History

The first settlers in the Indonesian Archipelago were believed to be the "Java Man", found in east Java. The "Malays" from southern China and Indochina later began populating the archipelago around 3000BC.

Indonesia is very much influenced by the cultures it encountered throughout its history. Powerful groups such as the Buddhist Srivijaya empire and the Hindu Mataram kingdom had arisen in Java and Sumatra towards the end of the 7th century. The last great Hindu kingdom was the Majapahit, which was founded in the 13th century. The subsequent spread of Islam into the archipelago in the 14th century forced the Majapahit's to retreat to Bali, which is one of the few islands which remained Hindu and preserved to this day. By the 15th century, a strong Muslim empire had developed and most people in Indonesia today practice Islam.

The Portuguese came in the 16th century and brought Europeans into the region in search of spices. However, the Dutch displaced the Portuguese and dominated the spice trade while taking control of the entire archipelago by the early 20th century.

In 1942, the Dutch were overcome by invading Japanese during WWII. On 17 August 1945, two days after Japan's surrender, leaders of the people in the archipelago, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia and were selected as its president and vice president. However, in July 1947, the Dutch violated an earlier agreement with the British to accept the authority of the new republic and launched attacks against the republic. For four years, Indonesians fought to regain their land and finally, with help from the United Nations, the Dutch surrendered the sovereign rights to the new Republic of Indonesia on 27 December 1949.