The Tenggerese are the descendants of the Majapahit princes. Their population of roughly 600,000 is centered in thirty villages in the isolated Tengger mountains (Mount Bromo) within the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru national park in East-Central Java.
Scattered communities of Tenggerese also exist in the Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Malang, and Lumajang districts of eastern Java. They are traditionally believed to be the descendants of Roro Anteng and Joko Seger.
Language
The Tenggerese speak an archaic Javanese (Majapahit) dialect called Tengger. Elements of modern Javanese influences can be seen in their speech. They have their own written Kavi script based on the old Javanese Brahmi type.
Religion
The Tenggerese generally profess Hinduism as their religion, although they have incorporated many Buddhist and Animist elements. Like the Balinese, they worship Ida Sang Hyang Widi Wasa (Roughly "Big Almighty Lord") for blessings in addition to other Hindu and Buddhist gods that include the Tri Murti, namely Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu and Buddha. Their places of worship include the Punden, Poten and Danyang. The Poten is a sacred area of ground at Mt. Bromo's Sand sea, and becomes the focus of the annual Kasada Ceremony. Within the Poten, it contains several buildings and enclosures, arranged in a specific composition called the Mandalas (Zones).
The Tenggerese also worship a host of spirits (ancestor worship). They include cikal bakal, the spirits of the founders of the village, the rohbau rekso, the village guardian spirits and the roh leluhur, the spirits of the ancestors. Rituals to propitiate these spirits are conducted by special priests. During these rites little doll-like figures representing the spirits are clothed in batik cloth and are presented with food and drink. It is believed that the spirits partake of the essence of these offerings. The Bromo volcano is considered one of the most sacred places. If it erupts, they believe that their god is very angry.
The Tenggerese gave offerings to the gods in different forms. One of these, Sajenan, is presented to the guardian deities by the priest in formal liturgy. For different occasions different sorts of food are offered as Sajenan. For instance, during weddings a cone of rice, Tumpeng Walagara, is offered, and this is considered to be a source of blessing for the couple as well as the whole village. The second sort of food offering, called Suguhan, are those that are offered by ordinary Tengger Hindus to their ancestral spirits. The third type, Tamping, are food offerings to evil spirits so as to ward off bad luck, and typically consist of meat, rice and bananas wrapped up in leaves and placed at places considered inauspicious such as cemeteries, bridges and road intersections.
Their priests are called Dukun or Rasi Pujjanga, who play a middle role in their religious worship. They are believed to possess spiritual knowledge called Ilmu of the gods and the spirits, which they carefully guard from ordinary Tenggers. Membership of the priesthood is hereditary, and generally passes down from father to son. Each village has only one of these three priests, together with three assistants, namely Legen, Sepuh and Dandan.
However, in the past few decades, due to over-population in Madura, many Madurese have explioted their land by clearing some of their nature reserves for land and converted 2-3% (up to 10,000 of them) of the Tenggerese to Islam in the process, particularly those living in the more accessible areas in the lowlands just outside the Tengger range. When the remainder 97-8% of the unconverted Tenggerese saw this and began to ask the Balinese for help any by reforming their culture and religion closer to the Balinese. The Indonesian government saw this and declared the Tengger mountains as the Bromo-Tengger-Serumu national park, and also have declared that any more logging in this area is an illegal act.
Both Muslim and Christian missionaries have attempted to convert the Tenggerese. However, the Christians have met with hardly any success; they only managed to convert a few hundred to Christianity. Even so, due to the negligible number of them, most of them either reverted back to Hinduism or converted to Islam. The Tenggerese Muslims have a more successful conversion, though they frequently mix original Hindu-Buddhist ideas and spirits to their Islam and celebrate Tenggerese festivals at the same time.
Lifestyle
The Tenggerese are basically either agriculturalists or nomadic herders, similar to the Tibetans. The agriculturalists generally live on the lower altitudes, but the nomads live on the higher altitudes, riding on small little ponies.
Festivals
The main festival of the Tenggerese is the Yadnya Kasada, which lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day of the Kasada, the Tenggerese go to Poten Bromo and ask for blessing from the main deity Hyang Widi Wasa and the God of the Mountain (Mount Serumu) by presenting annual offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, livestock and other local produce. They will also see the examination of the medicine men memorizing prayers. The medicine man who passes the exam is decided to be spiritual leader of Tengger tribe.
The origin of this festival is a legend which dates back to the Majapahit kingdom, during the reign of King Brawijaya, involving the queen of the Kingdom giving birth to a daughter named Roro Anteng, who married Jaka Seger, a young man from the Brahmin Caste.
According to the legend, Roro Anteng and Jaka Seger were among many others who fled from the already tattering Majapahit kingdom during the 15th century, when the Islamic religion was gaining followers rapidly. The couple later settled in the Tengger mountains and ruled the region jointly under the title Purbawisesa Mangkurat Ing Tengger.
For a few years the Tenggerese people flourished under the leadership of Jaka Seger and Roro Anteng, yet the king and queen were unhappy for they had no children. Desperate, they decided to climb to the top of Mt. Bromo and pray for help. Deeply moved by the couple's depth of his faith, the god of Mt. Bromo assured them of offspring but with the condition that the youngest child be sacrificed in the crater of the volcano. After giving birth to twenty-five children, the time came for Roro Anteng and to fulfil her part of the pledge. Although they were reluctant, they were threatened with catastrophe, forcing them to futfil their pledge and complying the god's wishes, they have no choice but to sacrifice their 25th child, Kesuma, by throwing him into the crater.
History
The past of the Tenggerese before the 15th century links with the Majapahit and other kingdoms from the earlier period. According to legend, Jaka Senger and Roro Anteng are the ancestors of the Tenggerese. (To know more about them, see the festivals section.) Since then, the Tenggerese have lived in near-complete isolation until recently.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenggerese
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Javanese people
The Javanese are an ethnic group native to the Indonesian island of Java. They are predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of the island. At 90 million people (as of 2004), it is the largest ethnic group on the island, and also in Indonesia.Origin and distribution
Like most Indonesian ethnic groups, including the Sundanese of West Java, the Javanese are of Austronesian origins whose ancestors are thought to have originated in Taiwan, and migrated through the Philippines, reaching Java between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.
The Javanese were traditionally concentrated in the provinces of East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta, but due to migration within Indonesia (as part of government transmigration programs or otherwise) there are now high populations of Javanese people in almost all the Indonesian provinces. (The province of West Java is home to the Sundanese, Indonesia's second largest ethnic group who are ethnically distinct from the Javanese).
Language
Javanese people use Javanese language in everyday speech. In a public poll held circa-1990, approximately 12% of Javanese used Indonesian, around 18% used both Javanese and Indonesian, and the rest used Javanese exclusively.
Family
Culturally, Javanese people adopt a paternalistic system that traces the hierarchic lineage of the father. This system is particularly used to determine descendants' right to use royal titles before their names. However, it is not customary for Javanese to have a descended family name.
Religion
Most Javanese follow Islam as their religion. Some also follow Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), which are rather concentrated in Central Java (particularly Surakarta, Magelang and Yogyakarta for Catholicism). In a much smaller scale, Buddhism and Hinduism also are found in the Javanese community.
Many Javanese follow the ethnic religion Kejawen, which is animistic with strong influences of Hinduism and Buddhism and some rituals in Islam. The Javanese community is also known for syncretism of beliefs. All the outside cultures were absorbed and interpreted according to the Javanese traditional values, creating a new set of religious beliefs unique to local culture.
Profession
In Indonesia, Javanese can be found in all professions, especially in the government and the military. Traditionally, most Javanese are farmers. This was especially common because of the fertile volcanic soil in Java.
Social stratification
The famous American anthropologist Clifford Geertz in the 1960s divided the Javanese community into three aliran or "streams": santri, abangan and priyayi. According to him, the Santri followed an orthodox interpretation Islam, the abangan was the followed a syncretic form of Islam that mixed Hindu and animist elements (often termed Kejawen), and the priyayi was the nobility. But today the Geertz opinion is often opposed because he mixed the social groups with belief groups. It was also difficult to apply this social categorisation in classing outsiders, for example other non-indigenous Indonesians such as persons of Arab, Chinese and Indian descent.
Social stratification is much less rigid in northern coast area, which is much more egalitarian.
Art
Javanese origin artforms are among the best known in Indonesia and the whole archipelago. The famous Javanese wayang puppetry culture was influenced by Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The Wayang repertoire stories, lakon, are mostly based on epics from India; Ramayana and Mahabharata. These epics and stories influenced wayang puppetry as well as Javanese classical dances. The influences from Islam and the Western world also can be found. The art of Batik and Keris dagger are among Javanese origin art expressions. Gamelan musical ensembles are found in both Java and Bali. All of these artforms holds important position, and function within Javanese culture and tradition.
Names
Javanese do not usually have family names or surnames. Many have just a single name. For example, Sukarno or Suharto. Javanese names may come from traditional Javanese languages, many of which are derived from Sanskrit. Names with the prefix Su-,which means good, are very popular. After the advent of Islam, many Javanese began to use Arabic names, especially among clerics and northern coast populations, where Islamic influences are stronger. Commoners usually only have one-word names, while nobilities use two-or-more-word names, but rarely a surname. Due to the influence of other cultures, many people started using names from other languages, mainly European languages. Christian Javanese usually use Latin baptist names followed by a traditional Javanese name.
Some people use a patronymic. For example, Abdurrahman Wahid's name is derived from his father's name (Wahid Hasyim) who was an independence fighter and minister. In turn, Wahid Hasyim's name was derived from that of his father: Hasyim Asyari, a famous cleric and founder of the Nahdlatul Ulama organization.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javanese_people
The Concepts of Nusantara
Nusantara is an Indonesian word designating the Indonesian archipelago. It is synonymous with Indonesia, excluding the Malaysian, Filipino, Singaporean, and Bruneian lands, but including the interior of Kalimantan, the last corner of Sulawesi, and Papua (from Manokwari to Merauke on the Papua New Guinean border).
The word Nusantara was taken from an oath by Gajah Mada, as written on an old Javanese old manuscript by Negarakertagama. Gajah Mada (d. circa 1364) was, according to ancient Javanese manuscripts, poems and mythology, a famous military leader and prime minister (mahapatih) of the Majapahit Empire, credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada is said to have delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara. In modern Indonesia, Mada is considered an important national hero and nationalist symbol.
Ancient concepts of Nusantara
Etymology
Nusantara is a Javanese phrase meaning "outer islands" (from nusa, "island"). In the Javanese concept of state, the monarch has the power over three areas:
1. Negara Agung, or the Grand State, the core kingdom. this includes the capital and the surrounding area. In Majapahit sense, this area covered the whole East Java and its surrounding area.
2. Mancanegara, countries surrounding Negara Agung. These countries' cultures shows strong influence of Javanese culture and concepts. If this concept is used in the context of Majapahit empire, this includes the whole Java island, Madura, Bali, and maybe Lampung and Palembang (South Sumatra).
3. Nusantara, areas which do not resonate Javanese culture, but sometimes still claimed as colonies where they had to pay tribute.
The history of Nusantara
The name "Nusantara" is mentioned in the Pararaton (Book of Kings), a chronicle of Javanese history that, based on the language in which it is written, seems to date from the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. In the text, it is said that Gajah Mada, when he was appointed as mahapatih (prime minister) under queen Tribhuwanatunggadewi of the Majapahit kingdom in eastern Java, made an oath to conquer Gurun (Gorong in the Moluccas), Seram, Tanjungpura (an ancient kingdom in western Borneo), Haru (Aru in eastern Indonesia), Pahang (the current Malaysian state), Dompo (Dompu on Sumbawa island), Bali, Sunda, Palembang, and Tumasik (the ancient name of Singapore). His declaration is as follows :
“Sira Gajah Mada pepatih amungkubumi tan ayun amukita palapa, sira Gajah Mada : Lamun huwus kalah nusantara ingsun amukti palapa, lamun kalah ring Gurun, ring Seram, Tanjungpura, ring Haru, ring Pahang, Dompo, ring Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, samana ingsun amukti palapa “
"Gajah Mada, he the prime minister, said he will not taste spice, said Gajah Mada : Until I have unified Nusantara, I shall not taste spice. Unless I have conquered Gurun, Seram, Tanjungpura, Haru, Pahang, Dompo, Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, I shall never taste spice."
"Nusantara" more generally refers to countries outside Java, which Majapahit regarded as tributaries. While often interpreted literally to mean that Gajah Mada would not allow his food to be spiced, the oath is sometimes interpreted to mean that Gajah Mada would abstain from all earthly comforts until he has conquered the entire known archipelago for Majapahit. This oath was named "Sumpah Palapa" ("Palapa oath") by the Indonesian authorities.
Even his closest friends were initially skeptical of his oath, but Gajah Mada kept pursuing his dream to unify Nusantara under the glory of Majapahit. Soon he conquered the surrounding territory of Bedahulu, (Bali), and Lombok (1343). He then sent the navy westward to invade the remnants of the thallassocratic kingdom of Sriwijaya in Palembang. There he installed Adityawarman, a Majapahit prince as vassal ruler of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra.
He then conquered the first Islamic sultanate in Southeast Asia, Samudra Pasai, and another state in Swarnadwipa (Sumatra). Gajah Mada also conquered Bintan, Tumasik (Singapore), Melayu (now known as Jambi), and Kalimantan.
At the resignation of the queen, Tribuwanatunggadewi, her son, Hayam Wuruk (ruled 1350-1389) became king. Gajah Mada retained his position as mahapatih under the new king and continued his military campaign by expanding eastward into Logajah, Gurun, Seram, Hutankadali, Sasak, Makassar, Buton, Banggai, Kunir, Galiyan, Salayar, Sumba, Muar (Saparua), Solor, Bima, Wandan (Banda), Ambon, Timor, and Dompo.
He thus effectively brought the archipelago under Majapahit's control, which spanned not only most the territory of today's Indonesia, but also that of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei.
In fact, there are no historical evidences of all these claims. For instance, Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited northern Sumatra in 1346, makes no mention of Majapahit in his book. It is more realistic to see Majapahit as the centre of a network of polities that traded with each other while accepting Majapahit's demands for a priviledged relationship. Majapahit would from time to time send controllers, called bujangga, to ensure that none of these countries would not trade for its own interest. Should one of them be proven to do so, Majapahit would send an expedition to punish it.
Indonesian concept of Nusantara
In the year 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879-1950), who was also known as Dr.Setiabudi , introduced a name for his country (Indonesia) which didn't include any Indian words. That name was Nusantara.
The definition of Nusantara introduced by Setiabudi is different to the 14th century definition of the term. During the Majapahit era, Nusantara described vassal areas to be conquered. Setiabudi didn't want this aggressive connotation, so he defined Nusantara as all the Indonesian regions from Sabang until Merauke.
Palapa Oath (where the term Nusantara was first used) is in reality the embryo of the modern unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia, notwithstanding the fact that the territory of Majapahit was then even much wider than the current territory of Indonesia.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusantara
The word Nusantara was taken from an oath by Gajah Mada, as written on an old Javanese old manuscript by Negarakertagama. Gajah Mada (d. circa 1364) was, according to ancient Javanese manuscripts, poems and mythology, a famous military leader and prime minister (mahapatih) of the Majapahit Empire, credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada is said to have delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara. In modern Indonesia, Mada is considered an important national hero and nationalist symbol.
Ancient concepts of Nusantara
Etymology
Nusantara is a Javanese phrase meaning "outer islands" (from nusa, "island"). In the Javanese concept of state, the monarch has the power over three areas:
1. Negara Agung, or the Grand State, the core kingdom. this includes the capital and the surrounding area. In Majapahit sense, this area covered the whole East Java and its surrounding area.
2. Mancanegara, countries surrounding Negara Agung. These countries' cultures shows strong influence of Javanese culture and concepts. If this concept is used in the context of Majapahit empire, this includes the whole Java island, Madura, Bali, and maybe Lampung and Palembang (South Sumatra).
3. Nusantara, areas which do not resonate Javanese culture, but sometimes still claimed as colonies where they had to pay tribute.
The history of Nusantara
The name "Nusantara" is mentioned in the Pararaton (Book of Kings), a chronicle of Javanese history that, based on the language in which it is written, seems to date from the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. In the text, it is said that Gajah Mada, when he was appointed as mahapatih (prime minister) under queen Tribhuwanatunggadewi of the Majapahit kingdom in eastern Java, made an oath to conquer Gurun (Gorong in the Moluccas), Seram, Tanjungpura (an ancient kingdom in western Borneo), Haru (Aru in eastern Indonesia), Pahang (the current Malaysian state), Dompo (Dompu on Sumbawa island), Bali, Sunda, Palembang, and Tumasik (the ancient name of Singapore). His declaration is as follows :
“Sira Gajah Mada pepatih amungkubumi tan ayun amukita palapa, sira Gajah Mada : Lamun huwus kalah nusantara ingsun amukti palapa, lamun kalah ring Gurun, ring Seram, Tanjungpura, ring Haru, ring Pahang, Dompo, ring Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, samana ingsun amukti palapa “
"Gajah Mada, he the prime minister, said he will not taste spice, said Gajah Mada : Until I have unified Nusantara, I shall not taste spice. Unless I have conquered Gurun, Seram, Tanjungpura, Haru, Pahang, Dompo, Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, I shall never taste spice."
"Nusantara" more generally refers to countries outside Java, which Majapahit regarded as tributaries. While often interpreted literally to mean that Gajah Mada would not allow his food to be spiced, the oath is sometimes interpreted to mean that Gajah Mada would abstain from all earthly comforts until he has conquered the entire known archipelago for Majapahit. This oath was named "Sumpah Palapa" ("Palapa oath") by the Indonesian authorities.
Even his closest friends were initially skeptical of his oath, but Gajah Mada kept pursuing his dream to unify Nusantara under the glory of Majapahit. Soon he conquered the surrounding territory of Bedahulu, (Bali), and Lombok (1343). He then sent the navy westward to invade the remnants of the thallassocratic kingdom of Sriwijaya in Palembang. There he installed Adityawarman, a Majapahit prince as vassal ruler of the Minangkabau in West Sumatra.
He then conquered the first Islamic sultanate in Southeast Asia, Samudra Pasai, and another state in Swarnadwipa (Sumatra). Gajah Mada also conquered Bintan, Tumasik (Singapore), Melayu (now known as Jambi), and Kalimantan.
At the resignation of the queen, Tribuwanatunggadewi, her son, Hayam Wuruk (ruled 1350-1389) became king. Gajah Mada retained his position as mahapatih under the new king and continued his military campaign by expanding eastward into Logajah, Gurun, Seram, Hutankadali, Sasak, Makassar, Buton, Banggai, Kunir, Galiyan, Salayar, Sumba, Muar (Saparua), Solor, Bima, Wandan (Banda), Ambon, Timor, and Dompo.
He thus effectively brought the archipelago under Majapahit's control, which spanned not only most the territory of today's Indonesia, but also that of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei.
In fact, there are no historical evidences of all these claims. For instance, Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited northern Sumatra in 1346, makes no mention of Majapahit in his book. It is more realistic to see Majapahit as the centre of a network of polities that traded with each other while accepting Majapahit's demands for a priviledged relationship. Majapahit would from time to time send controllers, called bujangga, to ensure that none of these countries would not trade for its own interest. Should one of them be proven to do so, Majapahit would send an expedition to punish it.
Indonesian concept of Nusantara
In the year 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879-1950), who was also known as Dr.Setiabudi , introduced a name for his country (Indonesia) which didn't include any Indian words. That name was Nusantara.
The definition of Nusantara introduced by Setiabudi is different to the 14th century definition of the term. During the Majapahit era, Nusantara described vassal areas to be conquered. Setiabudi didn't want this aggressive connotation, so he defined Nusantara as all the Indonesian regions from Sabang until Merauke.
Palapa Oath (where the term Nusantara was first used) is in reality the embryo of the modern unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia, notwithstanding the fact that the territory of Majapahit was then even much wider than the current territory of Indonesia.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusantara
Baduy People
The Baduy, who call themselves Kanekes, are a traditional community living in the western part of the Indonesian province of Banten. Their population of between 5,000 and 8,000 is centered in the Kendeng mountains at an elevation of 300-500 meters above sea level. Their homeland in Banten, Java is contained in just 50 km² of hilly forest area 120 km from Jakarta, Indonesia's megalopolis of high-rises and fast cars. The Baduy are divided into two sub-groups; the Baduy Dalam (Inner Baduy), and the Baduy Luar (Outer Baduy). No foreigners were allowed to meet the Inner Baduy, though the Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world. The origin of the word Baduy came from the term Bedouin.
Language
The Baduy speak a dialect derived from archaic Sundanese. However, modern Sundanese and Javanese influences in their archaic dialect can be heard in their speech.
Religion and Beliefs
The religion of the Baduy is known as Agama Sunda Wiwitan, a combination of traditional beliefs and Hinduism. However, due to lack of interaction with the outside world, their religion is more related to Kejawen Animism, though they still retain many elements of their original Hindu-Buddhist religion, like the terms they use to define things and objects, and the rituals in their religious activities. A certain amount of Islamic influence has also penetrated into the religion of a few of the Baduy Luar in recent years, with some original ideas thrown in for good measure. The ultimate authority is vested in Gusti Nu Maha Suci, who according to the Baduy sent Adam into the world to lead the life of a Baduy.
The Baduy also observe many mystical taboos. They are forbidden to kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, get drunk, eat food at night, take any form of conveyance, wear flowers or perfumes, accept gold or silver, touch money, or cut their hair. Other taboos relate to defending Baduy lands against invasion: they may not grow sawah (wet rice), use fertilizers, raise cash crops, use modern tools for working ladang soil, or keep large domestic animals.
There is evidence that they were originally Hindu, and adopted this many centuries before foreign influence including Arab (Islam), European (Christianity) etc.
Social Classes
Generally speaking, the Baduy are divided into two groups: The Baduy Dalam and The Baduy Luar. The community of villages in which they live are considered mandalas, derived from the Hindu/Buddhist concept but referring in the Indonesian context to places where religion is the central aspect of life.
The population of about 400 Baduy Dalam consists of 40 families Kajeroan who live in the three villages of Cibeo, Cikertawana, and Cikeusik in Tanah Larangan (forbidden territory) where no stranger is permitted to spend the night. They are probably the purest Baduy stock. The Dalam follow the rigid buyut taboo system very strictly,(see Religion and Beliefs for more information about their taboos) and thus they have made very few contacts with the outside world as they are considered as "People of the sacred inner circle". The Dalam are the only one of these two major clans that have the Pu'un, the spiritual priest of the Baduy. The Pu'un are the only people that visit the most hallowed and sacred ground of the Baduy which lies on Gunung Kendeng, in a place called Arca Domas. Unlike the Luar, the Dalams are hardly influenced by Islam.
The Baduy Luar make up the remainder of the Baduy population, living in 22 villages and acting as a barrier to stop visitors from entering the Sacred Inner circle. They do follow the rigid taboo system but not as strictly as the Dalam, and they are more willing to accept modern influence into their daily lives. For example, some Luar people now proudly sport the colorful sarongs and shirts favored by their Sundanese neighbours. In the past the Baduy Luar only wore only their homespun blue-black cloth, and were forbidden to wear trousers. Other elements of civilization (toys, money, batteries) are rapidly infiltrating especially in the villages to the north, and it is no longer unusual for an outer Baduy to make a journey to Jakarta, or even to work outside as a hired hand during the rice planting and reaping seasons. Some even work in big towns and cities like Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung. Animal meat is eaten in some of the outer villages where dogs are trained for hunting, though animal husbandry is still forbidden.
History
Some people believe that the Baduy are the descendants of the aristocracy of the Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran who lived near Batutulis in the hills around Bogor; their domestic architecture follows most closely the traditional Sundanese architecture. Pakuwan Pajajaran port known as Sunda Kelapa, was destroyed by invading Faletehan (Fatahillah) Muslims soldier in 1579, Dayeuh Pakuan the capital of Pajajaran, was invaded by Banten Sultanate some times later. However, the Baduy today are increasingly losing touch with their Hindu culture and increasingly getting closer to nature both in their own religion and their life, as they use no electricity, fertilizer or irrigation techniques in their farming. Another theory suggests that they originate in northern Banten; pockets of people in the northern hills still speak the archaic dialect of Sunda that the Baduy use.
Education
Even today, despite the ways that Former President Suharto tried to force them to change their lives and build modern schools in their territory, the Baduy opposed the government. As a result, very few Baduy are able to read or write. Jesuit priest Wayne P. Penaflorida is a leading proponent for education of all Baduy.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baduy
Language
The Baduy speak a dialect derived from archaic Sundanese. However, modern Sundanese and Javanese influences in their archaic dialect can be heard in their speech.
Religion and Beliefs
The religion of the Baduy is known as Agama Sunda Wiwitan, a combination of traditional beliefs and Hinduism. However, due to lack of interaction with the outside world, their religion is more related to Kejawen Animism, though they still retain many elements of their original Hindu-Buddhist religion, like the terms they use to define things and objects, and the rituals in their religious activities. A certain amount of Islamic influence has also penetrated into the religion of a few of the Baduy Luar in recent years, with some original ideas thrown in for good measure. The ultimate authority is vested in Gusti Nu Maha Suci, who according to the Baduy sent Adam into the world to lead the life of a Baduy.
The Baduy also observe many mystical taboos. They are forbidden to kill, steal, lie, commit adultery, get drunk, eat food at night, take any form of conveyance, wear flowers or perfumes, accept gold or silver, touch money, or cut their hair. Other taboos relate to defending Baduy lands against invasion: they may not grow sawah (wet rice), use fertilizers, raise cash crops, use modern tools for working ladang soil, or keep large domestic animals.
There is evidence that they were originally Hindu, and adopted this many centuries before foreign influence including Arab (Islam), European (Christianity) etc.
Social Classes
Generally speaking, the Baduy are divided into two groups: The Baduy Dalam and The Baduy Luar. The community of villages in which they live are considered mandalas, derived from the Hindu/Buddhist concept but referring in the Indonesian context to places where religion is the central aspect of life.
The population of about 400 Baduy Dalam consists of 40 families Kajeroan who live in the three villages of Cibeo, Cikertawana, and Cikeusik in Tanah Larangan (forbidden territory) where no stranger is permitted to spend the night. They are probably the purest Baduy stock. The Dalam follow the rigid buyut taboo system very strictly,(see Religion and Beliefs for more information about their taboos) and thus they have made very few contacts with the outside world as they are considered as "People of the sacred inner circle". The Dalam are the only one of these two major clans that have the Pu'un, the spiritual priest of the Baduy. The Pu'un are the only people that visit the most hallowed and sacred ground of the Baduy which lies on Gunung Kendeng, in a place called Arca Domas. Unlike the Luar, the Dalams are hardly influenced by Islam.
The Baduy Luar make up the remainder of the Baduy population, living in 22 villages and acting as a barrier to stop visitors from entering the Sacred Inner circle. They do follow the rigid taboo system but not as strictly as the Dalam, and they are more willing to accept modern influence into their daily lives. For example, some Luar people now proudly sport the colorful sarongs and shirts favored by their Sundanese neighbours. In the past the Baduy Luar only wore only their homespun blue-black cloth, and were forbidden to wear trousers. Other elements of civilization (toys, money, batteries) are rapidly infiltrating especially in the villages to the north, and it is no longer unusual for an outer Baduy to make a journey to Jakarta, or even to work outside as a hired hand during the rice planting and reaping seasons. Some even work in big towns and cities like Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung. Animal meat is eaten in some of the outer villages where dogs are trained for hunting, though animal husbandry is still forbidden.
History
Some people believe that the Baduy are the descendants of the aristocracy of the Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran who lived near Batutulis in the hills around Bogor; their domestic architecture follows most closely the traditional Sundanese architecture. Pakuwan Pajajaran port known as Sunda Kelapa, was destroyed by invading Faletehan (Fatahillah) Muslims soldier in 1579, Dayeuh Pakuan the capital of Pajajaran, was invaded by Banten Sultanate some times later. However, the Baduy today are increasingly losing touch with their Hindu culture and increasingly getting closer to nature both in their own religion and their life, as they use no electricity, fertilizer or irrigation techniques in their farming. Another theory suggests that they originate in northern Banten; pockets of people in the northern hills still speak the archaic dialect of Sunda that the Baduy use.
Education
Even today, despite the ways that Former President Suharto tried to force them to change their lives and build modern schools in their territory, the Baduy opposed the government. As a result, very few Baduy are able to read or write. Jesuit priest Wayne P. Penaflorida is a leading proponent for education of all Baduy.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baduy
Sundanese People
The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. They number approximately 31 million. The Sundanese are predominantly Muslim.
The Sundanese have traditionally been concentrated in the provinces of West Java, Banten and Jakarta, and the western part of Central Java. The provinces of Central Java and East Java are home to the Javanese, Indonesia's largest ethnic group.
Sundanese culture has borrowed much from Javanese culture, however it differs by being more overtly Islamic, and has a much less rigid system of social hierarchy.
Origins and history
The Sundanese are of Austronesian origins who are thought to have originated in Taiwan, migrated though the Philippines, and reached Java between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.
According to the Sundanese legend of Sangkuriang, which tells the creation of Mount Tangkuban Parahu and ancient Lake Bandung, the Sundanese have been living in the Parahyangan region of Java for at least 50,000 years.
Inland Sunda is mountainous and hilly, and until the 19th century, was thickly forested and sparsely populated. The Sundanese traditionally live in small and isolated hamlets, rendering control by indigenous courts difficult. The Sundanese, in contrast to the Javanese, traditionally engage in dry-field farming. These factors resulted in the Sundanese having a less rigid social hierarchy and more independent social manners. In the 19th century, Dutch colonial exploitation opened much of the interior for coffee, tea, and quinine production, and the highland society took on a frontier aspect, further strengthening the individualistic Sundanese mindset.
Court cultures flourished in ancient times, for example, the Sunda Kingdom, however, the Sundanese appear not to have had the resources to construct large religious monuments similar to those in Central and East Java.
Language
The Sundanese language is spoken by approximately 27 million people and is the second most widely-spoken regional language in Indonesia, after Javanese. This language is spoken in the southern part of the Banten province, and most of West Java and eastwards as far as the Pamali River in Brebes, Central Java.
Sundanese is more closely related to Malay and Minang than it is to Javanese, although Sundanese has borrowed the language levels denoting rank and respect. There are several dialects of Sundanese, from the Sunda-Banten dialect to the Sunda-Central Javanese dialect which mixes elements of Javanese. Some of the most distinct dialects are from Banten, Bogor, Priangan, and Cirebon. In Central Java, Sundanese is spoken in some of the Cilacap region and some of the Brebes region.
Religion
The original religious system of the Sundanese was monotheism. The best indications are found in the oldest epic poems (wawacan) and among the remote Baduy tribe. This religion is called Sunda Wiwitan ("early Sundanese"). Today, most Sundanese are Muslims.
Culture and artforms
Sundanese culture has borrowed much from Javanese culture, however it differs by being more overtly Islamic, and has a much less rigid system of social hierarchy. The Sundanese, in their mentality and behavior, their greater egalitarianism and antipathy to yawning class distinctions, their community-based material culture, of feudal hierarchy, apparent among the people of the Javanese Principality. Central Javanese court culture nurtured in atmosphere conducive to elite, stylized, impeccably-polished forms of art and literature. In a pure sense, Sundanese culture bore few traces of these traditions.
The art and culture of Sundanese people reflect historical influences by various cultures that include pre-historic native animism and shamanism traditions, ancient Hindu-Buddhist heritage, and Islamic culture. The Sundanese have very vivid, orally-transmitted memories of grand era of the Sunda Kingdom. Traditional artforms include pencak silat martial arts, angklung bamboo music, kecapi suling music, gamelan degung, jaipongan and other dances, and wayang golek puppetry.[citation needed] Many forms of kejawen dance, literature, gamelan music and shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) derive from the Javanese. Sundanese shadow puppetry is more influenced by Islamic folklore than the influence of Indian epics present in Javanese versions.
Sundanese literature was basically oral; their arts (architecture, music, dance, textiles, ceremonies, etc.) substantially preserved traditions from an earlier phase of civilization, stretching back even to the Neolithic, and never overwhelmed (as eastward, in Java) by aristocratic Hindu-Buddhist ideas.
Sundanese culture and tradition are usually centred around the agricultural cycle. Festivities such as "Seren Taun" harvest ceremony is held in such high importance, especially in the traditional Sundanese community in Cipta Gelar village, Cisolok, Sukabumi, and the traditional Sundanese community in Kuningan and Kampung Naga.
Since early times, Sundanese have predominantly been farmers. They tend to be reluctant to be government officer and legislators.
References
# Taylor, Jean Gelman. Indonesia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
# Hefner, Robert (1997), Java's Five Regional Cultures. taken from Oey, Eric (editor) (1997), Java, Singapore: Periplus Editions, pp. 58–61., ISBN ISBN 962-593-244-5
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundanese_people
The Sundanese have traditionally been concentrated in the provinces of West Java, Banten and Jakarta, and the western part of Central Java. The provinces of Central Java and East Java are home to the Javanese, Indonesia's largest ethnic group.
Sundanese culture has borrowed much from Javanese culture, however it differs by being more overtly Islamic, and has a much less rigid system of social hierarchy.
Origins and history
The Sundanese are of Austronesian origins who are thought to have originated in Taiwan, migrated though the Philippines, and reached Java between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.
According to the Sundanese legend of Sangkuriang, which tells the creation of Mount Tangkuban Parahu and ancient Lake Bandung, the Sundanese have been living in the Parahyangan region of Java for at least 50,000 years.
Inland Sunda is mountainous and hilly, and until the 19th century, was thickly forested and sparsely populated. The Sundanese traditionally live in small and isolated hamlets, rendering control by indigenous courts difficult. The Sundanese, in contrast to the Javanese, traditionally engage in dry-field farming. These factors resulted in the Sundanese having a less rigid social hierarchy and more independent social manners. In the 19th century, Dutch colonial exploitation opened much of the interior for coffee, tea, and quinine production, and the highland society took on a frontier aspect, further strengthening the individualistic Sundanese mindset.
Court cultures flourished in ancient times, for example, the Sunda Kingdom, however, the Sundanese appear not to have had the resources to construct large religious monuments similar to those in Central and East Java.
Language
The Sundanese language is spoken by approximately 27 million people and is the second most widely-spoken regional language in Indonesia, after Javanese. This language is spoken in the southern part of the Banten province, and most of West Java and eastwards as far as the Pamali River in Brebes, Central Java.
Sundanese is more closely related to Malay and Minang than it is to Javanese, although Sundanese has borrowed the language levels denoting rank and respect. There are several dialects of Sundanese, from the Sunda-Banten dialect to the Sunda-Central Javanese dialect which mixes elements of Javanese. Some of the most distinct dialects are from Banten, Bogor, Priangan, and Cirebon. In Central Java, Sundanese is spoken in some of the Cilacap region and some of the Brebes region.
Religion
The original religious system of the Sundanese was monotheism. The best indications are found in the oldest epic poems (wawacan) and among the remote Baduy tribe. This religion is called Sunda Wiwitan ("early Sundanese"). Today, most Sundanese are Muslims.
Culture and artforms
Sundanese culture has borrowed much from Javanese culture, however it differs by being more overtly Islamic, and has a much less rigid system of social hierarchy. The Sundanese, in their mentality and behavior, their greater egalitarianism and antipathy to yawning class distinctions, their community-based material culture, of feudal hierarchy, apparent among the people of the Javanese Principality. Central Javanese court culture nurtured in atmosphere conducive to elite, stylized, impeccably-polished forms of art and literature. In a pure sense, Sundanese culture bore few traces of these traditions.
The art and culture of Sundanese people reflect historical influences by various cultures that include pre-historic native animism and shamanism traditions, ancient Hindu-Buddhist heritage, and Islamic culture. The Sundanese have very vivid, orally-transmitted memories of grand era of the Sunda Kingdom. Traditional artforms include pencak silat martial arts, angklung bamboo music, kecapi suling music, gamelan degung, jaipongan and other dances, and wayang golek puppetry.[citation needed] Many forms of kejawen dance, literature, gamelan music and shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) derive from the Javanese. Sundanese shadow puppetry is more influenced by Islamic folklore than the influence of Indian epics present in Javanese versions.
Sundanese literature was basically oral; their arts (architecture, music, dance, textiles, ceremonies, etc.) substantially preserved traditions from an earlier phase of civilization, stretching back even to the Neolithic, and never overwhelmed (as eastward, in Java) by aristocratic Hindu-Buddhist ideas.
Sundanese culture and tradition are usually centred around the agricultural cycle. Festivities such as "Seren Taun" harvest ceremony is held in such high importance, especially in the traditional Sundanese community in Cipta Gelar village, Cisolok, Sukabumi, and the traditional Sundanese community in Kuningan and Kampung Naga.
Since early times, Sundanese have predominantly been farmers. They tend to be reluctant to be government officer and legislators.
References
# Taylor, Jean Gelman. Indonesia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
# Hefner, Robert (1997), Java's Five Regional Cultures. taken from Oey, Eric (editor) (1997), Java, Singapore: Periplus Editions, pp. 58–61., ISBN ISBN 962-593-244-5
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundanese_people
Timeline of Indonesian History
Pre-history
* Pleistocene: The modern geological form of Indonesia appears, linked to Asian mainland.
* 2 million to 500,000 years ago: Indonesia is inhabited by Homo erectus, now popularly known as the 'Java Man'.
* 40,000 BCE: Earliest human societies first thought to have existed in parts of the Indonesian archipelago, New Guinea, Melanesia, Australia, highlands of the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines.
* 3,000 BCE: The modern peoples of Indonesia of Austronesian origins are thought to have first reached the northern Philippines. They reach eastern Indonesian and Borneo by 2,000 BCE, and New Guinea, Java and Sumatra between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.
* 200 BCE: Dvipantara or Jawa Dwipa Hindu kingdom is thought to have existed in Java and Sumatra.
Early History
* 5th century: Stone inscriptions in west Java announce decrees of Purnavarman, king of Tarumanagara.
* 700 CE: Wet-field rice cultivation, small towns and kingdoms flourish. Trade links are established with both China and India.
* 732 CE:Sanjaya dynasty founded around this time according to Canggal inscription.
* 3rd to 15th century: The Sumatra-based Srivijaya naval kingdom flourishes and declines.
* 8th century to 832 CE: The agriculturally-based Buddhist Sailendra kingdom flourishes and declines.
* 760 CE to 830CE: Borobudur Buddhist monument constructed.
* 856 CE: Prambanan Hindu temple thought to have been completed.
* 752 to 1045: The Hindu Mataram dynasty flourishes and declines.
* 1006 CE: King Dharmawangsa's Medang kingdom falls under invasion of Wurawari (Srivijayan ally).
* 1019 CE: Airlangga establishes the Kingdom of Kahuripan.
1200s
* 1200s: Islam is first thought to establish itself in the Aceh region.
* 1293: The Hindu Majapahit kingdom is founded in eastern Java
1300s
* 1309: King Jayanagara succeeds Kertajasa Jayawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1328: Kalagamet, styled Jayanagara succeeds Jayanagara as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1350: Hayam Wuruk, styled Sri Rajasanagara succeeds Jayanagara as ruler of Majapahit; his reign is considered the empire's 'Golden Age'.
* 1350: Under its military commander Gajah Mada, Majapahit stretches over much of modern day Indonesia.
* 1365: The Old Javanese text Nagarakertagama is written.
* 1377: Majapahit sends a punitive expedition against Palembang in Sumatra. Palembang's prince, Parameswara (later Iskandar Syah) flees, eventually finding his way to Malacca and establishing it as a major international port.
* 1389: Wikramawardhana succeeds Sri Rajasanagara as ruler of Majapahit.
1400s
* 1400s: Islam becomes Indonesia's dominant religion.[citation needed]
* 1429: Queen Suhita succeeds Wikramawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1447: Wijayaparakramawardhana, succeeds Suhita as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1451: Rajasawardhana, born Bhre Pamotan, styled Brawijaya II succeeds Wijayaparakramawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1453: Reign of Rajasawardhana ends.
* 1456: Girindrawardhana, styled Brawijaya VI becomes ruler of Majapahit.
* 1466: Singhawikramawardhana, succeeds Girindrawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1478: Reign of Singhawikramawardhana ends.
1500s
* 1509: The Portuguese king sends Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to find Malacca, the eastern terminus of Asian trade. After initially receiving Sequeira, Sultan Mahmud Syah captures and/or kills several of his men and attempts an assault on the four Portuguese ships, which escape. The Javanese fleet is also destroyed in Malacca.
* 1511, August: Afonso de Albuquerque after sailing from Portuguese Goa conquers the Sultanate of Malacca with a force of 1,200 and seventeen or eighteen ships.
* 1512: The first Portuguese exploratory expedition was sent eastward from Malacca to search for the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) led by Francisco Serrão. Serrao is shipwrecked but struggles on to Hitu (northern Ambon) and wins the favour of the local rulers.
* 1520: In 1520 the Portuguese established a trading post in the village of Lamakera on the eastern side of Solor as a transit harbour between Maluku and Malacca.
* 1520: Sultan Ali Mughayat Shah of Aceh begins an expansionist campaign capturing Daya on the west Sumatran coast, and the pepper and gold producing lands on the east coast.
* 1521, November: Ferdinand Magellan's expedition reaches Maluku and after trade with Ternate returns to Europe with a load of cloves.
* 1522: The Portuguese ally themselves with the rulers of Ternate and begin construction of a fort.
* 1535: The Portuguese in Ternate depose King Tabariji (or Tabarija) and send him to Portuguese Goa where he converts to Christianity and bequeaths his Portuguese godfather Jordao de Freitas the island of Ambon.
* 1546 - 1547: Francis Xavier works among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai (Moro) laying the foundations for a permanent mission.
* 1562: Portuguese Dominican priests build a palm-trunk fortress which Javanese Muslims burned down the following year. The fort was rebuilt from more durable materials and the Dominicans commenced the Christianisation of the local population.
* 1570: Sultan Hairun of Ternate is killed by the Portuguese.
* 1575: Following a five-year siege, the Ternateans expel the Portuguese who move to nearby Tidore.
* 1578: The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon.
* 1579: The British navigator Sir Francis Drake passes through Maluku on his circumnavigation of the world.
The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon.
* 1595: First Dutch expedition to Indonesia sets sail for the East Indies with two hundred and forty-nine men and sixty-four cannons led by Cornelis de Houtman.
* 1596, June: de Houtman’s expedition reaches Banten the main pepper port of West Java where they clash with both the Portuguese and Indonesians. It then sails east along the north coast of Java losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura.
* 1597: de Houtman’s expedition returns to the Netherlands with enough spices to make a considerable profit.
* 1598-1599: The Portuguese require an armada of 90 ships to put down a Solorese uprising.
* 1598: More Dutch fleets leave for Indonesia and most are profitble.
* 1599, March: Leaving Europe the previous year, a fleet of twenty-two ships under Jacob van Neck of five different companies was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku.
* 1599 - 1600: The van Neck expedition returns to Europe. Although eight ships are lost, the expedition makes a 400 per cent profit.
1600s
* 1600: The Portuguese win a major naval battle in the bay of Ambon. Later in the year, the Dutch join forces with the local Hituese in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch would have the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.
* 1600: Elizabeth I grants a charter to the British East India Company beginning the English advance in Asia.
* 1602: The Portuguese send a major (and last) expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control.
* 1602: The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies.
* 1602, June: British East India Company's first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrives in Aceh and sails on to Bantam where he is allowed to build trading post which becomes the centre of British trade in Indonesia until 1682.
* 1603: First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java.
* 1604: A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. Fierce VOC hostility is encountered in Banda thus beginning Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices
* 1605, February: The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon but the Portuguese surrender.
* 1606: A Spanish fleet occupies Ternate and Tidore.
* 1610: The VOC establishes the post of Governor General to enable firmer control of their affairs in Asia.
* 1611-1617: The English establish trading posts at Sukadana (southwest Kalimantan), Makassar, Jayakarta and Jepara in Java, and Aceh, Pariaman and Jambi in (Sumatra) threatening Dutch ambitions for a monopoly on East Indies trade.
* 1611: The Dutch establish a post at Jayakarta (later 'Batavia' and then 'Jakarta').
* 1613: The Dutch expel the Portuguese from their Solor fort.
* 1619: Jan Pieterszoon Coen appointed Governor-General of the VOC who would show he had no scruples about using brute force to establish the VOC on a firm footing.
* 1619, 30 May: Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, storms the Jayakarta driving out the Banten forces, and from the ashes of Jayakarta, establishes Batavia as the VOC headquarters.
* 1620s: Almost the entire native population of Banda Islands was deported, driven away, starved to death or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch colonial slave labour.
* 1620: Diplomatic agreements in Europe commence a three-year period of cooperation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade.
* 1623: In a notorious but disputed incident, known as the 'Amboyna massacre', ten English and ten Japanese traders are arrested, tried and beheaded for conspiracy against the Dutch Government. The English quietly withdraw from most of their Indonesian activities (except trading in Bantam) and focus on other Asian interests.
* 1636: The Portuguese are expelled again from their Solor fort by the Dutch following a reoccupation.
* 1646: Sultan Agung of Mataram dies - and is buried at his graveyard at Imogiri
* 1667: As a result of the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch secured a worldwide monopoly on nutmeg by forcing England to give up their claim on Run, the most remote of the Banda Islands.
1700s
* 1700: With the decline of the spice trade, textiles are now the most important trade item in the Dutch East Indies.
* 1704-1708: First Javanese War of Succession.
* 1717: Surabaya rebels against the VOC.
* 1712: The first shipment of coffee from Java reaches Amsterdam.
* 1719-1723:' Second Javanese War of Succession.
* 1735:' Governor-General Dirk van Cloon dies, one of many victims of disease in Batavia.
* 1740, 9 October: A massacre of Batavia's ethnic Chinese begins after they are suspected by the VOC of planning a rebellion. Approximately 10,000 are killed and the Chinese quarter is burned.
* 1755, 13 February: The Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate. The VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java. Hamengkubuwana I then moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta.
* 1769-72: French expeditions capture clove plants in Ambon, ending the VOC monopoly of the plant.
* 1770: Captain James Cook stops at Onrust Island in the Bay of Batavia for repairs to his ship Endeavour on his round the world voyage.
* 1792, March: Hamengkubuwana I dies.
1800s
* 1800, 1 January: The bankrupt Dutch East India Company (VOC) is formally dissolved and the nationalised Dutch East Indies is established.
* 1870: Beginning of a 'Liberal Policy' of deregulated exploitation of the Netherlands East Indies.
* 1873: The beginning of the bloody Aceh War for Dutch occupation of the province.
* 1888: Founding of the shipping line Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) that supported the unification and development of the colonial economy.
* 1894: Lombok War.
* 1898: General van Heutz becomes chief of staff of Aceh campaign. Wilhelmina becomes queen of the Netherlands.
1900s
* 1901: Ethical Policy is proclaimed.
* 1903: Aceh declared conquered.
* 1904: Van Heutz becomes Governor General.
* 1907: Tirto Adhi Suryo founds civil servants' association Sarekat Priyayi.
* 1908: Budi Utomo is proclaimed as the first official nationalist movement. Last Balinese rulers wiped out in puputan ('suicidal battle to death').
* 1911: Tirto Adhi Suryo founds the Islamic Traders' League.
* 1912: Islamic League (Sarekat Islam) becomes the first mass-based nationalist party.
* 1914: World War I breaks out; the Netherlands is a neutral country in the war.
* 1917: East Indies trade with Europe cut off by the war. Russian Revolution.
* 1918: Tirto Adhi Suryo dies.
* 1920: Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) is founded. Economic downturn.
* 1925: Birth of Pramoedya Ananta Toer. A sharp rise in world commodity prices brings prosperity to the Indies.
* 1929: Great Depression in America.
* 1930: Sukarno's famous nationalist speech, 'Indonesia Accuses', given as defence in his political trial.
Japanese Occupation (1942 - 1945)
* 1942, February: Imperial Japan occupies Indonesia during World War II, over throwing the Dutch East Indies and install their own imperial structure.
* 1945, 28 May: First meeting of the Investigatory Commission for Indonesian Independence.
* 1945, 1 June: Sukarno's Pancasila speech.
* 1945, 16 July: Draft of constitution for the Republic completed.
* 1945, 15 August: Japanese surrender to Allied powers.
Indonesian National Revolution (1945-1950)
* 1945, 17 August: "Proclamation of Indonesian Independence," signed by Sukarno-Hatta.
* 1945, late August: Republican government established in Jakarta and constitution adopted. Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) established.
* 1945, 3 November: Vice President Hatta proclaims right of the people to form political parties.
* 1945, 10 November: Battle of Surabaya.
* 1945, August to September: Euphoria of revolution spreads across the country, while local Japanese commanders and their troops often abandoned urban areas to avoid confrontation. Many discreetly allowed Indonesian youths to acquire arms. Republican youths take over infrastructure facilities in large Javan cities and mass pro-Republic rallies are held.
* 1946: Social revolutions, including the Three Regions (Tiga Daerah) Revolt.
* 1946: Federal states, including the State of East Indonesia are set up by Dutch in the outer islands.
* 1947, 25 March: Linggajati Agreement, first ceasfire.
* 1947, 20 July: Major Dutch military offensive to resolve differences by force.
* 1948, 19 January: Renville Agreement establishes the Van Mook line between Republican and Dutch held territories.
* 1948, August: Fall of Amir Syarifuddin government largely from Renville Agreement fallout.
* 1948, 18 September to October: Madiun Affair: Communist leaders launch a revolt in Central Java in an attempt to take over the Revolution but are suppressed by Republican troops.
* 1948, 19 December: Dutch undertake second military offensive capturing Republican capital at Yogyakarta and most of the Republican cabinet. Amir Syarifuddin executed by fleeing Republicans.
* 1949, February: Tan Malaka executed by Republican Army.
* 1949, 1 August: Official ceasefire.
* 1949, December: International pressure leads Netherlands Government to transfer power to the United States of Indonesia (RUSI) at the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference.
* 1950, 29 January: General Sudirman, commander of Indonesia's armed forces, dies at 34
* 1950, 25 April: The Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) is proclaimed in Ambon
* 1950, 17 August: Following RUSI endorsement of a new constitution, the federation is dissolved and Sukarno proclaims a unitary state, the 'Republic of Indonesia'.
1950s
* 1948 - 1962: Darul Islam rebellions begin in West Java, spread to other provinces but conclude with the execution of its leader Kartosoewiryo.
* 1950, 6 September: The first cabinet of the unitary state is established. It is led by Prime Minister Mohammad Natsir.
* 1950, 27 September:Indonesia becomes the 60th member of the United Nations.
* 1951, 21 March: The Natsir cabinet falls.
* 1951, 26 April: The composition of the new cabinet is announced. The new Prime Minister is Dr. Sukiman Wirjosanjojo.
* 1952, 25 February: Amid bitter disputes over the signing of a Mutual Security Agreement with the US, the Sukiman cabinet resigns.
* 1952, 3 April: The new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Wilopo is inaugurated.
* 1952, 17 October: Army-organized demonstrations take place in Jakarta to demand the dissolution of the legislature. Tank guns and machine guns are trained on the presidential palace.This leads to the suspension of General Nasution as army chief of staff following army indiscipline over command and support that threatens the government.
* 1953, 2 June: The Wilopo cabinet resigns.
* 1953, 31 July: After lengthy negotiations, the composition of the new cabinet is announced. Serving his first term as prime minister is Ali Sastroamidjojo.
* 1955, March - 1961, August: Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
* 1955, 18 - 25 April: The city of Bandung hosts the Asia-Africa Conference. It is the first meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement and is attended by world leaders including China's Zhou Enlai, India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser and Yugoslavia's Tito.
* 1955, 24 July: After a dispute with the Army over appointments, the cabinet resigns.
* 1955, 12 August: Led by Prime Minister Burhanuddin Harahap, the new cabinet is sworn in.
* 1955, 29 September: Indonesia holds general parliamentary elections; the last free national elections until 1999; support for the parties is widely distributed with four parties each gaining 16-22 per cent and the remaining votes split between 24 parties.
* 1955, 15 December: Elections are held for the Constitutional Assembly.
* 1956, 3 March: The cabinet falls as a result of its policy toward the Dutch.
* 1955, 24 March: The second cabinet to be led by Ali Sastroamidjojo takes office.
* 1956, 3 May: Indonesia unilaterally abrogates the Round Table Agreement signed with the Dutch in 1949.
* 1956, 1 December: Hatta resigns as vice-president.
* 1957, 21 February: President Sukarno announces his "Conception" (Konsepsi) of the nature of Indonesia. This will eventually lead to Guided Democracy.
* 1957, March - 1961, August: Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
* 1957, 14 March: Martial Law is proclaimed. On the same day, the cabinet resigns.
* 1957, 9 April: Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with Djuanda as prime minister.
* 1957, 30 November: An attempt is made to assassinate President Sukarno. Grenades are thrown at him as he visits a school in Cikini, Jakarta.
* 1958, May 18: US Air Force pilot Allen Pope is shot down over Ambon, revealing covert American support of regional rebellions, and ends the Dulles brothers' failure to subvert the Sukarno government.
* 1959, 5 July: With armed forces support, Sukarno issues a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly and reintroducing the Constitution of 1945 with strong presidential powers, and assumes the additional role of Prime Minister, which completes the structure of 'Guided Democracy'.
* 1959, 10 July: President Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with himself as prime minister.
* 1950/60s: Military articulation of doctrines dwifungsi and hankamrata: a military role in sociopolitical development as well as security; a requirement that the resources of the people be at the call of the armed forces.
1960s
* 1960, 9 March Second Lieutenant Daniel Alexander Maukar of the Indonesian Air Force uses a MiG-17 fighter to strafe the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, oil tanks at Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta and then the Bogor Palace.
* 1960, 18 February: President Sukarno reshuffles the cabinet and appoints the second "Working Cabinet".
* 1950, 24 June:The House of Representatives-Mutual cooperation (DPR-GR), composed of members chosen by President Sukarno is established.
* 1960, 17 August:Indonesia severs diplomatic links with the Netherlands in protest over its refusal to hand over West Papua.
* 1960, 30 September: President Sukarno addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
* 1961, March 4: An agreement is signed in Jakarta with the Soviet Union to buy arms with long term loans.
* 1961, 17 August:Building officially starts on the Monas National Monument in the center of Jakarta.
* 1962, January 2:The Manadala Command to "free" West Papua from the Dutch is established. Its commander is Brigadier general Suharto.
* 1962, 15 January: Deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy Commodore Yos Sudarso is killed in a Dutch air attack on the motor torpedo boat (MTB) force he is commanding.
* 1962, 8 March:President Sukarno again reshuffles his cabinet.
* 1962, 15 August:The New York Agreement transferring sovereignty of West Papua to Indonesia is signed at the United Nations.
* 1962, 24 August - 4 September: Indonesia hosts the Fourth Asian Games.
* 1963, 18 May: Parliament elects Sukarno 'President-for-life'.
* 1963, 1 May: Following pressure from the United Nations and the American government of President John F. Kennedy, the Netherlands yields West Irian (Papua) to temporary UN supervision.
* 1963 - 1965: Sole years of American Peace Corps program in Indonesia.
* 1963, 18 September': Following demonstrations in Jakarta to protest at the creation of Malaysia, the British Embassy is burned by a mob.
* 1963, 13 November: President Sukarno conducts the final reshuffle of the "Working Cabinet".
* 1963 - 1965: Sukarno leads the Konfrontasi campaign against the newly created Malaysia.
* 1964, 27 August: President Sukarno appoints the Dwikora Cabinet
* 1965, 7 January: Indonesia withdraws from membership of the UN.
* 1965, 14 January: The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) calls for workers and peasants to be armed.
* 1965, 11-16 April: The Third Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Bandung.
* 1965, 26 May: Foreign Minister Subandrio reports to President Sukarno the existence of the Gilchrist Document, a letter purporting to be from the British ambassador which discusses western military involvement in Indonesia.
* 1965, 30 September: An abortive coup in Jakarta results in the murder of six army generals, and disposal of bodies at Lubang Buaya.
* 1965, 1 October: A counter coup led by General Suharto that leads to the Overthrow of Sukarno.
* 1965, October to 1966, March: A violent anti-communist purge leads to the killing of approximately 1/2 million Indonesians.
* 1965, 14 October: President Sukarno appoints Major General Suharto Minister/Commander of the Army.
* 1965, 16 October: The Jakarta Military Command temporarily suspends the activities of the PKI and its organizations in the Jakarta region.
* 1965, 13 December: The rupiah is devalued by a factor of 1,000 in an effort to control inflation.
* 1966, 10 January: Anti-communist organizations grouped under the Pancasila Front issue the "Three Demands of the People" (Tritura), namely the dissolution of the PKI, the cleansing of the cabinet of elements involved in the 30 September Movement, and lower prices and economic improvements.
* 1966, 14 February: The Extraordinary Military Court trials of people allegedly involved in the 30 September Movement begin.
* 1966, 24 February: President Sukarno reshuffles his cabinet, creating what becomes known as the "cabinet of 100 ministers".
* 1966, 11 March: General Suharto forces Sukarno to delegate presidential powers to himself by signing the Supersemar. The following day, Suharto dissolves the Indonesian Communist Party.
* 1966, 18 March: A total of 14 cabinet ministers are taken into "protective custody".
* 1966, 2 May: Following large-scale demonstrations, the leadership of the Mutual-Assistance House of Representatives (DPR-GR) is replaced.
* 1966, 20 June-5 July: The Fourth Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Jakarta. It raises the status of the Supersemar into a decree, meaning Sukarno cannot revoke it, bans the PKI and its teachings and rejects Presidents Sukarno's accountability speech.
* 1966, 11 August: Indonesia and Malaysia agree to normalize diplomatic relations.
* 1966, 28 September: Indonesia rejoins the United Nations.
* 1967, 10 January: New investment laws designed to bring in foreign capital are passed; restrictions are introduced regarding status of Indonesian Chinese, their names and their religions.
* 1967, 22 February: In a ceremony at the presidential palace, Sukarno hands over authority to Suharto.
* 1967, 7-12 March: A Special Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly strips Sukarno of his powers and appoints Suharto acting president.
* 1967, 1 October: Diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China are suspended.
* 1968, March: Parliament confers full presidential title on Suharto; Sukarno is under effective house arrest.
* 1968 - 1971: Soedjatmoko is Indonesian ambassador to the United States; bilateral relations warm.
* 1969: Papuan representatives agree to join Indonesia following the controversial 'Act of Free Choice'.
1970s
* 1970, 21 June: Sukarno dies. He is buried at Blitar, East Java.
* 1970: Nurcholish Madjid, a young Muslim modernist, begins to lay out religious developmental principles for Indonesia—'Islam, yes; Islamic party, no'.
* 1971, 3 July: Indonesia's second parliamentary election and the first under the New Order is held. Golkar wins an outright majority.
* 1971: Suharto's wife inspired by a visit to Disneyland, conceives a national cultural theme park.
* 1973: Government forces fusion of political parties; Nationalist and Christian parties are merged into the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Muslim parties into the United Development Party (PPP). The new three party system is dominated by Golkar.
* 1974: The 'Malari' uprising in Jakarta against Japanese penetration of the economy, Chinese Indonesian influence, and official corruption.
* 1975, April: Mrs Suharto dedicates the vast 'Beautiful Indonesia-in-Miniature Park' (Taman Mini) on the outskirts of Jakarta.
* 1975, April: Civil war breaks out in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
* 1975, 6 December: U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger, returning from China, make a hastily rescheduled one-day visit to Jakarta.
* 1975, 7 December: Indonesia launches an invasion of East Timor.
* 1976, March: General Ibnu Sutowo is 'dismissed with honour' after a decade as head of Pertamina, the state oil corporation.
* 1976, 17 July: Suharto signs a bill integrating East Timor into Indonesia as its 27th province.
* 1976, 19 November: UN General Assembly rejects Indonesia's annexation of East Timor.
* 1977: The United States surpasses Japan as Indonesia's biggest oil customer.
* 1977, October: Sawito Kartowibowo's trial for 'subversion' begins.
* 1978: The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) elevates Pancasila to the status of compulsory moral education of youth and government officials.
* 1978: Suharto appoints B.J. Habibie as state minister for research and technology.
* 1979, December: Writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer is released after fourteen years imprisonment with hard labour on Buru Island.
1980s
* 1980, May: The Petition of Fifty—a statement of concern to parliament about the use of government power, propaganda, and presidential personality cult—is begun.
* 1982 - 1983: The height of Petrus ('mysterious shootings') of thousands of suspected criminals by government security forces.
* 1983: Prabowo Subianto, then a major in ABRI marries Suharto's daughter Titiek at Taman Mini.
* 1984, 12 September: Muslim concerned protesting over alleged insensitivities to Islam at Tanjung Priok; a riot ensues resulting in many deaths. Clamp down on Islamic political leaders.
* 1984, December: Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) is elected chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama a position previously held by both his father and grandfather.
* 1985: The Indonesian government require all organisations of any kind to adopt Pancasila as their sole basis.
* 1987: Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes a member of parliament; Suharto prohibits display of images of Sukarno although they appear frequently nonetheless.
* 1988: Suharto is elected to a fifth term as president.
* 1989: The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) reemerges following its 1976 founding; suppression of its guerilla activities leads to 2,000 deaths by 1991 in Aceh.
1990s
* 1991: Indonesia wins presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement.
* 1991, 12 November: ABRI troops fire on demonstrative funeral procession in Dili, East Timor. TV images of the killings put East Timor high on the international human rights agenda.
* 1992: Suharto successfully defies Dutch efforts to link human rights to aid administerd since 1967 by the International Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI).
* 1992-1993: East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão is captured by Prabowo and is tried and sentenced.
* 1993: Suharto seeks a sixth term and is easily re-elected.
* 1994, June: Suharto shuts down Tempo and two other publications for critical reporting of Habibie’s purchase of the former East German navy.
* 1996: The Free Papua Movement (OPM) kidnaps fourteen scientists and foresters in Iran Jaya garnering international attention. After four months, the abductees are rescued in a bloody operation lead by Prabowo.
* 1996, April: Ibu Tien Suharto, the president’s wife of 48 years, dies of a heart attack.
* 1996, July: Military-backed thugs burst into headquarters of PDI, Megawati's party, and evict her supporters in a violent climax to government efforts to vitiate her party’s popularity.
* 1997, February: Alarmed at a dukun's prediction that 'the nail of Java has come loose', Suharto commands a massive Ruat Dunia ceremony ('Cleansing of the world') near Borobudur.
* 1997, June: Pacific Ocean trade winds shift heralding the onset of the El Niño; severe drought across much of Indonesia follows in the ensuing months accompanied by highly destructive forest fires.
* 1997, July: The collapse of the Thai baht starts the East Asian financial crisis and over the ensuing months Indonesia is the country hardest hit.
* 1997 - 1998: Severe social unrest breaks out across Indonesian cities against Chinese Indonesians, Christians, symbols of wealth, the police and bureaucracy.
* 1998, 11 March: Suharto unanimously elected by the MPR to his seventh presidential term.
* 1998, late March: Largely peaceful student demonstrations against the regime rise to national prominence.
* 1998, 12 May: Four student demonstrators at Trisakti University are shot dead by bullets unproven but thought likely to have been from army sources.
* 1998, 13 May: Memorial services for killed students leads to vandalism, arson, looting and rape by roving mobs which continue unchecked by security forces for two days leaving 1,200 dead.
* 1998, 20 May: For National Awakening Day, Amien Rais pledges to bring a million protestors into the streets to demonstrate against at the National Monument in Jakarta. Faced with barbed wire and massed troops he calls off the rally fearing bloodshed.
* 1998, 21 May, 9 a.m.: After being deserted by his cabinet, Suharto resigns the presidency. Habibie assumes presidency.
* 1998, August: General Wiranto announces the discharge of Lieutenant General Prabowo from active duty, with full pension benefits—and without court-martial for allegations of abduction and torture of student activist (some of whom remain missing as of 2003).
* 1998, 10 November: Megawati, Rais, and the sultan of Yogya, meet at Wahid's home in Ciganjur, and issue a series of statements including a demand for the military to end their role in politics within six years.
* 1998, 13 November: On the last day of the MPR sessions, soldiers open fire on demonstrating students killing at least fifteen and injuring hundreds.
* 1999, 19 January: An petty argument between in the city of Ambon triggers Christian-Muslim clashes that last for three years across Maluku. As many as 10,000 are killed and 700,000 or one third of the region are displaced.
* 1999, 7 June: Indonesia's first free and fair national elections since 1955 take place with almost no disruption and wide participation. Votes however are distributed across forty-eight parties with no party achieving a majority.
* 1999, September: East Timor votes to secede from Indonesia in a referendum conducted under UN auspices. Four-fifths of voters choose independence for East Timor over integration with Indonesia. Pro-integration militias trained and paid by ABRI immediately resort to a scorched earth policy that leaves 1,000 dead and most of the territory's infrastructure ruined.
* 1999, 13 September: President Habibie relents to international pressure and allows a UN peacekeeping force known as 'INTERFET' to enter East Timor and restore order.
* 1999, October: The Indonesian parliament rejects President Habibie's accountability speech. Wahid whose party received one eighth of the popular vote is elected president by the MPR. Megawati whose party received one third of the vote (the highest) is elected vice president.
2000s
* 2000, Christmas Eve: In a coordinated attack involving more than three dozen sites across the country, churches are bombed and eighteen people killed. It is later proven to have been planned by Jemaah Islamiyah in retaliation for Christian killings of Muslims in the Maluku conflict.
* 2001 - Ethnic violence in Kalimantan as indigenous Dayaks force out Madurese transmigrants. Mass political demonstrations by Wahid's supporters and opponents. IMF stops further loans citing lack of progress in tackling corruption.
* 2000 - 2001: President Wahid's administration is marred by failures to stabilise the economy, patterns of political favouritism, economic corruption (although Wahid himself is not accused of corruption), inability to reform the military, personal eccentricity and pettiness, ineffectiveness in dealing with major religious violence in Maluku and Sulawesi, major ethnic violence (Dayaks vs. Madurese) in Kalimantan, and separatisms in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
* 2001, July: President Wahid is impeached chiefly on grounds of incompetence. The parliament elects Megawati president by 592 votes to 0. Hamzah Haz defeats Akbar Tandjung and Lieutenant General (ret.) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
* 2001, September: President Megawati visits President George Bush a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and welcomes American investment. On her return to Indonesia, the Islamic right criticises her cooperation with America's war in Afghanistan, and the nationalist left criticises here for being too suppliant to foreign investors.
* 2002: Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, issue joint statements critical of militant Islamists.
* 2002, February: Peace talks in Maliano, South Sulawesi appear to end three years of Christian-Muslim violence in Maluku and Poso.
* 2002, July: Tommy Suharto is sentenced to fifteen years jail for illegal possession of arms, contempt of law, and masterminding the assassination of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him for graft.
* 2002, September: House Speaker Akbar Tandjung is sentenced to three years jail for corruption.
* 2002, October 12: Bombs in the Kuta nightclub district in Bali kill 202 people the world's deadliest terrorist attack since 11 September, 2001. Indonesian police, aided by ten nations, track down Jemaah Islamiyah operatives.
* 2002, November: Eurico Guterres is sentenced to ten years prison for crimes committed following the 1999 ballot in East Timor.
* 2002, December: The Indonesian government and GAM sign a peace accord aimed at ending decades of violence in Aceh. The deal breaks down the following year.
* 2003, August: Jemaah Islamiyah bomb Jakarta's Marriott hotel killing twelve. All but one of those killed are Indonesians.
* 2004, April: Parliamentary and local elections: Golkar party of former President Suharto wins greatest share of vote, with Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P coming second.
* 2004, October: Indonesia's first direct presidential election elects Bambang Yudhoyono following popular disillusionment with incumbent Megawati.
* 2004, 9 September: A bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta kills 11 and injures up to 100 people.
* 2004, 26 December: An earthquake-triggered tsunami kills an estimated 160,000 and causes widespread devastation.
* 2005: Bombings in Bali kill 20 people.
* 2005: Government and Free Aceh Movement separatists sign a peace deal providing for rebel disarmament and the withdrawal of government soldiers from the province. Rebels begin handing in weapons in September; government completes troop pull-out in December.
* 2006, May: A powerful earthquake kills thousands of people in the Yogyakarta region in central Java.
* 2007:Adam Air Flight 574 crashes into the sea off Sulawesi, killing all 102 onboard.
* 2008: Suharto dies from multiple organ failure. He is buried in the family Mausoleum near Solo.
* 2008: Jemaah Islamiyah Operatives are executed when found guilty for the 2002 bombings after numerous appeals from their families.
* 2009: Jemaah Islamiyah bomb two hotels in Jakarta, including the Marriott that was attacked in 2003.
General references
# Feith, Herbert (2007) The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, ISBN 979-3870-45-2
# Friend, Theodore (2003). Indonesian Destinies. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01834-6.
# Heuken SJ, A (2000). Historical Sites of Jakarta. Cipta Loka Caraka, Jakarta
# Miksic, John (1997). Java's Ancient "Indianized" Kingdoms. Found in Oey, Eric (ed) (1997), Java (Third ed.), Singapore: Periplus Editions, ISBN 962-593-244-5 .
# Moore, R.I (General Editor)(1999). Philip's Atlas of World History. Chancellor Press. ISBN 0-75370-085-9
# Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A history of modern Indonesia since c.1200. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4480-7
# Saafroedin Bahar,Ananda B.Kusuma,Nannie Hudawati, eds, (1992) Risalah Sidang Badan Penyelidik Usahah Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesian (BPUPKI) Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI) (Minutes of the Meetings of the Agency for Investigating Efforts for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence and the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence), Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia, Jakarta
# Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia (1975a) 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 2 (1950-1964) (30 Years of Indonesian Independence: Volume 2 (1950-1964)
# Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia (1975b) 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 3 (1965-1973) (30 Years of Indonesian Independence: Volume 3 (1965-1973)
# Simanjuntak, P.H.H (2003) Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi (Cabinets of the Republic of Indonesia: From the Start of Independence to the Reform era, Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, ISBN 979-428-499-8
# Taylor, Jean Gelman. Indonesia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
# Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54262-6.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Indonesian_history
* Pleistocene: The modern geological form of Indonesia appears, linked to Asian mainland.
* 2 million to 500,000 years ago: Indonesia is inhabited by Homo erectus, now popularly known as the 'Java Man'.
* 40,000 BCE: Earliest human societies first thought to have existed in parts of the Indonesian archipelago, New Guinea, Melanesia, Australia, highlands of the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines.
* 3,000 BCE: The modern peoples of Indonesia of Austronesian origins are thought to have first reached the northern Philippines. They reach eastern Indonesian and Borneo by 2,000 BCE, and New Guinea, Java and Sumatra between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.
* 200 BCE: Dvipantara or Jawa Dwipa Hindu kingdom is thought to have existed in Java and Sumatra.
Early History
* 5th century: Stone inscriptions in west Java announce decrees of Purnavarman, king of Tarumanagara.
* 700 CE: Wet-field rice cultivation, small towns and kingdoms flourish. Trade links are established with both China and India.
* 732 CE:Sanjaya dynasty founded around this time according to Canggal inscription.
* 3rd to 15th century: The Sumatra-based Srivijaya naval kingdom flourishes and declines.
* 8th century to 832 CE: The agriculturally-based Buddhist Sailendra kingdom flourishes and declines.
* 760 CE to 830CE: Borobudur Buddhist monument constructed.
* 856 CE: Prambanan Hindu temple thought to have been completed.
* 752 to 1045: The Hindu Mataram dynasty flourishes and declines.
* 1006 CE: King Dharmawangsa's Medang kingdom falls under invasion of Wurawari (Srivijayan ally).
* 1019 CE: Airlangga establishes the Kingdom of Kahuripan.
1200s
* 1200s: Islam is first thought to establish itself in the Aceh region.
* 1293: The Hindu Majapahit kingdom is founded in eastern Java
1300s
* 1309: King Jayanagara succeeds Kertajasa Jayawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1328: Kalagamet, styled Jayanagara succeeds Jayanagara as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1350: Hayam Wuruk, styled Sri Rajasanagara succeeds Jayanagara as ruler of Majapahit; his reign is considered the empire's 'Golden Age'.
* 1350: Under its military commander Gajah Mada, Majapahit stretches over much of modern day Indonesia.
* 1365: The Old Javanese text Nagarakertagama is written.
* 1377: Majapahit sends a punitive expedition against Palembang in Sumatra. Palembang's prince, Parameswara (later Iskandar Syah) flees, eventually finding his way to Malacca and establishing it as a major international port.
* 1389: Wikramawardhana succeeds Sri Rajasanagara as ruler of Majapahit.
1400s
* 1400s: Islam becomes Indonesia's dominant religion.[citation needed]
* 1429: Queen Suhita succeeds Wikramawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1447: Wijayaparakramawardhana, succeeds Suhita as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1451: Rajasawardhana, born Bhre Pamotan, styled Brawijaya II succeeds Wijayaparakramawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1453: Reign of Rajasawardhana ends.
* 1456: Girindrawardhana, styled Brawijaya VI becomes ruler of Majapahit.
* 1466: Singhawikramawardhana, succeeds Girindrawardhana as ruler of Majapahit.
* 1478: Reign of Singhawikramawardhana ends.
1500s
* 1509: The Portuguese king sends Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to find Malacca, the eastern terminus of Asian trade. After initially receiving Sequeira, Sultan Mahmud Syah captures and/or kills several of his men and attempts an assault on the four Portuguese ships, which escape. The Javanese fleet is also destroyed in Malacca.
* 1511, August: Afonso de Albuquerque after sailing from Portuguese Goa conquers the Sultanate of Malacca with a force of 1,200 and seventeen or eighteen ships.
* 1512: The first Portuguese exploratory expedition was sent eastward from Malacca to search for the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) led by Francisco Serrão. Serrao is shipwrecked but struggles on to Hitu (northern Ambon) and wins the favour of the local rulers.
* 1520: In 1520 the Portuguese established a trading post in the village of Lamakera on the eastern side of Solor as a transit harbour between Maluku and Malacca.
* 1520: Sultan Ali Mughayat Shah of Aceh begins an expansionist campaign capturing Daya on the west Sumatran coast, and the pepper and gold producing lands on the east coast.
* 1521, November: Ferdinand Magellan's expedition reaches Maluku and after trade with Ternate returns to Europe with a load of cloves.
* 1522: The Portuguese ally themselves with the rulers of Ternate and begin construction of a fort.
* 1535: The Portuguese in Ternate depose King Tabariji (or Tabarija) and send him to Portuguese Goa where he converts to Christianity and bequeaths his Portuguese godfather Jordao de Freitas the island of Ambon.
* 1546 - 1547: Francis Xavier works among the peoples of Ambon, Ternate and Morotai (Moro) laying the foundations for a permanent mission.
* 1562: Portuguese Dominican priests build a palm-trunk fortress which Javanese Muslims burned down the following year. The fort was rebuilt from more durable materials and the Dominicans commenced the Christianisation of the local population.
* 1570: Sultan Hairun of Ternate is killed by the Portuguese.
* 1575: Following a five-year siege, the Ternateans expel the Portuguese who move to nearby Tidore.
* 1578: The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon.
* 1579: The British navigator Sir Francis Drake passes through Maluku on his circumnavigation of the world.
The Portuguese establish a fort on Tidore but the main centre for Portuguese activities in Maluku becomes Ambon.
* 1595: First Dutch expedition to Indonesia sets sail for the East Indies with two hundred and forty-nine men and sixty-four cannons led by Cornelis de Houtman.
* 1596, June: de Houtman’s expedition reaches Banten the main pepper port of West Java where they clash with both the Portuguese and Indonesians. It then sails east along the north coast of Java losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura.
* 1597: de Houtman’s expedition returns to the Netherlands with enough spices to make a considerable profit.
* 1598-1599: The Portuguese require an armada of 90 ships to put down a Solorese uprising.
* 1598: More Dutch fleets leave for Indonesia and most are profitble.
* 1599, March: Leaving Europe the previous year, a fleet of twenty-two ships under Jacob van Neck of five different companies was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku.
* 1599 - 1600: The van Neck expedition returns to Europe. Although eight ships are lost, the expedition makes a 400 per cent profit.
1600s
* 1600: The Portuguese win a major naval battle in the bay of Ambon. Later in the year, the Dutch join forces with the local Hituese in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch would have the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.
* 1600: Elizabeth I grants a charter to the British East India Company beginning the English advance in Asia.
* 1602: The Portuguese send a major (and last) expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control.
* 1602: The Dutch East India Company (VOC) is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies.
* 1602, June: British East India Company's first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrives in Aceh and sails on to Bantam where he is allowed to build trading post which becomes the centre of British trade in Indonesia until 1682.
* 1603: First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java.
* 1604: A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. Fierce VOC hostility is encountered in Banda thus beginning Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices
* 1605, February: The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon but the Portuguese surrender.
* 1606: A Spanish fleet occupies Ternate and Tidore.
* 1610: The VOC establishes the post of Governor General to enable firmer control of their affairs in Asia.
* 1611-1617: The English establish trading posts at Sukadana (southwest Kalimantan), Makassar, Jayakarta and Jepara in Java, and Aceh, Pariaman and Jambi in (Sumatra) threatening Dutch ambitions for a monopoly on East Indies trade.
* 1611: The Dutch establish a post at Jayakarta (later 'Batavia' and then 'Jakarta').
* 1613: The Dutch expel the Portuguese from their Solor fort.
* 1619: Jan Pieterszoon Coen appointed Governor-General of the VOC who would show he had no scruples about using brute force to establish the VOC on a firm footing.
* 1619, 30 May: Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, storms the Jayakarta driving out the Banten forces, and from the ashes of Jayakarta, establishes Batavia as the VOC headquarters.
* 1620s: Almost the entire native population of Banda Islands was deported, driven away, starved to death or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch colonial slave labour.
* 1620: Diplomatic agreements in Europe commence a three-year period of cooperation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade.
* 1623: In a notorious but disputed incident, known as the 'Amboyna massacre', ten English and ten Japanese traders are arrested, tried and beheaded for conspiracy against the Dutch Government. The English quietly withdraw from most of their Indonesian activities (except trading in Bantam) and focus on other Asian interests.
* 1636: The Portuguese are expelled again from their Solor fort by the Dutch following a reoccupation.
* 1646: Sultan Agung of Mataram dies - and is buried at his graveyard at Imogiri
* 1667: As a result of the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch secured a worldwide monopoly on nutmeg by forcing England to give up their claim on Run, the most remote of the Banda Islands.
1700s
* 1700: With the decline of the spice trade, textiles are now the most important trade item in the Dutch East Indies.
* 1704-1708: First Javanese War of Succession.
* 1717: Surabaya rebels against the VOC.
* 1712: The first shipment of coffee from Java reaches Amsterdam.
* 1719-1723:' Second Javanese War of Succession.
* 1735:' Governor-General Dirk van Cloon dies, one of many victims of disease in Batavia.
* 1740, 9 October: A massacre of Batavia's ethnic Chinese begins after they are suspected by the VOC of planning a rebellion. Approximately 10,000 are killed and the Chinese quarter is burned.
* 1755, 13 February: The Treaty of Giyanti is signed, effectively partitioning the Mataram Sultanate. The VOC recognizes Mangkubumi as Sultan Hamengkubuwana I, who rules half of Central Java. Hamengkubuwana I then moves to Yogya and renames the city Yogyakarta.
* 1769-72: French expeditions capture clove plants in Ambon, ending the VOC monopoly of the plant.
* 1770: Captain James Cook stops at Onrust Island in the Bay of Batavia for repairs to his ship Endeavour on his round the world voyage.
* 1792, March: Hamengkubuwana I dies.
1800s
* 1800, 1 January: The bankrupt Dutch East India Company (VOC) is formally dissolved and the nationalised Dutch East Indies is established.
* 1870: Beginning of a 'Liberal Policy' of deregulated exploitation of the Netherlands East Indies.
* 1873: The beginning of the bloody Aceh War for Dutch occupation of the province.
* 1888: Founding of the shipping line Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM) that supported the unification and development of the colonial economy.
* 1894: Lombok War.
* 1898: General van Heutz becomes chief of staff of Aceh campaign. Wilhelmina becomes queen of the Netherlands.
1900s
* 1901: Ethical Policy is proclaimed.
* 1903: Aceh declared conquered.
* 1904: Van Heutz becomes Governor General.
* 1907: Tirto Adhi Suryo founds civil servants' association Sarekat Priyayi.
* 1908: Budi Utomo is proclaimed as the first official nationalist movement. Last Balinese rulers wiped out in puputan ('suicidal battle to death').
* 1911: Tirto Adhi Suryo founds the Islamic Traders' League.
* 1912: Islamic League (Sarekat Islam) becomes the first mass-based nationalist party.
* 1914: World War I breaks out; the Netherlands is a neutral country in the war.
* 1917: East Indies trade with Europe cut off by the war. Russian Revolution.
* 1918: Tirto Adhi Suryo dies.
* 1920: Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) is founded. Economic downturn.
* 1925: Birth of Pramoedya Ananta Toer. A sharp rise in world commodity prices brings prosperity to the Indies.
* 1929: Great Depression in America.
* 1930: Sukarno's famous nationalist speech, 'Indonesia Accuses', given as defence in his political trial.
Japanese Occupation (1942 - 1945)
* 1942, February: Imperial Japan occupies Indonesia during World War II, over throwing the Dutch East Indies and install their own imperial structure.
* 1945, 28 May: First meeting of the Investigatory Commission for Indonesian Independence.
* 1945, 1 June: Sukarno's Pancasila speech.
* 1945, 16 July: Draft of constitution for the Republic completed.
* 1945, 15 August: Japanese surrender to Allied powers.
Indonesian National Revolution (1945-1950)
* 1945, 17 August: "Proclamation of Indonesian Independence," signed by Sukarno-Hatta.
* 1945, late August: Republican government established in Jakarta and constitution adopted. Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) established.
* 1945, 3 November: Vice President Hatta proclaims right of the people to form political parties.
* 1945, 10 November: Battle of Surabaya.
* 1945, August to September: Euphoria of revolution spreads across the country, while local Japanese commanders and their troops often abandoned urban areas to avoid confrontation. Many discreetly allowed Indonesian youths to acquire arms. Republican youths take over infrastructure facilities in large Javan cities and mass pro-Republic rallies are held.
* 1946: Social revolutions, including the Three Regions (Tiga Daerah) Revolt.
* 1946: Federal states, including the State of East Indonesia are set up by Dutch in the outer islands.
* 1947, 25 March: Linggajati Agreement, first ceasfire.
* 1947, 20 July: Major Dutch military offensive to resolve differences by force.
* 1948, 19 January: Renville Agreement establishes the Van Mook line between Republican and Dutch held territories.
* 1948, August: Fall of Amir Syarifuddin government largely from Renville Agreement fallout.
* 1948, 18 September to October: Madiun Affair: Communist leaders launch a revolt in Central Java in an attempt to take over the Revolution but are suppressed by Republican troops.
* 1948, 19 December: Dutch undertake second military offensive capturing Republican capital at Yogyakarta and most of the Republican cabinet. Amir Syarifuddin executed by fleeing Republicans.
* 1949, February: Tan Malaka executed by Republican Army.
* 1949, 1 August: Official ceasefire.
* 1949, December: International pressure leads Netherlands Government to transfer power to the United States of Indonesia (RUSI) at the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference.
* 1950, 29 January: General Sudirman, commander of Indonesia's armed forces, dies at 34
* 1950, 25 April: The Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) is proclaimed in Ambon
* 1950, 17 August: Following RUSI endorsement of a new constitution, the federation is dissolved and Sukarno proclaims a unitary state, the 'Republic of Indonesia'.
1950s
* 1948 - 1962: Darul Islam rebellions begin in West Java, spread to other provinces but conclude with the execution of its leader Kartosoewiryo.
* 1950, 6 September: The first cabinet of the unitary state is established. It is led by Prime Minister Mohammad Natsir.
* 1950, 27 September:Indonesia becomes the 60th member of the United Nations.
* 1951, 21 March: The Natsir cabinet falls.
* 1951, 26 April: The composition of the new cabinet is announced. The new Prime Minister is Dr. Sukiman Wirjosanjojo.
* 1952, 25 February: Amid bitter disputes over the signing of a Mutual Security Agreement with the US, the Sukiman cabinet resigns.
* 1952, 3 April: The new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Wilopo is inaugurated.
* 1952, 17 October: Army-organized demonstrations take place in Jakarta to demand the dissolution of the legislature. Tank guns and machine guns are trained on the presidential palace.This leads to the suspension of General Nasution as army chief of staff following army indiscipline over command and support that threatens the government.
* 1953, 2 June: The Wilopo cabinet resigns.
* 1953, 31 July: After lengthy negotiations, the composition of the new cabinet is announced. Serving his first term as prime minister is Ali Sastroamidjojo.
* 1955, March - 1961, August: Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
* 1955, 18 - 25 April: The city of Bandung hosts the Asia-Africa Conference. It is the first meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement and is attended by world leaders including China's Zhou Enlai, India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser and Yugoslavia's Tito.
* 1955, 24 July: After a dispute with the Army over appointments, the cabinet resigns.
* 1955, 12 August: Led by Prime Minister Burhanuddin Harahap, the new cabinet is sworn in.
* 1955, 29 September: Indonesia holds general parliamentary elections; the last free national elections until 1999; support for the parties is widely distributed with four parties each gaining 16-22 per cent and the remaining votes split between 24 parties.
* 1955, 15 December: Elections are held for the Constitutional Assembly.
* 1956, 3 March: The cabinet falls as a result of its policy toward the Dutch.
* 1955, 24 March: The second cabinet to be led by Ali Sastroamidjojo takes office.
* 1956, 3 May: Indonesia unilaterally abrogates the Round Table Agreement signed with the Dutch in 1949.
* 1956, 1 December: Hatta resigns as vice-president.
* 1957, 21 February: President Sukarno announces his "Conception" (Konsepsi) of the nature of Indonesia. This will eventually lead to Guided Democracy.
* 1957, March - 1961, August: Regional rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
* 1957, 14 March: Martial Law is proclaimed. On the same day, the cabinet resigns.
* 1957, 9 April: Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with Djuanda as prime minister.
* 1957, 30 November: An attempt is made to assassinate President Sukarno. Grenades are thrown at him as he visits a school in Cikini, Jakarta.
* 1958, May 18: US Air Force pilot Allen Pope is shot down over Ambon, revealing covert American support of regional rebellions, and ends the Dulles brothers' failure to subvert the Sukarno government.
* 1959, 5 July: With armed forces support, Sukarno issues a decree dissolving the Constituent Assembly and reintroducing the Constitution of 1945 with strong presidential powers, and assumes the additional role of Prime Minister, which completes the structure of 'Guided Democracy'.
* 1959, 10 July: President Sukarno appoints a "Working Cabinet" with himself as prime minister.
* 1950/60s: Military articulation of doctrines dwifungsi and hankamrata: a military role in sociopolitical development as well as security; a requirement that the resources of the people be at the call of the armed forces.
1960s
* 1960, 9 March Second Lieutenant Daniel Alexander Maukar of the Indonesian Air Force uses a MiG-17 fighter to strafe the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, oil tanks at Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta and then the Bogor Palace.
* 1960, 18 February: President Sukarno reshuffles the cabinet and appoints the second "Working Cabinet".
* 1950, 24 June:The House of Representatives-Mutual cooperation (DPR-GR), composed of members chosen by President Sukarno is established.
* 1960, 17 August:Indonesia severs diplomatic links with the Netherlands in protest over its refusal to hand over West Papua.
* 1960, 30 September: President Sukarno addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
* 1961, March 4: An agreement is signed in Jakarta with the Soviet Union to buy arms with long term loans.
* 1961, 17 August:Building officially starts on the Monas National Monument in the center of Jakarta.
* 1962, January 2:The Manadala Command to "free" West Papua from the Dutch is established. Its commander is Brigadier general Suharto.
* 1962, 15 January: Deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy Commodore Yos Sudarso is killed in a Dutch air attack on the motor torpedo boat (MTB) force he is commanding.
* 1962, 8 March:President Sukarno again reshuffles his cabinet.
* 1962, 15 August:The New York Agreement transferring sovereignty of West Papua to Indonesia is signed at the United Nations.
* 1962, 24 August - 4 September: Indonesia hosts the Fourth Asian Games.
* 1963, 18 May: Parliament elects Sukarno 'President-for-life'.
* 1963, 1 May: Following pressure from the United Nations and the American government of President John F. Kennedy, the Netherlands yields West Irian (Papua) to temporary UN supervision.
* 1963 - 1965: Sole years of American Peace Corps program in Indonesia.
* 1963, 18 September': Following demonstrations in Jakarta to protest at the creation of Malaysia, the British Embassy is burned by a mob.
* 1963, 13 November: President Sukarno conducts the final reshuffle of the "Working Cabinet".
* 1963 - 1965: Sukarno leads the Konfrontasi campaign against the newly created Malaysia.
* 1964, 27 August: President Sukarno appoints the Dwikora Cabinet
* 1965, 7 January: Indonesia withdraws from membership of the UN.
* 1965, 14 January: The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) calls for workers and peasants to be armed.
* 1965, 11-16 April: The Third Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Bandung.
* 1965, 26 May: Foreign Minister Subandrio reports to President Sukarno the existence of the Gilchrist Document, a letter purporting to be from the British ambassador which discusses western military involvement in Indonesia.
* 1965, 30 September: An abortive coup in Jakarta results in the murder of six army generals, and disposal of bodies at Lubang Buaya.
* 1965, 1 October: A counter coup led by General Suharto that leads to the Overthrow of Sukarno.
* 1965, October to 1966, March: A violent anti-communist purge leads to the killing of approximately 1/2 million Indonesians.
* 1965, 14 October: President Sukarno appoints Major General Suharto Minister/Commander of the Army.
* 1965, 16 October: The Jakarta Military Command temporarily suspends the activities of the PKI and its organizations in the Jakarta region.
* 1965, 13 December: The rupiah is devalued by a factor of 1,000 in an effort to control inflation.
* 1966, 10 January: Anti-communist organizations grouped under the Pancasila Front issue the "Three Demands of the People" (Tritura), namely the dissolution of the PKI, the cleansing of the cabinet of elements involved in the 30 September Movement, and lower prices and economic improvements.
* 1966, 14 February: The Extraordinary Military Court trials of people allegedly involved in the 30 September Movement begin.
* 1966, 24 February: President Sukarno reshuffles his cabinet, creating what becomes known as the "cabinet of 100 ministers".
* 1966, 11 March: General Suharto forces Sukarno to delegate presidential powers to himself by signing the Supersemar. The following day, Suharto dissolves the Indonesian Communist Party.
* 1966, 18 March: A total of 14 cabinet ministers are taken into "protective custody".
* 1966, 2 May: Following large-scale demonstrations, the leadership of the Mutual-Assistance House of Representatives (DPR-GR) is replaced.
* 1966, 20 June-5 July: The Fourth Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly is held in Jakarta. It raises the status of the Supersemar into a decree, meaning Sukarno cannot revoke it, bans the PKI and its teachings and rejects Presidents Sukarno's accountability speech.
* 1966, 11 August: Indonesia and Malaysia agree to normalize diplomatic relations.
* 1966, 28 September: Indonesia rejoins the United Nations.
* 1967, 10 January: New investment laws designed to bring in foreign capital are passed; restrictions are introduced regarding status of Indonesian Chinese, their names and their religions.
* 1967, 22 February: In a ceremony at the presidential palace, Sukarno hands over authority to Suharto.
* 1967, 7-12 March: A Special Session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly strips Sukarno of his powers and appoints Suharto acting president.
* 1967, 1 October: Diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China are suspended.
* 1968, March: Parliament confers full presidential title on Suharto; Sukarno is under effective house arrest.
* 1968 - 1971: Soedjatmoko is Indonesian ambassador to the United States; bilateral relations warm.
* 1969: Papuan representatives agree to join Indonesia following the controversial 'Act of Free Choice'.
1970s
* 1970, 21 June: Sukarno dies. He is buried at Blitar, East Java.
* 1970: Nurcholish Madjid, a young Muslim modernist, begins to lay out religious developmental principles for Indonesia—'Islam, yes; Islamic party, no'.
* 1971, 3 July: Indonesia's second parliamentary election and the first under the New Order is held. Golkar wins an outright majority.
* 1971: Suharto's wife inspired by a visit to Disneyland, conceives a national cultural theme park.
* 1973: Government forces fusion of political parties; Nationalist and Christian parties are merged into the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Muslim parties into the United Development Party (PPP). The new three party system is dominated by Golkar.
* 1974: The 'Malari' uprising in Jakarta against Japanese penetration of the economy, Chinese Indonesian influence, and official corruption.
* 1975, April: Mrs Suharto dedicates the vast 'Beautiful Indonesia-in-Miniature Park' (Taman Mini) on the outskirts of Jakarta.
* 1975, April: Civil war breaks out in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
* 1975, 6 December: U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger, returning from China, make a hastily rescheduled one-day visit to Jakarta.
* 1975, 7 December: Indonesia launches an invasion of East Timor.
* 1976, March: General Ibnu Sutowo is 'dismissed with honour' after a decade as head of Pertamina, the state oil corporation.
* 1976, 17 July: Suharto signs a bill integrating East Timor into Indonesia as its 27th province.
* 1976, 19 November: UN General Assembly rejects Indonesia's annexation of East Timor.
* 1977: The United States surpasses Japan as Indonesia's biggest oil customer.
* 1977, October: Sawito Kartowibowo's trial for 'subversion' begins.
* 1978: The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) elevates Pancasila to the status of compulsory moral education of youth and government officials.
* 1978: Suharto appoints B.J. Habibie as state minister for research and technology.
* 1979, December: Writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer is released after fourteen years imprisonment with hard labour on Buru Island.
1980s
* 1980, May: The Petition of Fifty—a statement of concern to parliament about the use of government power, propaganda, and presidential personality cult—is begun.
* 1982 - 1983: The height of Petrus ('mysterious shootings') of thousands of suspected criminals by government security forces.
* 1983: Prabowo Subianto, then a major in ABRI marries Suharto's daughter Titiek at Taman Mini.
* 1984, 12 September: Muslim concerned protesting over alleged insensitivities to Islam at Tanjung Priok; a riot ensues resulting in many deaths. Clamp down on Islamic political leaders.
* 1984, December: Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) is elected chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama a position previously held by both his father and grandfather.
* 1985: The Indonesian government require all organisations of any kind to adopt Pancasila as their sole basis.
* 1987: Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes a member of parliament; Suharto prohibits display of images of Sukarno although they appear frequently nonetheless.
* 1988: Suharto is elected to a fifth term as president.
* 1989: The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) reemerges following its 1976 founding; suppression of its guerilla activities leads to 2,000 deaths by 1991 in Aceh.
1990s
* 1991: Indonesia wins presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement.
* 1991, 12 November: ABRI troops fire on demonstrative funeral procession in Dili, East Timor. TV images of the killings put East Timor high on the international human rights agenda.
* 1992: Suharto successfully defies Dutch efforts to link human rights to aid administerd since 1967 by the International Governmental Group on Indonesia (IGGI).
* 1992-1993: East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão is captured by Prabowo and is tried and sentenced.
* 1993: Suharto seeks a sixth term and is easily re-elected.
* 1994, June: Suharto shuts down Tempo and two other publications for critical reporting of Habibie’s purchase of the former East German navy.
* 1996: The Free Papua Movement (OPM) kidnaps fourteen scientists and foresters in Iran Jaya garnering international attention. After four months, the abductees are rescued in a bloody operation lead by Prabowo.
* 1996, April: Ibu Tien Suharto, the president’s wife of 48 years, dies of a heart attack.
* 1996, July: Military-backed thugs burst into headquarters of PDI, Megawati's party, and evict her supporters in a violent climax to government efforts to vitiate her party’s popularity.
* 1997, February: Alarmed at a dukun's prediction that 'the nail of Java has come loose', Suharto commands a massive Ruat Dunia ceremony ('Cleansing of the world') near Borobudur.
* 1997, June: Pacific Ocean trade winds shift heralding the onset of the El Niño; severe drought across much of Indonesia follows in the ensuing months accompanied by highly destructive forest fires.
* 1997, July: The collapse of the Thai baht starts the East Asian financial crisis and over the ensuing months Indonesia is the country hardest hit.
* 1997 - 1998: Severe social unrest breaks out across Indonesian cities against Chinese Indonesians, Christians, symbols of wealth, the police and bureaucracy.
* 1998, 11 March: Suharto unanimously elected by the MPR to his seventh presidential term.
* 1998, late March: Largely peaceful student demonstrations against the regime rise to national prominence.
* 1998, 12 May: Four student demonstrators at Trisakti University are shot dead by bullets unproven but thought likely to have been from army sources.
* 1998, 13 May: Memorial services for killed students leads to vandalism, arson, looting and rape by roving mobs which continue unchecked by security forces for two days leaving 1,200 dead.
* 1998, 20 May: For National Awakening Day, Amien Rais pledges to bring a million protestors into the streets to demonstrate against at the National Monument in Jakarta. Faced with barbed wire and massed troops he calls off the rally fearing bloodshed.
* 1998, 21 May, 9 a.m.: After being deserted by his cabinet, Suharto resigns the presidency. Habibie assumes presidency.
* 1998, August: General Wiranto announces the discharge of Lieutenant General Prabowo from active duty, with full pension benefits—and without court-martial for allegations of abduction and torture of student activist (some of whom remain missing as of 2003).
* 1998, 10 November: Megawati, Rais, and the sultan of Yogya, meet at Wahid's home in Ciganjur, and issue a series of statements including a demand for the military to end their role in politics within six years.
* 1998, 13 November: On the last day of the MPR sessions, soldiers open fire on demonstrating students killing at least fifteen and injuring hundreds.
* 1999, 19 January: An petty argument between in the city of Ambon triggers Christian-Muslim clashes that last for three years across Maluku. As many as 10,000 are killed and 700,000 or one third of the region are displaced.
* 1999, 7 June: Indonesia's first free and fair national elections since 1955 take place with almost no disruption and wide participation. Votes however are distributed across forty-eight parties with no party achieving a majority.
* 1999, September: East Timor votes to secede from Indonesia in a referendum conducted under UN auspices. Four-fifths of voters choose independence for East Timor over integration with Indonesia. Pro-integration militias trained and paid by ABRI immediately resort to a scorched earth policy that leaves 1,000 dead and most of the territory's infrastructure ruined.
* 1999, 13 September: President Habibie relents to international pressure and allows a UN peacekeeping force known as 'INTERFET' to enter East Timor and restore order.
* 1999, October: The Indonesian parliament rejects President Habibie's accountability speech. Wahid whose party received one eighth of the popular vote is elected president by the MPR. Megawati whose party received one third of the vote (the highest) is elected vice president.
2000s
* 2000, Christmas Eve: In a coordinated attack involving more than three dozen sites across the country, churches are bombed and eighteen people killed. It is later proven to have been planned by Jemaah Islamiyah in retaliation for Christian killings of Muslims in the Maluku conflict.
* 2001 - Ethnic violence in Kalimantan as indigenous Dayaks force out Madurese transmigrants. Mass political demonstrations by Wahid's supporters and opponents. IMF stops further loans citing lack of progress in tackling corruption.
* 2000 - 2001: President Wahid's administration is marred by failures to stabilise the economy, patterns of political favouritism, economic corruption (although Wahid himself is not accused of corruption), inability to reform the military, personal eccentricity and pettiness, ineffectiveness in dealing with major religious violence in Maluku and Sulawesi, major ethnic violence (Dayaks vs. Madurese) in Kalimantan, and separatisms in Aceh and Irian Jaya.
* 2001, July: President Wahid is impeached chiefly on grounds of incompetence. The parliament elects Megawati president by 592 votes to 0. Hamzah Haz defeats Akbar Tandjung and Lieutenant General (ret.) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
* 2001, September: President Megawati visits President George Bush a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and welcomes American investment. On her return to Indonesia, the Islamic right criticises her cooperation with America's war in Afghanistan, and the nationalist left criticises here for being too suppliant to foreign investors.
* 2002: Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, issue joint statements critical of militant Islamists.
* 2002, February: Peace talks in Maliano, South Sulawesi appear to end three years of Christian-Muslim violence in Maluku and Poso.
* 2002, July: Tommy Suharto is sentenced to fifteen years jail for illegal possession of arms, contempt of law, and masterminding the assassination of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him for graft.
* 2002, September: House Speaker Akbar Tandjung is sentenced to three years jail for corruption.
* 2002, October 12: Bombs in the Kuta nightclub district in Bali kill 202 people the world's deadliest terrorist attack since 11 September, 2001. Indonesian police, aided by ten nations, track down Jemaah Islamiyah operatives.
* 2002, November: Eurico Guterres is sentenced to ten years prison for crimes committed following the 1999 ballot in East Timor.
* 2002, December: The Indonesian government and GAM sign a peace accord aimed at ending decades of violence in Aceh. The deal breaks down the following year.
* 2003, August: Jemaah Islamiyah bomb Jakarta's Marriott hotel killing twelve. All but one of those killed are Indonesians.
* 2004, April: Parliamentary and local elections: Golkar party of former President Suharto wins greatest share of vote, with Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P coming second.
* 2004, October: Indonesia's first direct presidential election elects Bambang Yudhoyono following popular disillusionment with incumbent Megawati.
* 2004, 9 September: A bomb blast outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta kills 11 and injures up to 100 people.
* 2004, 26 December: An earthquake-triggered tsunami kills an estimated 160,000 and causes widespread devastation.
* 2005: Bombings in Bali kill 20 people.
* 2005: Government and Free Aceh Movement separatists sign a peace deal providing for rebel disarmament and the withdrawal of government soldiers from the province. Rebels begin handing in weapons in September; government completes troop pull-out in December.
* 2006, May: A powerful earthquake kills thousands of people in the Yogyakarta region in central Java.
* 2007:Adam Air Flight 574 crashes into the sea off Sulawesi, killing all 102 onboard.
* 2008: Suharto dies from multiple organ failure. He is buried in the family Mausoleum near Solo.
* 2008: Jemaah Islamiyah Operatives are executed when found guilty for the 2002 bombings after numerous appeals from their families.
* 2009: Jemaah Islamiyah bomb two hotels in Jakarta, including the Marriott that was attacked in 2003.
General references
# Feith, Herbert (2007) The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, ISBN 979-3870-45-2
# Friend, Theodore (2003). Indonesian Destinies. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01834-6.
# Heuken SJ, A (2000). Historical Sites of Jakarta. Cipta Loka Caraka, Jakarta
# Miksic, John (1997). Java's Ancient "Indianized" Kingdoms. Found in Oey, Eric (ed) (1997), Java (Third ed.), Singapore: Periplus Editions, ISBN 962-593-244-5 .
# Moore, R.I (General Editor)(1999). Philip's Atlas of World History. Chancellor Press. ISBN 0-75370-085-9
# Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A history of modern Indonesia since c.1200. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-4480-7
# Saafroedin Bahar,Ananda B.Kusuma,Nannie Hudawati, eds, (1992) Risalah Sidang Badan Penyelidik Usahah Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesian (BPUPKI) Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI) (Minutes of the Meetings of the Agency for Investigating Efforts for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence and the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence), Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia, Jakarta
# Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia (1975a) 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 2 (1950-1964) (30 Years of Indonesian Independence: Volume 2 (1950-1964)
# Sekretariat Negara Republik Indonesia (1975b) 30 Tahun Indonesia Merdeka: Jilid 3 (1965-1973) (30 Years of Indonesian Independence: Volume 3 (1965-1973)
# Simanjuntak, P.H.H (2003) Kabinet-Kabinet Republik Indonesia: Dari Awal Kemerdekaan Sampai Reformasi (Cabinets of the Republic of Indonesia: From the Start of Independence to the Reform era, Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, ISBN 979-428-499-8
# Taylor, Jean Gelman. Indonesia. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10518-5.
# Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54262-6.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Indonesian_history
History of Kingdom in Indonesia
Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) stretching along the equator in South East Asia. The country's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade; trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history. The area of Indonesia is populated by peoples of various migrations, creating a diversity of cultures, ethnicities, and languages. The archipelago's landforms and climate significantly influenced agriculture and trade, and the formation of states. Fossilised remains of Homo erectus, popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population, were originally from Taiwan and arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE. From the seventh century CE, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished bringing Hindu and Buddhist influences with it. The agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties subsequently thrived and declined in inland Java. The last significant non-Muslim kingdom, the Hindu Majapahit kingdom, flourished from the late 13th century, and its influence stretched over much of Indonesia. The earliest evidence of Islamised populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra; other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam which became the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences.
Europeans arrived in Indonesia from the 16th century seeking to monopolise the sources of valuable nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku. In 1602 the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and became the dominant European power. Following bankruptcy, the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, and the government of the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies as a nationalised colony. By the early 20th century Dutch dominance extended to what was to become Indonesia's current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during WWII ended Dutch rule, and encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. Two days after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, nationalist leader, Sukarno, declared independence and was appointed president. The Netherlands tried to reestablish their rule, but a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle ended in December 1949, when in the face of international pressure, the Dutch formally recognised Indonesian independence.
An attempted coup in 1965 led to a violent army-led anti-communist purge in which over half a million people were killed. General Suharto politically out-manoeuvred President Sukarno, and was formally appointed president in March 1968. His New Order administration garnered the favour of the West whose investment in Indonesia was a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth. In the late 1990s, however, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian Financial Crisis which led to popular protests and Suharto's resignation on 21 May 1998. The Reformasi era following Suharto's resignation, has led to a strengthening of democratic processes, including a regional autonomy program, the secession of East Timor, and the first direct presidential election in 2004. Political and economic instability, social unrest, corruption, natural disasters, and terrorism have slowed progress. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent and violence remain problems in some areas.
Prehistory
Geologically the area of modern Indonesia appeared sometime around the Pleistocene period, when it was still linked with the Asian mainland. The archipelago formed during the thaw after the latest ice age. Fossilised remains of Homo erectus, popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago. Recent discoveries on the island of Flores were dubbed "Flores Man" (Homo floresiensis), a miniature hominoid that grew only three feet tall, although whether this constitutes a separate species is still in dispute. Flores Man seems to have shared some islands with Java Man until only 10,000 years ago, when they became extinct.
Austronesian people, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE, and confined the native Melanesian peoples to the far eastern regions as they expanded. Dong Son culture spread to Indonesia bringing with it techniques of wet-field rice cultivation, ritual buffalo sacrifice, bronze casting, megalithic practises, and ikat weaving methods. Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the eighth century BCE, allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE.
Pre-colonial civilisations
Early kingdoms
References to the Dvipantara or Jawa Dwipa Hindu kingdom in Java and Sumatra appear in Sanskrit writings from 200 BC.[citation needed]
The earliest archeological relic discovered in Indonesia is from the Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java, where an early Hindu statue of Ganesha from the 1st century AD was found on the summit of Mount Raksa in Panaitan Island.
There is also archeological evidence of a kingdom in Tatar Sunda / Sunda Territory in West Java dating from the 2nd century, and according to Dr Tony Djubiantono, the head of Bandung Archeology Agency, Jiwa Temple in Batujaya, Karawang, West Java was also built around this time.
Three rough plinths dating from the beginning of the fourth century are found in Kutai, East Kalimantan, near Mahakam River. The plinths bear an inscription in the Pallava script of India reading "A gift to the Brahmin priests". In addition, the "Batu Tulis" monument ,a huge black boulder near Bogor, West Java, dates from around 450. On this monument, King Purnavarna inscribed his name and made an imprint of his footprints, as well as his elephant's footprints. The accompanying inscription reads, "Here are the footprints of King Purnavarna, the heroic conqueror of the world". This inscription is in Sanskrit and is still clear after 1500 years.
A number of Hindu and Buddhist states flourished and then declined across Indonesia. By the time of the European Renaissance, Java and Sumatra had already seen over a millennium of civilization and two major empires. One such early kingdom was Tarumanagara, which flourished between 358 and 669 AD. Located in Sunda in West Java close to modern-day Jakarta, its fifth-century king, Purnawarman, produced the earliest known inscriptions in Java. Purnawarman apparently built a canal that changed the course of the Cakung River, and drained a coastal area for agriculture and settlement. In his stone inscriptions, Purnawarman associated himself with Vishnu, and Brahmins ritually secured the hydraulic project.
The political history of Indonesia during the fourteenth and fifteen centuries is not well known due to scarcity of evidence. Two major states dominated this period; Majapahit in East Java, the greatest of the pre-Islamic Indonesian states, and Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, arguably the greatest of the Muslim trading empires.
Kingdom of Mataram
Mataram was an Indianized kingdom based in Central Java around modern-day Yogyakarta between the 8th and 10th centuries. The centre of the kingdom was moved from Central Java to East Java by Mpu Sindok. The move may have been caused by an eruption of the volcano Mount Merapi, or a power struggle.
The first king of Mataram was Sri Sanjaya, who drove the Sailendras from Java and left inscriptions in stone. The monumental Hindu temple of Prambanan in the vicinity of Yogyakarta was built by Daksa. Dharmawangsa ordered the translation of the Mahabharata into Old Javanese in 996.
The kingdom collapsed into chaos at the end of Dharmawangsa's reign under military pressure from Srivijaya. Airlangga, a son of Udayana of Bali and a relative of Dharmawangsa re-established the kingdom including Bali under the name of Kahuripan.
Srivijaya Empire
Srivijaya (-sri meaning glitters or radiant, -jaya meaning success or excellence) was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. From the seventh century CE, the powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it.
Srivijaya was centred in the coastal trading center of present day Palembang. The empire was a thalassocracy and did not extend its influence far beyond the coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was organised in three main zones — the estuarine capital region centred on Palembang, the Musi River basin which served as hinterland, and rival estuarine zones capable of forming rival power centres. The capital zone was administered directly by the ruler. The hinterland zone remained under its own local datus or chiefs who were organized into a network of allegiance to the maharaja. Force was the dominant element in the empire's relations with rival river systems such as the Batang Hari river basin centred on Jambi. The ruling lineage intermarried with and allied with the Sailendras of Central Java.
Although historical records and archaeological evidence are scarce, it appears that by the seventh century, Srivijaya established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java, and much of the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, Srivijaya controlled both the Spice Route traffic and local trade, charging a toll on passing ships, and remained a formidable sea power until the thirteenth century. This spread the Malay culture throughout Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo.
A stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. These included the Chinese monk Yijing, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to study at Nalanda in India in 671 and 695, and the eleventh-century Buddhist scholar Atisha, who played a major role in the development of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet. Travellers to these islands mentioned that gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but not inland.
In 1068, Rajendra Chola, the Chola king of Tamil Nadu, conquered Kedah from Srivijaya. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests throughout what is now Indonesia and Malaysia for the next 20 years. Although the Chola invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, it gravely weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive agriculture rather than coastal and long distance trade.
Srivijaya influence waned by the 11th century. The island was in frequent conflict with the Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Majapahit. Islam eventually made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading its influence through contacts with Arabs and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the kingdom of Pasai in northern Sumatra converted to Islam. At that time Srivijaya was briefly a tributary of the Khmer empire and later the Sukhothai kingdom. The last inscription dates to 1374, where a crown prince, Ananggavarman, is mentioned.
Srivijaya ceased to exist by 1414, when Parameswara, the kingdom's last prince, converted to Islam and founded the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula.
Singhasari and Majapahit
A lack of historical evidence has meant the political history of Indonesia in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is unclear. It is known, however, that Majapahit was the dominant kingdom of the Indonesian archipelago during this period, and the most dominant of all Indonesia's pre-Islamic states. Evidence of smaller states, such as Pasai, is even more scarce such that almost no historical study is possible.
The Singhasari and Majapahit kingdoms both rose in eastern Java and assumed the territory of Srivijaya[citation needed]. Singhasari was a kingdom located in east Java between 1222 and 1292.
The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under Gajah Mada it experienced what is often referred to as a "Golden Age" in Indonesian history, when its influence extended to much of southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali[citation needed] from about 1293 to around 1500.
The founder of the Majapahit Empire, Kertarajasa, was the son-in-law of the ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, also based in Java. After Singhasari drove Srivijaya out of Java altogether in 1290, the rising power of Singhasari came to the attention of Kublai Khan in China and he sent emissaries demanding tribute. Kertanagara, ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, refused to pay tribute and the Khan sent a punitive expedition which arrived off the coast of Java in 1293. By that time, a rebel from Kediri, Jayakatwang, had killed Kertanagara. The Majapahit founder allied himself with the Mongols against Jayakatwang and, once the Singhasari kingdom was destroyed, turned and forced his Mongol allies to withdraw in confusion.
Gajah Mada, an ambitious Majapahit prime minister and regent from 1331 to 1364, extended the empire's rule to the surrounding islands. A few years after Gajah Madah's death, the Majapahit navy captured Palembang, putting an end to the Srivijayan kingdom. Although the Majapahit rulers extended their power over other islands and destroyed neighbouring kingdoms, their focus seems to have been on controlling and gaining a larger share of the commercial trade that passed through the archipelago. About the time Majapahit was founded, Muslim traders and proselytisers began entering the area.
After its peak in the 1300s, Majapahit power began to decline with a war over succession that started in 1401 and went on for four years. Majapahit found itself unable to control the rising power of the Sultanate of Malacca. Dates for the end of the Majapahit Empire range from 1478 to 1520. A large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royal family moved east to the island of Bali at the end of Majapah power.
Other pre-colonial states
The spread of Islam
Although Muslim traders first traveled through South East Asia early in the Islamic era, the earliest evidence of Islamized populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra. Although it is known that the spread of Islam began in the west of the archipelago, the fragmentary evidence does not suggest a rolling wave of conversion through adjacent areas; rather, it suggests the process was complicated and slow. The spread of Islam was driven by increasing trade links outside of the archipelago; in general, traders and the royalty of major kingdoms were the first to adopt the new religion.
Other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam, making it the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, which shaped the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java. Only Bali retained a Hindu majority. In the eastern archipelago, both Christian and Islamic missionaries were active in the 16th and 17th centuries, and, currently, there are large communities of both religions on these islands.
Sultanate of Demak
The Sultanate of Demak was Muslim state located on Java's north coast in Indonesia, at the site of the present day city of Demak. A port fief thought to have been founded in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, it was influenced by Islam brought by Arab and Gujarat traders. The sultanate played an important role in the establishment of Islam in Indonesia; the new religion's influence manifest by the Great Demak Mosque reportedly built by the Wali Songo (the 'Nine Saints').
Demak’s origins are uncertain although it was apparently founded in the last quarter of the fifteenth century by a Muslim, known variously as Raden Patah or Pate Rodin or Jin Bun. There is evidence that he had Chinese ancestry and perhaps was named Cek Ko-po. He is thought to have died c. 1504. Raden Patah’s son, or possibly his brother, led Demak’s brief domination in Java. He was known as Trenggana, and later Javanese traditions say he gave himself the title Sultan. It appears that Trenggana had two reigns—c 1505–1518 and c 1521–1546—between which his brother in law, King Yunnus of Jepara occupied the throne.
One of Wali Songo, Sunan Ampel was the teacher (and father-in-law) of Raden Patah and had great influence on the philosophy of the sultanate. Babad Tanah Jawi (Javanese chronicles) record him as having befriended Brawijaya, the last king of Majapahit who took him as an adopted son.
Trenggana spread Demak’s influence east and west and c 1527, during his second regin, he conquered the last Javanese Hindu-Buddhist state, Majapahit of East Java. Majapahit had been in decline since the later fifteenth century and was in an advanced state of collapse at the time of the Demak’s conquest. Majapahit's heirlooms were brought to Demak and adopted as Demak's royal icons. Demak was able to subdue other major ports and its reach extended into some inland areas of East Java that are not thought to have been Islamised at the time. Although evidence is limited, it is known that Demak's conquests covered much of Java: Tuban, an old Majapahit port mentioned in Chinese sources from the eleventh century, was conquered c. 1527;
Raden Patah was succeeded by Pati Unus (1518 - 1521), known best for his two attempts in 1511 and 1521 to seize the port of Malacca from the control of Portuguese. This campaign attempt ended with a loss of the King's life.
The King's brother-in-law, Trenggana (1522 - 1548), crowned by Sunan Gunung Jati (one of the Wali Songo), became the Third and the greatest King of Demak. He conquered the Hindu based resistance in Central Java, Banten, Sunda Kelapa (which was renamed Jayakarta). His campaign ended when he was killed in Panarukan, [East Java] in 1548.
Later Javanese chronicles provide varying accounts of the conquest, but they all describe Demak as the legitimate direct successor of Majapahit although, they do not mention the possibility that by the time of its final conquest, Majapahit no longer ruled. The first 'Sultan' of Demak, Raden Patah, is portrayed as the son of Majapahit's last king by a Chinese princess who was exiled from the court before Patah's birth. The chronicles conventionally date the fall of Majapahit at the end of the fourteenth Javanese calendar, a time when changes of dynasties or courst was though to occur. Although these legends explain little about the actual events, they do illustrate that the dynastic continuity survived Islamisation of Java.
Sultanate of Mataram
The Sultanate of Mataram was the third Sultanate in Java, after the Sultanate of Demak Bintoro and the Sultanate of Pajang.
According to Javanese records, Kyai Gedhe Pamanahan became the ruler of the Mataram area in the 1570s with the support of the kingdom of Pajang to the east, near the current site of Surakarta (Solo). Pamanahan was often referred to as Kyai Gedhe Mataram after his ascension.
Pamanahan's son, Panembahan Senapati Ingalaga, replaced his father on the throne around 1584. Under Senapati the kingdom grew substantially through regular military campaigns against Mataram's neighbors. Shortly after his accession, for example, he conquered his father's patrons in Pajang.
The reign of Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak (c. 1601-1613), the son of Senapati, was dominated by further warfare, especially against powerful Surabaya, already a major center in East Java. The first contact between Mataram and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occurred under Krapyak. Dutch activities at the time were limited to trading from limited coastal settlements, so their interactions with the inland Mataram kingdom were limited, although they did form an alliance against Surabaya in 1613. Krapyak died that year.
Krapyak was succeeded by his son, who is known simply as Sultan Agung ("Great Sultan") in Javanese records. Agung was responsible for the great expansion and lasting historical legacy of Mataram due to the extensive military conquests of his long reign from 1613 to 1646.
After years of war Agung finally conquered Surabaya. The city surrounded by land and sea and starved it into submission. With Surabaya brought into the empire, the Mataram kingdom encompassed all of central and eastern Java, and Madura; only in the west did Banten and the Dutch settlement in Batavia remain outside Agung's control. He tried repeatedly in the 1620s and 1630s to drive the Dutch from Batavia, but his armies had met their match, and he was forced to share control over Java.
In 1645 he began building Imogiri, his burial place, about fifteen kilometers south of Yogyakarta. Imogiri remains the resting place of most of the royalty of Yogyakarta and Surakarta to this day. Agung died in the spring of 1646, with his image of royal invincibility shattered by his losses to the Dutch, but he did leave behind an empire that covered most of Java and its neighboring islands.
Upon taking the throne, Agung's son Susuhunan Amangkurat I tried to bring long-term stability to Mataram's realm, murdering local leaders that were insufficiently deferential to him, and closing ports so he alone had control over trade with the Dutch.
By the mid-1670s dissatisfaction with the king fanned into open revolt. Raden Trunajaya, a prince from Madura, lead a revolt fortified by itinerant mercenaries from Makassar that captured the king's court at Mataram in mid-1677. The king escaped to the north coast with his eldest son, the future king Amangkurat II, leaving his younger son Pangeran Puger in Mataram. Apparently more interested in profit and revenge than in running a struggling empire, the rebel Trunajaya looted the court and withdrew to his stronghold in East Java leaving Puger in control of a weak court.
Amangkurat I died just after his expulsion, making Amangkurat II king in 1677. He too was nearly helpless, though, having fled without an army or treasury to build one. In an attempt to regain his kingdom, he made substantial concessions to the Dutch, who then went to war to reinstate him. For the Dutch, a stable Mataram empire that was deeply indebted to them would help ensure continued trade on favorable terms. They were willing to lend their military might to keep the kingdom together. Dutch forces first captured Trunajaya, then forced Puger to recognize the sovereignty of his elder brother Amangkurat II.
The Sultanate of Banten
In 1524-25, Sunan Gunung Jati from Cirebon, together with the armies of Demak Sultanate, seized the port of Banten from the Sunda kingdom, and established The Sultanate of Banten. This was accompanied by Muslim preachers and the adoption of Islam amongst the local population. At its peak in the first half of the seventeenth century, the Sultanate lasted from 1526 to 1813 AD. The Sultanate left many archaeological remains and historical records.
Colonial era
Beginning in the sixteenth century, successive waves of Europeans—the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British—sought to dominate the spice trade at its sources in India and the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) of Indonesia. This meant finding a way to Asia to cut out Muslim merchants who, with their Venetian outlet in the Mediterranean, monopolised spice imports to Europe. Astronomically priced at the time, spices were highly coveted not only to preserve and make poorly preserved meat palatable, but also as medicines and magic potions.
The arrival of Europeans in South East Asia is often regarded as the watershed moment in its history. Other scholars consider this view untenable, arguing that European influence during the times of the early arrivals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was limited in both area and depth. This is in part due to Europe not being the most advanced or dynamic area of the world in the early fifteenth century. Rather, the major expansionist force of this time was Islam; in 1453, for example, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, while Islam continued to spread through Indonesia and the Philippines. European influence, particularly that of the Dutch, would not have its greatest impact on Indonesia until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The Portuguese
Europeans were, however, making technological advances. New found Portuguese expertise in navigation, ship building and weaponry allowed them to make daring expeditions of exploration and expansion. Starting with the first exploratory expeditions sent from newly-conquered Malacca in 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices and to extend the Roman Catholic church's missionary efforts. Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1512 with the Sunda Kingdom at Kalapa failed due to hostilities amongst other indigenous Javan kingdoms. The Portuguese turned east to Maluku, which comprised a varied collection of principalities and kingdoms that were occasionally at war with each other but maintained significant inter-island and international trade. Through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they established trading posts, forts, and missions in eastern Indonesia including the islands of Ternate, Ambon, and Solor. The height of Portuguese missionary activities, however, came at the latter half of the sixteenth century, after the pace of their military conquest in the archipelago had stopped and their commercial interest in Indonesia was shifting to Japan, Macau and China as well as sugar in Brazil and the Atlantic slave trade.
The Portuguese presence in Indonesia was reduced to Solor, Flores and Timor in modern day Nusa Tenggara, following defeat in 1575 at Ternate at the hands of indigenous Ternateans, Dutch conquests in Ambon, north Maluku and Banda, and a general failure to maintain control of trade in the region. In comparison with the original Portuguese ambition to dominate Asian trade, their influences on Indonesian culture are small: the romantic keroncong guitar ballads; a number of Indonesian words which reflect Portuguese’s role as the lingua franca of the archipelago alongside Malay; and many family names in eastern Indonesia such as da Costa, Dias, de Fretes, Gonsalves, etc. The most significant impacts of the Portuguese arrival were the disruption and disorganisation of the trade network mostly as a result of their conquest of Malacca, and the first significant plantings of Christianity in Indonesia. There have continued to be Christian communities in eastern Indonesia through to the present, which has contributed to a sense of shared interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese.
Dutch East-India Company
n 1602, the Dutch parliament awarded the VOC a monopoly on trade and colonial activities in the region at a time before the company controlled any territory in Java. In 1619, the VOC conquered the West Javan city of Jayakarta, where they founded the city of Batavia (present-day Jakarta). The VOC became deeply involved in the internal politics of Java in this period, and fought in a number of wars involving the leaders of Mataram and Banten (Bantam).
The Dutch followed the Portuguese aspirations, courage, brutality and strategies but brought better organisation, weapons, ships, and superior financial backing. Although they failed to gain complete control of the Indonesian spice trade, they had much more success than the previous Portuguese efforts. They exploited the factionalisation of the small kingdoms in Java that had replaced Majapahit, establishing a permanent foothold in Java, from which grew a land-based colonial empire which became one of the world's richest colonial possessions.
Dutch state rule
After the VOC was dissolved in 1800 following bankruptcy, and after a short British rule under Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Dutch state took over the VOC possessions in 1816. A Javanese uprising was crushed in the Java War of 1825-1830. After 1830 a system of forced cultivations and indentured labour was introduced on Java, the Cultivation System (in Dutch: cultuurstelsel). This system brought the Dutch and their Indonesian collaborators enormous wealth. The cultivation system tied peasants to their land, forcing them to work in government-owned plantations for 60 days of the year. The system was abolished in a more liberal period after 1870. In 1901 the Dutch adopted what they called the Ethical Policy, which included somewhat increased investment in indigenous education, and modest political reforms.
For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over its territories in the Indonesian archipelago was tenuous. It was only in the early 20th century, three centuries after the first Dutch trading post, that the full extent of the colonial territory was established and direct colonial rule exerted across what would become the boundaries of the modern Indonesian state. Portuguese Timor, now East Timor, remained under Portuguese rule until 1975 when it was invaded by Indonesia. The Indonesian government declared the territory an Indonesian province but relinquished it in 1999.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indonesia ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demak_Sultanate
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