Until the Dutch subsumed most of the islands under the title the "Dutch East Indies" towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Indonesian archipelago was little more than a series of unrelated kingdoms, sultanates and private fiefdoms with distinct histories
BeginningsHominids first arrived in Indonesia about eight hundred thousand years ago. Excavations uncovered parts of the skull of Pithecanthropus erectus, since renamed Homo erectus erectus - or Java Man - in Sangiran near...
read more >>Early traders and kingdomsOne of the methods of rice growing brought by the early migrants was wet-field cultivation, which required substantial inter-village co-operation and so gave rise to the first kingdoms in the archipelago. Merchants from India brought ...
read more >>The Majapahit Empire and the arrival of IslamThe Majapahit Empire, a Hindu kingdom based in East Java, enjoyed unrivalled success from 1292 to 1389, boasting at least partial control over a vast area covering Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, Lombok and Timor. This was the first...
read more >>The spice trade and the Dutch conquest of IndonesiaPortuguese ships began appearing in the region in the early sixteenth century and soon established a virtual monopoly over the archipelago's lucrative spice trade. They took control of the Moluccas (Maluku), which became known as the Spice...
read more >>The arrival of the BritishIn 1795, the French, under Napoleon, invaded and occupied Holland, and Herman Willem Daendels was made governor-general of the East Indies. He ruled for just three years, but was unable to fend off attacks by the British who, under the...
read more >>The return of the DutchThe Dutch returned to Indonesia in 1816 and were soon embroiled in a couple of bloody disputes against opponents of their rule. But, having finally regained control over their old colonies, the rest of the nineteenth century and the beginning...
read more >>The Independence movementThough education amongst Indonesians was still the preserve of a rich minority, it was from this minority that the leaders of the Independence movement would emerge. The Partai Nasional Indonesia (PNI), founded in 1927 by Achmed Sukarno, grew...
read more >>The RevolutionHowever, under the terms of the surrender agreed with the Allies, the Japanese actually had no right to hand over Indonesia to the Indonesian people. Lord Louis Mountbatten arrived in mid-1945 with several thousand British troops to accept the...
read more >>The Sukarno yearsSukarno introduced the concept of guided democracy , an attempt to create a wholly Indonesian political system based on the traditional, hierarchical organization of Indonesian villages. Decisions were to be made with the consent of everyone,...
read more >>The Communist coup, 1965In 1965, Sukarno's demise was accelerated by the still not completely explained events of September 30, 1965, when a number of leading generals were taken from their homes at gunpoint to Halim airport; their bodies were later discovered down a nearby...
read more >>Suharto takes control, 1965-67Though he lived until 1970, Sukarno's grip on power had almost completely slipped by the end of 1965, and for the remaining year of his presidency he ruled in name only, as General Suharto manoeuvred himself to the top of the political ladder....
read more >>The New OrderSuharto dubbed his new regime the New Order . His first few years in power were seen as a brave new dawn, as the economy improved beyond all recognition and he managed to create a pluralistic society where religious intolerance had no place;...
read more >>Suharto's downfallResentment against Suharto's regime grew throughout the 1990s, but he would probably have survived for a few more years if it hadn't been for the currency crisis that hit the region in the latter part of 1997, a crisis triggered by a run on...
read more >>The futureDespite promises to introduce sweeping reforms, many believed Habibie was dragging his feet over a number of issues, and, in early November 1998, more rioting occurred. The cry for " Reformasi ", first heard in May, grew...
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