Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia (
Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a
nation of islands consisting of almost 18,000 islands located in the
South East Asian Archipelago.
Jakarta, formerly known as Batavia, is Indonesia's capital. Indonesia (from
Greek: indus = India nesos = islands) is the world's largest archipelagic nation, bordered by the nations of
Papua New Guinea,
East Timor, and
Malaysia. This nation is home to more than 200 million people, and thus is the most populous
Muslim-majority nation in the world and the fourth
most populous overall.
The area now comprising the archipelago of Indonesia, specifically Java, was inhabited by
Homo erectus - the
Java Man - approximately 500,000 years ago, while the island of
Flores was home to a newly discovered species of
hominid,
Homo floresiensis. The region was an important trade route to
China, thriving in trade of spices. Regional
Hindu kingdoms expanded religious and cultural influences of
Hinduism as well as
Buddhism, and in the middle ages the islands came under the influence of
Islam. The region was colonized by
the Netherlands as the
Dutch East Indies. The people across many islands rebelled in the early 20th century against Dutch control. Following a brief occupation by
Imperial Japan during
World War II, nationalists declared independence in 1945, and a united and independent Indonesia was recognized in 1949.
Indonesia is a
unitary state, and was governed by
Sukarno, leader of the national freedom struggle, and military dictator
Suharto for most of its modern history. Democracy was restored following the
revolution of 1998. Although the national language is
Indonesian (called Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesian) and the population is overwhelmingly
Muslim, there are several hundred diverse linguistic and ethnic groups across the country, as well as other religious communities. Although Indonesia's economy is progressive and regionally important, the problems of poverty, illiteracy, political instability and regional separatism remain major issues hindering national development.