently abbreviated to PKS, is an IslamistAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2017). ''Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contempo ...
(PKS). The first general election was held in 1955 to elect members of the DPR and the
Constitutional Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
(''Konstituante''). The most recent elections in 2019 resulted in nine political parties in the DPR, with a
parliamentary threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...
of 4% of the national vote. At the national level, Indonesians did not elect a president until 2004. Since then, the president is elected for a five-year term, as are the party-aligned members of the DPR and the non-partisan DPD. Beginning with the 2015 local elections, elections for governors and mayors have occurred on the same date. In 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that legislative and presidential elections would be held simultaneously, starting in 2019.


Administrative divisions

Indonesia has several levels of subdivisions. The first level are the
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, which have a legislature (''Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah'', DPRD) and an elected
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
. A total of 38 provinces have been established from the original eight in 1945, with the most recent change being the split of
Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...
,
Highland Papua Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Lano-Pago, shortened to La Pago. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,408,641 according to the official es ...
,
South Papua South Papua, officially the South Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Selatan), is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2 ...
and
Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...
from the provinces of Papua and West Papua in 2022. The second level are the regencies (''kabupaten'') and
cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
(''kota''), led by regents (''bupati'') and mayors (''walikota'') respectively and a legislature (''DPRD Kabupaten/Kota''). The third level are the
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(''kecamatan'', ''distrik'' in Papua, or ''kapanewon'' and ''kemantren'' in
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
), and the fourth are the
villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
(either ''desa'', ''kelurahan'', ''kampung'', ''nagari'' in
West Sumatra West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5, ...
, or ''gampong'' in
Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
). The village is the lowest level of government administration. It is divided into several community groups (''rukun warga'', RW), which are further divided into neighbourhood groups (''rukun tetangga'', RT). In Java, the village (''desa'') is divided into smaller units called ''dusun'' or ''dukuh'' (hamlets), which are the same as RW. Following the implementation of regional autonomy measures in 2001, regencies and cities have become chief administrative units responsible for providing most government services. The village administration level is the most influential on a citizen's daily life and handles village or neighbourhood matters through an elected village head (''lurah'' or ''kepala desa''). Nine provinces—Aceh, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Papua,
Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...
,
Highland Papua Highland Papua ( id, Papua Pegunungan) is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Lano-Pago, shortened to La Pago. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,408,641 according to the official es ...
,
South Papua South Papua, officially the South Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Selatan), is an Indonesian province located in the southern portion of Papua, following the borders of Papuan customary region of Anim Ha. Formally established on 11 November 2 ...
,
Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...
and West Papua—are granted a special autonomous status (''otonomi khusus'') from the central government. A conservative Islamic territory, Aceh has the right to create some aspects of an independent legal system implementing ''
sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
''. Jakarta is the only city with a provincial government due to its position as the
capital of Indonesia The capital city, capital of the Republic of Indonesia is Jakarta, one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Southeast Asia. Previously known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia, it was t ...
. Yogyakarta is the only pre-colonial monarchy legally recognised within Indonesia, with the positions of governor and vice governor being prioritised for the reigning
Sultan of Yogyakarta Hamengkubuwono ( jv, ꦲꦩꦼꦁꦑꦸꦨꦮꦟ) is the current dynasty, ruling royal house of the Yogyakarta Sultanate in the Special Region of Yogyakarta of Indonesia. The reigning Sultan of Yogyakarta is the hereditary List_of_governors_of_Yo ...
and Duke of Pakualaman, respectively. The six Papuan provinces are the only ones where the
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
have privileges in their local government.


Foreign relations

Indonesia maintains 132 diplomatic missions abroad, including 95 embassies. The country adheres to what it calls a "free and active" foreign policy, seeking a role in regional affairs in proportion to its size and location but avoiding involvement in conflicts among other countries. Indonesia was a significant battleground during the Cold War. Numerous attempts by the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
to some degree, culminated in the 1965 coup attempt and subsequent upheaval that led to a reorientation of foreign policy. Quiet alignment with the Western world while maintaining a non-aligned stance has characterised Indonesia's foreign policy since then. Today, it maintains close relations with its neighbours and is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (
ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
) and the
East Asia Summit The East Asia Summit (EAS) is a regional forum held annually by leaders of, initially, 16 countries in the East Asian, Southeast Asian, South Asian and Oceanian regions, based on the ASEAN Plus Six mechanism. Membership expanded to 18 countrie ...
. In common with most of the
Muslim world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
, Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and has actively supported
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
. However, observers have pointed out that Indonesia has ties with Israel, albeit discreetly. Indonesia has been a member of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
since 1950 and was a founding member of the
Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
(NAM) and the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...
(OIC). Indonesia is a signatory to the
ASEAN Free Trade Area The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local trade and manufacturing in all ASEAN countries, and facilitating economic integration with regional and international alli ...
agreement, the
Cairns Group The Cairns Group (Cairns Group of Fair Trading Nations) is an interest group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, composed of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakist ...
, the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
(WTO), and a former
OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquart ...
member following its suspensions in 2009 and 2016. Indonesia has been a humanitarian and development aid recipient since 1967, and recently, the country established its first overseas aid programme in late 2019.


Military

Indonesia's Armed Forces (TNI) include the
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
(TNI–AD),
Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
(TNI–AL, which includes
Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
), and
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
(TNI–AU). The army has about 400,000 active-duty personnel. Defence spending in the national budget was 0.7% of GDP in 2018, with controversial involvement of military-owned commercial interests and foundations. The Armed Forces were formed during the
Indonesian National Revolution The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during Aftermath of WWII, postw ...
when it undertook guerrilla warfare along with informal militia. Since then, territorial lines have formed the basis of all TNI branches' structure, aimed at maintaining domestic stability and deterring foreign threats. The military has possessed a strong political influence since its founding, which peaked during the New Order. Political reforms in 1998 included the removal of the TNI's formal representation from the legislature. Nevertheless, its political influence remains, albeit at a reduced level. Since independence, the country has struggled to maintain unity against local insurgencies and separatist movements. Some, notably in
Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
and Papua, have led to an armed conflict and subsequent allegations of human rights abuses and brutality from all sides. The former was resolved peacefully in 2005, while the latter has continued amid a significant, albeit imperfect, implementation of regional autonomy laws and a reported decline in the levels of violence and
human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
as of 2006. Other engagements of the army include the
conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...
against the Netherlands over the
Dutch New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingdo ...
, the opposition to the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
-sponsored creation of Malaysia (" Konfrontasi"), the
mass killings Mass killing is a concept which has been proposed by genocide scholars who wish to define incidents of non-combat killing which are perpetrated by a government or a state. A mass killing is commonly defined as the killing of group members without ...
of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), and the
invasion of East Timor The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus ( id, Operasi Seroja), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to o ...
, which remains Indonesia's most massive military operation.


Economy

Indonesia has a
mixed economy A mixed economy is variously defined as an economic system blending elements of a market economy with elements of a planned economy, markets with state interventionism, or private enterprise with public enterprise. Common to all mixed economi ...
in which the private sector and government play vital roles. As the only
G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...
member state in Southeast Asia, the country has the largest economy in the region and is classified as a
newly industrialised country The category of newly industrialized country (NIC), newly industrialized economy (NIE) or middle income country is a socioeconomic classification applied to several countries around the world by political scientists and economists. They represent ...
. Per a 2022 estimate, it is the world's 17th largest economy by nominal GDP and 7th in terms of GDP at PPP, estimated to be and , respectively. Per capita GDP in PPP is , while nominal
per capita GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
is . Services are the economy's largest sector and account for 43.4% of GDP (2018), followed by industry (39.7%) and agriculture (12.8%). Since 2009, it has employed more people than other sectors, accounting for 47.7% of the total labour force, followed by agriculture (30.2%) and industry (21.9%). Over time, the structure of the economy has changed considerably. Historically, it has been weighted heavily towards agriculture, reflecting both its stage of economic development and government policies in the 1950s and 1960s to promote agricultural self-sufficiency. A gradual process of industrialisation and urbanisation began in the late 1960s and accelerated in the 1980s as falling oil prices saw the government focus on diversifying away from oil exports and towards manufactured exports. This development continued throughout the 1980s and into the next decade despite the 1990 oil price shock, during which the GDP rose at an average rate of 7.1%. As a result, the official poverty rate fell from 60% to 15%. Trade barriers reduction from the mid-1980s made the economy more globally integrated. The growth ended with the
1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...
that severely impacted the economy, including a 13.1% real GDP contraction in 1998 and a 78% inflation. The economy reached its low point in mid-1999 with only 0.8% real GDP growth. Relatively steady inflation and an increase in GDP deflator and the Consumer Price Index have contributed to strong economic growth in recent years. From 2007 to 2019, annual growth accelerated to between 4% and 6% due to improvements in the banking sector and domestic consumption, helping Indonesia weather the 2008–2009
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, and regain in 2011 the investment grade rating it had lost in 1997. , 9.41% of the population lived below the poverty line, and the official open unemployment rate was 5.28%. During the first year of the global
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the economy suffered its first recession since the 1997 crisis but recovered in the following year. Indonesia has abundant natural resources. Its primary industries are fishing, petroleum, timber, paper products, cotton cloth, tourism, petroleum mining, natural gas, bauxite, coal and tin. Its main agricultural products are rice, coconuts, soybeans, bananas, coffee, tea, palm, rubber, and sugar cane. These commodities make up a large portion of the country's exports, with palm oil and coal briquettes as the leading export commodities. In addition to refined and crude petroleum as the primary imports, telephones, vehicle parts and wheat cover the majority of additional imports. China, the United States, Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand are Indonesia's principal export markets and import partners.


Transport

Indonesia's transport system has been shaped over time by the economic resource base of an archipelago and the distribution of its 275 million people highly concentrated on
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
. All transport modes play a role in the country's transport system and are generally complementary rather than competitive. In 2016, the transport sector generated about 5.2% of GDP. The road transport system is predominant, with a total length of . Jakarta has the most extended bus rapid transit system globally, boasting in 13 corridors and ten cross-corridor routes.
Rickshaw A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...
s such as ''bajaj'' and ''becak'' and
share taxi Share may refer to: * Share, to make joint use of a resource (such as food, money, or space); see Sharing * Share (finance), a stock or other financial security (such as a mutual fund) * Share, Kwara, a town and LGA in Kwara State, Nigeria Share m ...
s such as ''Angkot'' and ''Metromini'' are a regular sight in the country. Most
railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
are in Java, used for freight and passenger transport, such as local commuter rail services (mainly in
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
and Yogyakarta–Solo) complementing the inter-city rail network in several cities. In the late 2010s, Jakarta and Palembang were the first cities in Indonesia to have
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
systems, with more planned for other cities in the future. In 2015, the government announced a plan to build a
high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...
, which would be the first in Southeast Asia. Indonesia's largest airport,
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport Soekarno–Hatta International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional Soekarno–Hatta) , abbreviated SHIA or Soetta, formerly legally called Jakarta Cengkareng Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Jakarta Cengkareng) (hence the IATA designator "CGK" ...
, is among the busiest in the Southern Hemisphere, serving 54 million passengers in 2019.
Ngurah Rai International Airport I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional I Gusti Ngurah Rai) , is the main airport in Bali, located 13 km south of Denpasar. Ngurah Rai is the second busiest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno–Hatta Int ...
and
Juanda International Airport Juanda International Airport (JIA) ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional Juanda) , is an international airport located in Sedati, Sidoarjo. It is now the third busiest airport in Indonesia (after Soekarno-Hatta and Ngurah Rai airport). This airpo ...
are the country's second-and third-busiest airport, respectively.
Garuda Indonesia Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam and the second-largest airline of Indonesia after Lion Air, operat ...
, the country's flag carrier since 1949, is one of the world's leading airlines and a member of the global airline alliance
SkyTeam SkyTeam is one of the world's three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million ...
. The
Port of Tanjung Priok A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
is the busiest and most advanced Indonesian port, handling more than 50% of Indonesia's trans-shipment cargo traffic.


Energy

In 2019, Indonesia produced and consumed worth of energy. The country has substantial energy resources, including of conventional oil and gas reserves (of which about 4 billion barrels are recoverable), 8 billion barrels of oil-equivalent of coal-based methane (CBM) resources, and 28 billion tonnes of recoverable coal. In late 2020, Indonesia's total national installed power generation capacity stands at 72,750.72 MW. Although reliance on domestic coal and imported oil has increased between 2010 and 2019, Indonesia has seen progress in renewable energy, with hydropower and geothermal being the most abundant sources that account for more than 8% in the country's energy mix. A prime example of the former is the country's largest dam, Jatiluhur, which has an installed capacity of 186.5 MW that feeds into the Java grid managed by the State Electricity Company (''
Perusahaan Listrik Negara PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) ( 'State Electricity Company', abbreviated as PLN) is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electric power distribution in Indonesia and generates the majority of the country' ...
'', PLN). Furthermore, Indonesia has the potential for solar, wind, biomass and ocean energy, although as of 2021, power generation from these sources remain small.


Science and technology

Government expenditure on research and development is relatively low (0.3% of GDP in 2019), and Indonesia only ranked 87th (out of 132 economies) on the 2021
Global Innovation Index The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a British maga ...
report. Historical examples of scientific and technological developments include the paddy cultivation technique ''terasering'', which is common in Southeast Asia, and the
pinisi Literally, the word pinisi refers to a type of rigging (the configuration of masts, sails and ropes (‘lines’)) of Indonesian Sailing ship, sailing vessels. A pinisi carries seven to eight sails on two masts, arranged like a gaff-ketch with w ...
boats by the
Bugis The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawe ...
and
Makassar people The Makassar or Makassarese people are an ethnic group that inhabits the southern part of the South Peninsula, Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) in Indonesia. They live around Makassar, the capital city of the province of South Sulawesi, as well as t ...
. In the 1980s, Indonesian engineer
Tjokorda Raka Sukawati Tjokorda Raka Sukawati (May 3, 1931 – November 11, 2014) was an Indonesian engineer who invented Sosrobahu. He was born and died in Ubud, Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Ja ...
invented a road construction technique named
Sosrobahu Sosrobahu is a road construction technique which allows long stretches of flyovers to be constructed above existing major roads with minimum disruption to traffic. The technique was designed and invented by Indonesian engineer Tjokorda Raka Su ...
that later became widely used in several countries. The country is also an active producer of passenger trains and freight wagons with its state-owned company, the Indonesian Railway Industry (INKA), and has exported trains abroad. Indonesia has a long history of developing military and small commuter aircraft. It is the only country in Southeast Asia to build and produce aircraft. The state-owned Indonesian Aerospace company (''PT. Dirgantara Indonesia'') has provided components for
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
and
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
. The company also collaborated with
EADS CASA Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was a Spanish aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1923 and began manufacturing aircraft the following year. In 1999 it became a subsidiary of the EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) ...
of Spain to develop the
CN-235 The CASA/IPTN CN-235 is a medium-range twin-engined transport aircraft that was jointly developed by CASA of Spain and Indonesian manufacturer IPTN. It is operated as both a regional airliner and military transport; its primary military roles ...
, which has been used by several countries. Former President
B. J. Habibie Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie (; 25 June 1936 – 11 September 2019) was an Indonesian engineer and politician who was the third president of Indonesia from 1998 to 1999. Less than three months after his inauguration as the seventh vice preside ...
played a vital role in this achievement. Indonesia has also joined the
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n programme to manufacture the 4.5-generation fighter jet
KAI KF-21 Boramae The KAI KF-21 ''Boramae'' (formerly known as KF-X) is a South Korean lead fighter aircraft development program with the goal of producing an advanced multirole fighter for the South Korean and Indonesian air forces. The airframe is stealth ...
. Indonesia has a space programme and space agency, the
National Institute of Aeronautics and Space National Institute of Aeronautics and Space ( id, Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional, LAPAN) was the Indonesian government List of space agencies, space agency. It was established on November 27, 1963, by former Indonesian president S ...
(''Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional'', LAPAN). In the 1970s, Indonesia became the first developing country to operate a satellite system called
Palapa Palapa is a series of Communications satellites owned by Indosat, an Indonesian telecommunications company (formerly by Perumtel and then by PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia/Satelindo). Starting with the first in July 1976, at which time Indones ...
, a series of communication satellites owned by
Indosat PT Indosat Tbk, trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, is a telecommunications provider in Indonesia which is owned by Ooredoo Hutchison Asia, a joint venture between Ooredoo and Hutchison Asia Telecom Group (a part of CK Hutchison Holdings) sinc ...
. The first satellite, PALAPA A1, was launched on 8 July 1976 from the
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
in Florida, United States. , Indonesia has launched 18 satellites for various purposes.


Tourism

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
contributed around to GDP in 2019. In 2018, Indonesia received 15.8 million visitors, a growth of 12.5% from last year, and received an average receipt of . China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and Japan are the top five sources of visitors to Indonesia. Since 2011, ''Wonderful Indonesia'' has been the country's international marketing campaign slogan to promote tourism. Nature and culture are prime attractions of Indonesian tourism. The country has a well-preserved natural ecosystem with rainforests stretching over about 57% of Indonesia's land (225 million acres). Forests on Sumatra and Kalimantan are examples of popular destinations, such as the Orangutan wildlife reserve. Moreover, Indonesia has one of the world's longest coastlines, measuring . The ancient
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
and
Prambanan Prambanan ( id, Candi Prambanan, jv, ꦫꦫꦗꦺꦴꦁꦒꦿꦁ, Rara Jonggrang) is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the P ...
temples, as well as
Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Chri ...
and
Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
with their traditional festivities, are some of the popular destinations for cultural tourism. Indonesia has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the
Komodo National Park Komodo National Park (Indonesian: ''Taman Nasional Komodo'') is a national park in Indonesia located within the Lesser Sunda Islands in the border region between the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The park includes the ...
and the Sawahlunto Coal Mine; and a further 19 in a tentative list that includes
Bunaken National Park Bunaken National Park is a marine park in the north of Sulawesi island, Indonesia. The park is located near the centre of the Coral Triangle, providing habitat to 390 species of coral as well as many fish, mollusc, reptile and marine mammal spec ...
and
Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Southwest Papua province. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals surrounding ...
. Other attractions include specific points in Indonesian history, such as the colonial heritage of the Dutch East Indies in the
old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
s of
Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...
and
Semarang Semarang ( jv, ꦏꦸꦛꦯꦼꦩꦫꦁ , Pegon: سماراڠ) is the capital and largest city of Central Java province in Indonesia. It was a major port during the Dutch colonial era, and is still an important regional center and port today. ...
and the royal palaces of
Pagaruyung Pagaruyung (ڤاڬارويوڠ; also Pagarruyung, Pagar Ruyung and, Malayapura or Malayupura) was the seat of the Minangkabau kings of Western Sumatra, though little is known about it. Modern Pagaruyung is a village in ''Tanjung Emas'' subdist ...
,
Ubud Ubud is a town on the Indonesian island of Bali in Ubud District, located amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills of the Gianyar regency. Promoted as an arts and culture centre, it has developed a large tourism industry. ...
, and
Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...
.


Demographics

The 2020 census recorded Indonesia's population as 270.2 million, the fourth largest in the world, with a moderately high population growth rate of 1.25%.
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
is the world's most populous island, where 56% of the country's population lives. The population density is 141 people per km2 (365 per sq mi), ranking 88th in the world, although Java has a population density of 1,067 people per km2 (2,435 per sq mi). In 1961, the first post-colonial census recorded a total of 97 million people. It is expected to grow to around 295 million by 2030 and 321 million by 2050. The country currently possesses a relatively young population, with a median age of 30.2 years (2017 estimate). The spread of the population is uneven throughout the archipelago, with a varying habitats and levels of
development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...
, ranging from the
megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...
of Jakarta to uncontacted tribes in Papua. As of 2017, about 54.7% of the population lives in
urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...
s. Jakarta is the country's
primate city A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, Federated state, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A ''primate city distribution'' is a rank-size distribution that has on ...
and the second-most populous urban area globally, with over 34 million residents. About 8 million Indonesians live overseas; most settled in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, and Australia.


Ethnic groups and languages

Indonesia is an ethnically diverse country, with around 1,300 distinct native ethnic groups. Most Indonesians are descended from
Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austro ...
whose languages had origins in
Proto-Austronesian Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify 3 ...
, which possibly originated in what is now
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. Another major grouping is the
Melanesians Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fa ...
, who inhabit eastern Indonesia (the
Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
,
Western New Guinea Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region ...
and the eastern part of the
Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...
). The Javanese are the largest ethnic group, constituting 40.2% of the population, and are politically dominant. They are predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of Java and also in sizeable numbers in most provinces. The
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
are the next largest group (15.4%), followed by
Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...
, Madurese people, Madurese, Betawi people, Betawi, Minangkabau people, Minangkabau, Bugis people, Bugis and Malay Indonesians, Malay people. A sense of Indonesian nationhood exists alongside strong regional identities. The country's official language is Indonesian language, Indonesian, a variant of Malay language, Malay based on its Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige dialect, which had been the archipelago's ''lingua franca'' for centuries. It was Youth Pledge, promoted by nationalists in the 1920s and achieved official status in 1945 under the name ''Bahasa Indonesia''. Due to centuries-long contact with other languages, it is rich in local and foreign influences. Nearly every Indonesian speaks the language due to its widespread use in education, academics, communications, business, politics, and mass media. Most Indonesians also speak at least one of more than 700 local languages, often as their first language. Most belong to the Austronesian languages, Austronesian language family, while over 270 Papuan languages are spoken in eastern Indonesia. Of these, Javanese language, Javanese is the most widely spoken and has co-official status in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. In 1930, Dutch people, Dutch and other Europeans (''Totok''), Eurasian (mixed ancestry), Eurasians, and derivative people like the Indo people, Indos, numbered 240,000 or 0.4% of the total population. Historically, they constituted only a tiny fraction of the native population and remain so today. Also, the Dutch language never had a substantial number of speakers or official status despite the Dutch presence for almost 350 years. The small minorities that can speak it or Dutch-based creole languages fluently are the aforementioned ethnic groups and descendants of Dutch colonisers. This reflected the Dutch colonial empire's primary purpose, which was commercial exchange as opposed to sovereignty over homogeneous landmasses. Today, there is some degree of fluency by either educated members of the oldest generation or legal professionals, as specific law codes are still only available in Dutch.


Religion

Despite guaranteeing religious freedom in the constitution, the government officially recognises only Religion in Indonesia, six religions:
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Protestantism in Indonesia, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism in Indonesia, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism in Indonesia, Hinduism, Buddhism in Indonesia, Buddhism, and Supreme Council for the Confucian Religion in Indonesia, Confucianism, with indigenous religions only partly acknowledged. With 231 million adherents (86.7%) in 2018, Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, with Sunni Islam, Sunnis being the majority (99%). The Shia Islam in Indonesia, Shias and Ahmadiyya in Indonesia, Ahmadis, respectively, constitute 1% (1–3 million) and 0.2% (200,000–400,000) of Muslims. Almost 11% of Indonesians are Christians, who form the Christianity in Indonesia, majority in seven provinces in eastern Indonesia. Most Hindus are Balinese people, Balinese, and most Buddhism, Buddhists are Chinese Indonesians. The natives of the Indonesian archipelago originally practised indigenous animism and dynamism (metaphysics), dynamism, beliefs that are common to
Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austro ...
. They worshipped and revered ancestral spirit and believed that supernatural spirits (''hyang'') might inhabit certain places such as large trees, stones, forests, mountains, or sacred sites. Examples of Indonesian native belief systems include the
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
Sunda Wiwitan, Dayak people, Dayak's Kaharingan, and the Javanese Kejawèn. They have significantly impacted how other faiths are practised, evidenced by a large proportion of people—such as the Javanese abangan, Balinese Hinduism, Balinese Hindus, and Dayak Christians—practising a less orthodoxy, orthodox, syncretism, syncretic form of their religion.
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
influences reached the archipelago as early as the first century CE. The
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
Kingdoms of Sunda, Kingdom of Salakanagara in western Java around 130 was the first historically recorded Greater India, Indianised kingdom in the archipelago. Buddhism in Indonesia, Buddhism arrived around the 6th century, and its history in Indonesia is closely related to that of Hinduism, as some empires based on Buddhism had their roots around the same period. The archipelago has witnessed the rise and fall of powerful and influential Hindu and Buddhist empires such as
Majapahit Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
, Shailendra dynasty, Sailendra,
Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
, and Mataram. Though no longer a majority, Hinduism and Buddhism remain to have a substantial influence on Indonesian culture.
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
was introduced by
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
traders of the Shafi'i Madhhab, school as well as
Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
traders from the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and South Arabia, southern Arabia as early as the 8th century CE. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, resulting in a distinct form of Islam (''pesantren, santri''). Trade, Islamic missionary activity such as by the Wali Sanga and Chinese explorer Zheng He, and military campaigns by Sultan#Southeast and East Asia, several sultanates helped accelerate the Spread of Islam in Indonesia, spread of Islam. By the end of the 16th century, it had supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion of Java#Religion, Java and Sumatra#Religion, Sumatra. Catholic Church in Indonesia, Catholicism was brought by Portuguese traders and missionaries such as Society of Jesus, Jesuit Francis Xavier, who visited and baptised several thousand locals. Its spread faced difficulty due to the Dutch East India Company policy of banning the religion and the Dutch hostility due to the Eighty Years' War against Catholic Spain's rule. Protestantism in Indonesia, Protestantism is mostly a result of Calvinism, Calvinist and Lutheranism, Lutheran missionary efforts during the Dutch colonial era. Although they are the most common branch, there is a multitude of other denominations elsewhere in the country. There was a History of the Jews in Indonesia, sizeable Jewish presence in the archipelago until 1945, mostly Dutch and some Baghdadi Jews. Since most left after Indonesia proclaimed independence, Judaism was never accorded official status, and only a tiny number of Jews remain today, mostly in Jakarta and Surabaya. At the national and local level, Indonesia's political leadership and civil society groups have played a crucial role in interfaith relations, both positively and negatively. The invocation of the first principle of Indonesia's philosophical foundation, Pancasila (i.e. the belief in the one and only God), often serves as a reminder of religious tolerance, though instances of intolerance have occurred. An overwhelming majority of Indonesians consider religion to be essential and an integral part of life.


Education and health

Education is compulsory for 12 years. Parents can choose between state-run, non-sectarian schools or private or semi-private religious (usually Islamic) schools, supervised by the ministries of Education and Religion, respectively. Private international schools that do not follow the Education in Indonesia#2013 curriculum, national curriculum are also available. The enrolment rate is 93% for primary education, 79% for secondary education, and 36% for tertiary education (2018). The literacy rate is 96% (2018), and the government spends about 3.6% of GDP (2015) on education. In 2018, there were 4,670 higher educational institutions in Indonesia, with most (74%) located in Sumatra and Java. According to the QS World University Rankings, Indonesia's top universities are the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University and the Bandung Institute of Technology. Government expenditure on healthcare was about 3.3% of GDP in 2016. As part of an attempt to achieve universal health care, the government launched the National Health Insurance (''Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional'', JKN) in 2014. It includes coverage for a range of services from the public and also private firms that have opted to join the scheme. Despite remarkable improvements in recent decades, such as rising life expectancy (from 62.3 years in 1990 to 71.7 years in 2019) and declining child mortality (from 84 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990 to 23.9 deaths in 2019), challenges remain, including maternal and child health, low air quality, malnutrition, high rate of smoking, and infectious diseases.


Issues

In the economic sphere, there is a gap in wealth, unemployment rate, and health between densely populated islands and economic centres (such as
Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
) and sparsely populated, disadvantaged areas (such as Maluku and Papua). This is created by a situation in which nearly 80% of Indonesia's population lives in the western parts of the archipelago and yet grows slower than the rest of the country. In the social arena, numerous cases of racism and discrimination, especially Discrimination against Chinese Indonesians, against Chinese Indonesians and Indigenous people of New Guinea, Papuans, have been well documented throughout Indonesia's history. Such cases have sometimes led to violent conflicts, most notably the May 1998 riots of Indonesia, May 1998 riots and the Papua conflict, which has continued since 1962. LGBT people also regularly face challenges. Although LGBT rights in Indonesia, LGBT issues have been relatively obscure, the 2010s (especially after 2016) has seen a rapid surge of anti-LGBT rhetoric, putting LGBT Indonesians into a frequent subject of intimidation, discrimination, and even violence. In addition, Indonesia has been reported to have sizeable numbers of child labor, child and forced labourers, with the former being prevalent in the palm oil and tobacco industries, while the latter in the fishing industry.


Culture

The cultural history of the Indonesian archipelago spans more than two millennia. Influences from the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
,
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, the Middle East, Europe, Melanesians, Melanesian and
Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak Austro ...
have historically shaped the cultural, linguistic and religious makeup of the archipelago. As a result, modern-day Indonesia has a multicultural, multilingual and multi-ethnic society, with a complex cultural mixture that differs significantly from the original indigenous cultures. Indonesia currently holds UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, twelve items of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage, including a wayang puppet theatre, kris, batik, pencak silat, angklung, gamelan, and the three genres of traditional Balinese dance.


Art and architecture

Indonesian arts include both age-old art forms developed through centuries and recently developed contemporary art. Despite often displaying local ingenuity, Indonesian arts have absorbed foreign influences—most notably from
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, the Arab world,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and Europe, due to contacts and interactions facilitated, and often motivated by trade. Painting is an Balinese art, established and developed art in Bali, where its people are famed for their artistry. Their painting tradition started as classical Kamasan or Wayang style visual narrative, derived from visual art discovered on ''Candi of Indonesia, candi'' bas reliefs in eastern Java. There have been numerous discoveries of Megalithic art, megalithic sculptures in Indonesia. Subsequently, tribal art has flourished within the culture of Nias people, Nias,
Batak Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...
, Asmat people, Asmat, Dayak people, Dayak and
Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Chri ...
. Wood and stone are common materials used as the media for sculpting among these tribes. Between the 8th and 15th centuries, the Javanese civilisation developed refined stone sculpting art and architecture influenced by the Hindu-Buddhist Dharma, Dharmic civilisation. The temples of
Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...
and
Prambanan Prambanan ( id, Candi Prambanan, jv, ꦫꦫꦗꦺꦴꦁꦒꦿꦁ, Rara Jonggrang) is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, dedicated to the Trimūrti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the P ...
are among the most famous examples of the practice. As with the arts, Indonesian architecture has absorbed foreign influences that have brought cultural changes and profound effects on building styles and techniques. The most dominant has traditionally been Architecture of India, Indian; however, Chinese, Arab, and European influences have also been significant. Traditional carpentry, masonry, stone and woodwork techniques and decorations have thrived in vernacular architecture, with numbers of traditional houses' (''rumah adat'') styles that have been developed. The traditional houses and settlements vary by ethnic group, and each has a specific custom and history. Examples include
Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Chri ...
's Tongkonan, Minangkabau people, Minangkabau's Rumah Gadang and Rangkiang, Javanese style Pendopo pavilion with Joglo style roof, Dayak people, Dayak's longhouses, various Rumah Melayu, Malay houses, Balinese architecture, Balinese houses and Balinese temple, temples, and also different forms of rice barns (''lumbung'').


Music, dance and clothing

The music of Indonesia predates historical records. Various indigenous tribes incorporate chants and songs accompanied by musical instruments in their rituals. Angklung, kacapi suling, gong, gamelan, talempong, kulintang, and sasando are examples of traditional Indonesian instruments. The diverse world of Indonesian music genres results from the musical creativity of its people and subsequent cultural encounters with foreign influences. These include Qanbūs, gambus and qasida from the Middle East, keroncong from Portugal, and dangdut—one of Indonesia's most popular music genres—with notable Hindi influence as well as Malay orchestras. Today, the Indonesian music industry enjoys both nationwide and regional popularity in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei, due to the common culture and Comparison of Indonesian and Standard Malay, mutual intelligibility between Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malay language, Malay. Indonesian dances have a diverse history, with more than 3,000 original dances. Scholars believe that they had their beginning in rituals and religious worship. Examples include war dances, a dance of witch doctors, and a dance to call for rain or any agricultural rituals such as Hudoq. Indonesian dances derive their influences from the archipelago's prehistoric and tribal, Hindu-Buddhist, and Islamic periods. Recently, modern dances and urban teen dances have gained popularity due to the influence of Western culture and those of Japan and South Korea to some extent. However, various traditional dances, including those of Java, Bali and Dayak, remain a living and dynamic tradition. Indonesia has various clothing styles due to its long and rich cultural history. The national costume originates from the country's indigenous culture and traditional textile traditions. The Javanese Batik and Kebaya are arguably Indonesia's most recognised national costumes, though they have
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
and Balinese people, Balinese origins as well.Jill Forshee, ''Culture and customs of Indonesia'', Greenwood Publishing Group: 2006: . 237 pp. Each province has a representation of traditional attire and dress, such as Ulos of Batak from North Sumatra; Songket of Malays (ethnic group), Malay and Minangkabau people, Minangkabau from Sumatra; and Ikat of Sasak people, Sasak from
Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is rou ...
. People wear national and regional costumes during traditional weddings, formal ceremonies, music performances, government and official occasions, and they vary from traditional to modern attire.


Theatre and cinema

Wayang, the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese shadow puppet theatre display several mythological legends such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. Other forms of local drama include the Javanese Ludruk and Ketoprak, the Sundanese Sandiwara, Betawi Lenong, and various Balinese dance dramas. They incorporate humour and jest and often involve audiences in their performances. Some theatre traditions also include music, dancing and Pencak Silat, silat martial art, such as Randai from the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra. It is usually performed for traditional ceremonies and festivals and based on semi-historical Minangkabau legends and love story. Modern performing art also developed in Indonesia with its distinct style of drama. Notable theatre, dance, and drama troupe such as ''Teater Koma'' are famous as it often portrays social and political satire of Indonesian society. The first film produced in the archipelago was ''Loetoeng Kasaroeng'', a silent film by Dutch director L. Heuveldorp. The film industry expanded after independence, with six films made in 1949 rising to 58 in 1955. Usmar Ismail, who made significant imprints in the 1950s and 1960s, is generally considered the pioneer of Indonesian films. The Guided Democracy in Indonesia, latter part of the Sukarno era saw the use of cinema for nationalistic, anti-Western purposes, and foreign films were subsequently banned, while the New Order utilised a censorship code that aimed to maintain social order. Production of films peaked during the 1980s, although it declined significantly in the next decade. Notable films in this period include ''Satan's Slave (1980 film), Pengabdi Setan'' (1980), ''Nagabonar'' (1987), ''Tjoet Nja' Dhien'' (1988), ''Catatan Si Boy'' (1989), and Warkop's comedy films. Independent filmmaking was a rebirth of the film industry since 1998, when films started addressing previously banned topics, such as religion, race, and love. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of films released each year steadily increased. Riri Riza and Mira Lesmana were among the new generation of filmmakers who co-directed ''Kuldesak'' (1999), ''Petualangan Sherina'' (2000), ''Ada Apa dengan Cinta?'' (2002), and ''Laskar Pelangi'' (2008). In 2016, ''Warkop DKI Reborn: Jangkrik Boss Part 1'' smashed box office records, becoming the most-watched Indonesian film with 6.8 million tickets sold. Indonesia has held annual film festivals and awards, including the Indonesian Film Festival (''Festival Film Indonesia'') held intermittently since 1955. It hands out the Citra Award, the film industry's most prestigious award. From 1973 to 1992, the festival was held annually and then discontinued until its revival in 2004.


Mass media and literature

Media of Indonesia, Media freedom increased considerably after the fall of the New Order, during which the Ministry of Information monitored and controlled domestic media and restricted foreign media. The television market includes several national commercial networks and provincial networks that compete with public TVRI, which held a monopoly on TV broadcasting from 1962 to 1989. By the early 21st century, the improved communications system had brought television signals to every village, and people can choose from up to 11 channels. Private radio stations carry news bulletins while foreign broadcasters supply programmes. The number of printed publications has increased significantly since 1998. Like other developing countries, Indonesia began developing Internet in the early 1990s. Its first commercial Internet service provider, PT. Indo Internet began operation in Jakarta in 1994. The country had 171 million Internet users in 2018, with a penetration rate that keeps increasing annually. Most are between the ages of 15 and 19 and depend primarily on mobile phones for access, outnumbering laptops and computers. The oldest evidence of writing in the Indonesian archipelago is a series of Sanskrit inscriptions dated to the 5th century. Many of Indonesia's peoples have firmly rooted oral traditions, which help define and preserve their cultural identities. In written poetry and prose, several traditional forms dominate, mainly syair, pantun, gurindam, List of Hikayat, hikayat and Javanese historical texts, babad. Examples of these forms include ''Syair Abdul Muluk'', ''Hikayat Hang Tuah'', ''Malay Annals, Sulalatus Salatin'', and ''Babad Tanah Jawi''. Early modern Indonesian literature originates in the Sumatran tradition. Literature and poetry flourished during the decades leading up to and after independence. Balai Pustaka, the government bureau for popular literature, was instituted in 1917 to promote the development of indigenous literature. Many scholars consider the 1950s and 1960s to be the Golden Age of Indonesian Literature. The style and characteristics of modern Indonesian literature vary according to the dynamics of the country's political and social landscape, most notably the war of independence in the second half of the 1940s and the anti-communist mass killings in the mid-1960s. Notable literary figures of the modern era include Multatuli, Chairil Anwar, Mohammad Yamin, Merari Siregar, Marah Roesli, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and Ayu Utami.


Cuisine

Indonesian cuisine is one of the world's most diverse, vibrant, and colourful, full of intense flavour. Many regional cuisines exist, often based upon indigenous culture and foreign influences such as Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, and Indian precedents. Rice is the leading staple food and is served with side dishes of meat and vegetables. Spices (notably chilli), coconut milk, fish and chicken are fundamental ingredients. Some popular dishes such as ''nasi goreng'', ''gado-gado'', ''Satay, sate'', and ''Soto (food), soto'' are ubiquitous and considered national dishes. The Ministry of Tourism, however, chose ''tumpeng'' as the official national dish in 2014, describing it as binding the diversity of various culinary traditions. Other popular dishes include ''rendang'', one of the many Padang cuisines along with ''dendeng'' and ''gulai''. Another fermented food is ''oncom'', similar in some ways to ''tempeh'' but uses a variety of bases (not only soy), created by different fungi, and is prevalent in West Java.


Sports

Badminton and association football, football are the most popular sports in Indonesia. Indonesia is among the few countries that have won the Thomas Cup, Thomas and Uber Cup, the world team championship of men's and women's badminton. Along with Olympic weightlifting, weightlifting, it is the sport that contributes the most to Indonesia at the Olympics, Indonesia's Olympic medal tally. Liga 1 (Indonesia), Liga 1 is the country's premier football club league. On the international stage, Indonesia national football team, Indonesia was the first Asian team to participate in the FIFA World Cup in 1938 FIFA World Cup, 1938 as the Dutch East Indies. On a regional level, Indonesia won a bronze medal at the 1958 Asian Games as well as two gold medals at the 1987 Southeast Asian Games, 1987 and 1991 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). Indonesia's first appearance at the AFC Asian Cup was in 1996 AFC Asian Cup, 1996 and successfully qualified for a total of five tournaments, although they never make the knockout phase. Other popular sports include boxing and basketball, which has a long history in Indonesia and was part of the first National Sports Week (Indonesia), National Games (''Pekan Olahraga Nasional'', PON) in 1948. ''Sepak takraw'' and ''karapan sapi'' (bull racing) in Madura Island, Madura are some examples of Indonesia's traditional sports. In areas with a history of tribal warfare, mock fighting contests are held, such as ''caci'' in Flores and ''pasola'' in Sumba. ''Pencak Silat'' is an Indonesian martial art and, in 1987, became one of the sporting events in the SEA Games, with Indonesia appearing as one of the leading competitors. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia is one of the top sports powerhouses by topping the SEA Games medal table ten times since 1977, most recently in 2011 Southeast Asian Games, 2011.


See also

* List of Indonesia-related topics * Index of Indonesia-related articles * Outline of Indonesia


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Winters, Jeffrey A. "Oligarchy and democracy in Indonesia." in ''Beyond Oligarchy'' (Cornell UP, 2014) pp. 11–34
online
*


External links


Indonesia
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
Indonesia
from the BBC News
Key Development Forecasts for Indonesia
from International Futures


Government


Minister of The State Secretary

Statistics Indonesia



General



''UCB Libraries GovPubs'' *
Indonesia
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' * *
Official Site of Indonesian Tourism
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