History of Indonesia

The history of Indonesia is as old as the history of humans. The fossils of "Java Man" (Pithecanthropus Erectus) traced in the land is supposed to be around 500,000 years old. These fossils were discovered in the village of Trinil in East Java in 1809.

Another discovery of human fossils were traced just a few years after this discovery in Trinil which established the evidence of Java’s earliest inhabitants. It was during 3,000- 500 B.C when major immigration took place to Indonesia. As history beckons these migrants were of Mongloid origin and were from China and Tonkin. These tribes were also credited with the introduction of new Stone, Bronze and Iron Age cultures along with the Austronesian language to Indonesia.

Indonesia witnessed an upsurge in the influx of the Indian traders during the first century A.D. which in turn led to the enforcement of Indian civilization.

This was time when the Indian sub-continent saw the emergence of the great Hindu and Buddhist empires. By the seventh century the Buddhist Empire started expanding its empire and that was the time when a Buddhist sanctuary named Borobudur was built in the central part of Java thus enforcing the Buddhist culture into the lifestyle of the Indonesians. Then came the emergence of the great Majapahit Hindu Empire in East Java. This empire united the whole of the islands and constituted the whole of the present day Indonesia.

Indonesia in its illustrative history witnessed many invasion of which the first one came during the year 1293 when the Mongolian ruler Kubilai Khan but was driven out. Then came the Arab traders and the merchants gradually made the country the base and thus spread Islam throughout the country which in fact is the dominant religion of the country.

Thereafter many traders and explorers set their foot on the Indonesian soil and the trade with the world became possible for the Indonesians. The country became a centre of commerce and traders from all over came down to Indonesia. Indonesia also was imposed to foreign rule for a brie period in its history and the country got liberated after the Second World War.

undo Indonesia Overview