Indonesia History At a Glance

Indonesia history starts from the fossil known as the first ‘homo erectus’ lived in Indonesia found in East Java which later known as ‘Java Man’ about 500,000 years ago. Later on, on about 4,000 BC the ancestor of modern Malayo-Polynesian groups including Malays, Javanese were moved to Indonesia archipelago, spread out and multiply to form Indonesia’s population today. Since Indonesia became the central of the ancient trades between Far East and Middle East, the interactions with foreign culture and religions such as China, India and Arab bring huge effects to its cultures.

One of the well known empires in Indonesia History is Sriwijaya which was greatly influenced by the Buddhism religion. It is located in Sumatra and was known as a maritime country due to its solid marine forces and became the trade routes of the local and international trading then. Other large kingdoms in Indonesia history that was located in Java built he biggest Buddhist monument in the world that we can still admire and learn now i.e. Borobudur temple. The last and most powerful Hindu-Javanese kingdom called as Majapahit that was lead by its famous king Hayam Wuruk and the Prime Minister Gajah Mada had a sovereign area known as recent Indonesia. As a matter of fact, Majapahit brought a great influence into what Indonesia now. Later on, Islam came and gradually spread out throughout the archipelago where there were nine well known religious leaders that spread out Islam throughout Java.

Indonesia history recorded that Portuguese merchants reached this archipelago at Maluku in 1511 due to its abundant spices. Later on the Dutch took control the spice trade and started to make the archipelago as its colony and oppressed the inhabitants. A lot of nationalists sparked throughout the archipelago until they finally reached their independence on August, 17, 1945. The first charismatic president Soekarno lead the country successfully during the first two decades after its independence. Soekarno was eased by General Soeharto in 1967. According to Indonesia history, Soeharto leadership has brought this particular country into a relatively safe and constant condition though there were a lot of personal hidden agendas of his. However, after 32 years leading Indonesia, he was forced to resign with the ‘Reformation’ movements due to the bloody riots and violence raged in the country in 1998. After his resignation there were a couple of presidents that lead this country from B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid who is well known as Gus Dur, Megawati Soekarno Putri who is the daughter of Indonesia’s first president and the recent president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY.