Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

established diplomatic relations in 1950. Portuguese explorer and trader first reached Indonesian archipelago during the

age of exploration The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafari ...

in the 16th century in order to search for

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s in the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

. In 1999,

and

restored diplomatic relations, which were severed following the Indonesian invasion of

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 ...

in 1975. Indonesia has an embassy in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

and Portugal has an embassy 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 ...

History

Since gaining foothold in Southeast Asian region by acquiring port of

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

in 1511, Portuguese sent exploratory expeditions into Indonesian archipelago, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices and to extend their

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

efforts.

Tomé Pires Tomé Pires (1465?–1524 or 1540)Madureira, 150–151. was a Portuguese apothecary from Lisbon who spent 1512 to 1515 in Malacca immediately after the Portuguese conquest, at a time when Europeans were only first arriving in Southeast As ...

Suma Oriental Suma may refer to: Places * Suma, Azerbaijan, a village * Suma, East Azerbaijan, a village in Iran * Sowmaeh, Ardabil, also known as Şūmā, a village in Iran * Suma-ku, Kobe, one of nine wards of Kobe City in Japan ** Suma Station, a rai ...

, written between 1512 and 1515, provides important information about 16th century Indonesia through Portuguese perspective. Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1522 with the West Javan

Sunda Kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( su, , Karajaan Sunda, ) was a Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Centra ...

, failed due hostilities amongst indigenous kingdoms on Java. The Portuguese turned east to Maluku. Through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they established trading posts, forts, and missions in eastern Indonesia including the islands of

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the we ...

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

, and

Solor Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the lang ...

. Following defeat in 1575 at Ternate at the hands of natives, Portuguese lost much of its trading posts and its former

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...

possessions to

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 ...

, and its presence in Indonesia was reduced to Solor,

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

and

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 ...

(see

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the ...

) in modern-day

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 ...

. After the independence of Indonesia, the two countries officially opened diplomatic relations in 1950. Indonesia's first president

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 ...

visited Portugal in 1960. The diplomatic relations were severed since 1964, and were restored in May 1975 for decolonization of Portuguese Timor neighboring Indonesian side of Timor Island. However, on 7 December 1975 Portugal severed diplomatic ties following the Indonesian invasion of

. Then 24 years later on 28 December 1999 Indonesia and Portugal restored their diplomatic ties, four months after East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. In May 2012 President Aníbal Cavaco Silva visited Indonesia, this was the first visit by a Portuguese president since the two countries opened diplomatic relations in 1950.

Culture

Portuguese was among the first European that made initial contact to the natives of Indonesian archipelago. The cultural impact can be seen through the adoptions of Portuguese loanwords in Indonesian, that mostly about things brought by Europeans, such as ''sabun'' (from sabão = soap), ''boneka'' (from boneca = doll), ''gereja'' (from igreja = church), ''bola'' (from bola = ball), ''bendera'' (from bandeira = flag), ''sepatu'' (from sapato = shoes), ''keju'' (from queijo = cheese), and ''mentega'' (from manteiga = butter). Portuguese influences can be found in various parts in Indonesia from Aceh in the West through Flores and Maluku in the East. In Jakarta, in the Tugu area, Portuguese descents are now living preserving the

keroncong Kroncong (pronounced "kronchong"; id, Keroncong, nl, Krontjong) is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong (the sound ' comes from this instrument, so the music is called ' ...

music which carries much influence from the Portuguese music. In Larantuka, Flores, every year ahead of the

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Day the city is full with pilgrims who wish to celebrate 'Semana Santa' or the Holy Week. Christians there conduct

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and rituals in

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 ...

Trade

From 2010 to 2011, there was an increase of 58 percent of trade volume to make the total value of the two countries` trade to reach US$171 million.

Notes

External links

Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Lisbon, PortugalEmbassy of Portugal in Jakarta, Indonesia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indonesia-Portugal relations

Bilateral relations of Portugal

History

Culture

Trade

See also

Notes

External links