Need to Know Indonesia

Late last week, two suicide bombers exploded themselves in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, and ripped apart the lobby restaurants of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels. Seven people were murdered, and 50 were wounded, by the blasts.

Perhaps not coincidentally, just a week before those terror attacks, Indonesia conducted a free and fair presidential election, in which incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looks to have won another 5-year term. He's popular, at least in part, because he's cracked down on the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah, which bombed Bali in 2002 (and may have been responsible for bombings in 2003, 2004, 2005, and now 2009 as well).

Clearly we should know more about Indonesia. After all, Indonesian islands stretch one eighth of the way around the Earth. And more than 240 million people live on those islands, making Indonesia the fourth most populous country in the world, and the most populous one of all with a Muslim majority. This issue and next, let's learn about Indonesia.

Introducing Indonesia

Stretched across the world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is a crescent of more than 17,500 islands. But most of the land's 240 million people live on just five big islands: Java, Sumatra, New Guinea, Borneo, and Sulawesi.

At least 100 different languages are spoken across Indonesia (some say the number is more than 300), and the number of distinct tribal groups is probably even higher. So how did this diverse string of islands gather into the world's fourth most populous nation?

Ancient Islanders

The archipelago's earliest people likely migrated from India or Burma. A wave of immigrants from China and Indochina joined those earliest islanders around 3000 BC. Over the next several thousand years, the islands' rich tapestry of social, cultural, and linguistic traditions took shape.

By the 2nd century AD, several small, independent coastal states had begun trading with India. The exchange was more than merely monetary. It brought Hinduism and Buddhism to the islands, which in turn stimulated the development of highly centralized societies.

By the mid-9th century, sophisticated Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms dominated both Java and Sumatra, and merchants from India and China were developing trade routes throughout the archipelago.

Islam Arrives

Among those merchants were Muslims from India, who brought Islam. Islam seems to have won converts slowly until the end of the 14th century, when the religion got a boost from the conversion of the rulers of Malacca, a rich port city in today's Malaysia.

Malacca was already an important stop on the trade route between the Moluccas (then called the Spice Islands) and Europe. Now the city became an export center for Islam as well, with merchants spreading Muhammad's message along with their spices. Portuguese traders captured Malacca in 1511, but Islam kept expanding. (Today, 86 percent of Indonesia is Muslim.)

Going Dutch

The Portuguese (and the British) hungered to control the spice trade, but the Dutch East India Company eventually gobbled it up. Founded in 1602, the company was empowered by the Dutch government to build forts, make war, sign treaties, and administer justice to local peoples. Its main purpose, however, was simply to make money.

The Dutch East India Company used a combination of slick diplomacy and brute force to build a spice monopoly in 17th-century Indonesia. In the process, its leaders founded the city of Batavia (now Jakarta) and assumed control of much of the island of Java.

Colonial Creep

During the 18th century, the Dutch East India Company extended its economic efforts in the region, introducing new cash crops to the islands (including coffee on Java). Yet financial shenanigans brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy, and the Dutch government took over in 1799.

In the 19th century, the Dutch used military force to expand their control in the region--especially after a Javanese guerrilla revolt in the 1820s cost as many as 200,000 lives. Colonial wars on the various islands would continue into the early 20th century, when The Hague finally consolidated its control over "the Dutch East Indies," setting the boundaries of today's Indonesia.

To be continued in the next Knowledge News . . .