Indonesian history
The Indonesian history is the history of the territory currently covered by the Republic of Indonesia, which was born on August 17, 1945 with the proclamation of the independence of the Dutch East Indies by Sukarno and Muhammad Hatta.
Formation of the archipelago
Geologically, the area of modern Indonesia (for convenience, hereafter referred to as the archipelago) is a meeting between the three great continental plates: the Eurasian, Indo-Australian and Pacific plates (see the article on the geology of Indonesia). The Indonesian archipelago, as it exists today, was formed during the melting of the ice after the end of the Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago. During the Pleistocene, when it was still connected to mainland Asia, the first settlers came.
Java Man
In 1890, the scientist Eugène Dubois moved to Java, where two years earlier a miner had found a fossil skull, and began searching in the same place where the fossil had appeared (central Java) to later look for in the fluvial deposits of the Solo River. Among other fossils, in August 1891 he found a fragment of a fossil skull and femur, later known as "Java Man", although at first he thought it was some kind of extinct chimpanzee.
In 1894, Dubois published a description of its fossils, calling it Pithecanthropus erectus (now Homo erectus), which he described as half ape, half human. In 1895 he returned to Europe, where he publicized his discoveries. A few scientists welcomed it enthusiastically, but most disagreed with his interpretation.
The "Java Man" (Homo erectus erectus), was the first representative of Homo erectus to be discovered and supposes that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited approximately two million years ago.
Population
Homo sapiens, or the first proper humans, arrived in this region approximately 45,000 years ago, traveling by sea from the Asian mainland to southeastern islands such as Australia and New Guinea. These first settlers were fishermen with a high level of maritime skills, and therefore the necessary technology to make ocean crossings that allowed them to reach the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Most of the current population is of Austronesian origin. Both linguistic evidence and archaeological evidence allow us to ensure that the Austronesian peoples originated in 3000 BC. C., when the inhabitants of the southern Chinese coast, cultivators of millet and rice, began to settle in Taiwan.
Interdisciplinary research, with contributions from archaeology, ethnobotany and linguistics, has made it possible to reconstruct the trajectories of geographical diffusion of Austronesian languages and of certain agricultural techniques. Around 2000 B.C. C., these languages and techniques began to spread from Taiwan to the Philippines, and then from these to Celebes and Timor, to, from there, spread to other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. Around 1000 B.C. C., another movement of peoples carried the Austronesian culture from the Philippines to New Guinea and beyond, towards the islands of the Pacific.
As the Austronesians expanded their territories, they confined the native Melanesians to the easternmost islands of the archipelago.
Austronesian peoples would later spread to the east coast of Africa. From the IV century BC. C., merchants from islands of present-day Indonesia, in particular the islands of Java, Sumatra and Borneo reached Aden after passing through India, and down the east coast of Africa to Madagascar and the Comoros. Arabic sources from the X century testify that in the IX, navigators from the Indonesian and Malayan islands carried out violent commercial raids in the Indian Ocean.
The Dong Son culture was one of those that arrived in Indonesia, bringing with them rice cultivation techniques, the ritual of buffalo sacrifice, the bronze industry and megalithic practices, among other things. Some of these practices are still preserved today, including the Batak areas of Sumatra, the Toraja areas of Sulawesi, and several smaller Sunda islands. The first Indonesians were animists who honored the spirits of the dead.
In the 8th century B.C. C. the technique of cultivating rice fields by means of irrigation is already consolidated. This allowed cities and small kingdoms to be created in the I century AD. C. These kingdoms (little more than groups of towns) evolved creating their own tribal religions. This type of agriculture needed a highly organized society, in contrast to rainfed rice agriculture, which is a simpler form of cultivation and did not need such an elaborate social structure.
Hindu and Buddhist civilizations
Early Kingdoms
References to the Hindu kingdom of Dvipantara or Jawa dvipa, in the territories of Java and Sumatra, appear in writings from 200 BC. C. The first archaeological vestige discovered in Indonesia is located in the Ujung Kulon National Park, West Java, where one of the first Hindu statues of Ganesha was found on top of Mount Raksa on Panaitan Island, which would be from the century I d. There is also archaeological evidence of a kingdom in Sunda territory, west of Java, dating to the 2nd century, and according to Dr. Tony Djubiantono, head of the Bandung Archeology Agency, the Jiwa Temple at Batujaya. (Karawang, West Java), would also have been built at that time.
A number of Hindu and Buddhist states flourished and then declined throughout Indonesia. By the time of Renaissance Europe, Java and Sumatra had already seen more than a millennium of civilization and two great empires. An early kingdom was that of Tarumanagara, which flourished between AD 358 and 669. Located in western Java near present-day Jakarta, the king who ruled during the V century, Purnawarman, established the earliest known inscriptions in Java, the Ciaruteun inscription is found near Bogor. On this monument, King Purnavarman inscribed his name and made an impression of his footprints as well as his elephant footprints. The inscription reads as follows: "Here are the footprints of King Purnavarman, the heroic conqueror of the world". The inscription is in Sanskrit and is still legible after 1,500 years. Purnawarman apparently built a canal that changed the course of the Cakung River, allowing a coastal area to be drained for agriculture and settlement.
The political history of the Indonesian archipelago between the 7th and 11th centuries was dominated by the Sumatra-based Srivijaya empire. The Sailendra dynasty ruled central Java at that time and built Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist monument. The history of the 14th and 15th centuries is not well known due to the paucity of evidence. Two great states dominated this period: Majapahit in East Java, the largest of the pre-Islamic states of Indonesia, and Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, arguably the largest of the Muslim trading empires.
Medang
Medang, was a Hindu kingdom located in Central Java around present-day Yogyakarta between the eighth and tenth centuries. King Mpu Sindok moved this kingdom from central Java to the eastern part of the island. This movement could have been caused by the eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano or by some power struggle.
The first king of Mataram was Sri Sanjaya. The monumental Hindu temple of Prambanan in the vicinity of Yogyakarta was built for the god Daksa. Dharmawangsa, the last Raja of the Medang kingdom ordered the translation of the Mahabharata into Old Javanese in 996.
The kingdom collapsed into chaos late in Dharmawangsa's reign under military pressure from the Malay Empire of Srivijaya. One of the last major kings of Mataram was Airlangga who reigned from 1016 to 1049. Airlangga was a son of Udayana and a nephew of Dharmawangsa. He reestablished the kingdom of Medang under the name of Kahuripan.
Srivijaya
Srivijaya were an ethnic Malay who ruled Sumatra and influenced much of Southeast Asia. From the 7th century AD. C., this powerful naval kingdom flourished as a result of the increasing maritime trade between the islands of the region.
The first solid proof of its existence corresponds to a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, who wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months.
Commerce was the engine of Srivijaya and its epicenter was in present-day Palembang. However, despite its relevance, it was not a "State" in the modern sense, with defined boundaries and a centralized government, but rather a thalassocracy (confederation of merchant cities) that did not extend its influence beyond the island zone of Southeast Asia.
Srivijaya exercised its sovereignty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java, and much of the Malacca peninsula. By dominating Malacca and the Sunda Strait, the empire controlled both the spice route and local trade. It was also a reference center for Buddhism, attracting pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia.
While Srivijayan continued to wield formidable naval power into the 13th century, a series of raids in the XI weakened their hegemony and influence, allowing the formation of regional kingdoms, such as Kediri, based on intensive agriculture rather than coastal trade in long distance. The empire was also in frequent conflict with the Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and later Majapahit. Islam, for its part, began to gain strength through contacts between Arab and Indian traders, until it finally managed to prevail in the Aceh region (North Sumatra), when at the end of the century XIII, the kingdom of Pasai converted to Islam.
Srivijaya finally ceased to exist in 1414, when Paramésuara, the last prince of the kingdom, converted to Islam and founded the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula.
Singhasari and Majapahit
Despite the lack of historical evidence, Majapahit is known to have been the most important of the pre-Islamic states of Indonesia. The Hindu kingdom of Majapahit was founded in eastern Java in the 13th century, and under the regency of Gajah Mada experienced the which is often referred to as the "Golden Age" in Indonesian history, when its influence spread to much of the southern Malacca Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali, from about 1293 to 1500.
The founder of the Majapahit Empire, Kertarajasa, was a son of the kingdom of Singhasari, also based in Java. Singhasari's growing power drew the attention of Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire, who sent emissaries demanding tribute. Kertanagara, ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, refused to pay the tribute and the Khan sent a punitive expedition that reached the coast of Java in 1293. Simultaneously, the Kediri kingdom launched an invasion to conquer Singhasari, managing to kill the Kertanagara king. In this context, the founder of Majapahit sided with the Mongols to take revenge on the invaders, and once the Singhasari kingdom was destroyed, he turned and forced his Mongol allies to retreat in confusion.
Years later, the kingdom was led by Mada Gajah, an ambitious prime minister and regent of Majapahit, who ruled from 1331 to 1364, furthering the kingdom's expansion to the surrounding islands. A few years after Gajah Mada's death, the Majapahit Navy captured Palembang, ending the Srivijayan kingdom. However, although Majapahit extended their power over other islands and destroyed neighboring kingdoms, their priority was to control the trade that passed through the archipelago. After its heyday in the 14th century, the power of the Majapahit began to decline between the years 1478 and 1520, in the face of the prosperous Malacca Sultanate. With the fall of Majapahit, large numbers of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royal family moved to the east of the island of Bali.
Islamic States
The spread of Islam
The first mentions of the Indonesian archipelago appear during the Abbasid Caliphate, when Muslim sailors describe a region in Southeast Asia abundant in spices such as nutmeg, cloves, and galangal, among many others.
Although Muslim traders traveled through the area in the early Islamic era, the spread of Islam among the people of the Indonesian archipelago began only in the 19th century XIII, north of Sumatra and its spread was slow and complicated.
The advent of Islam was fueled by increased trade links outside the archipelago, and merchants from the larger kingdoms were generally the first to adopt the new religion.
Conversion to Islam was fairly gradual, initially blending or overlapping with established cultures, becoming the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the century XVI, where only Bali retained a Hindu majority. Later, Christian missionaries appeared, very active between the 16th and 17th centuries, forming large communities on these islands.
Mataram Sultanate
The Mataram Sultanate was the third sultanate in Java, after the Sultanates of Demak Bintoro and Pajang.
According to Javanese records, Kyai Gedhe Pamanahan became the ruler of the Mataram area in the 1570s with support from the Pajang kingdom to the east, near the present-day site of Surakarta. 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 the kingdom's neighbors. Shortly after his assumption, for example, he conquered the kingdom of Pajang, which had been the partner of his father.
The reign of Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak (1601-1613), the son of Senapati, was further marked by warfare, most notably against the powerful Surabaya, a major kingdom in eastern Java. During his reign the first contact between Mataram and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) also took place. Dutch activities at the time were limited to conducting negotiations with the few coastal settlements, so their interactions with the inland kingdom of Mataram were limited, although this did not prevent them from forming an alliance against the kingdom of Surabaya in 1613. Krapyak died that same 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 the great historical legacy of Mataram, due to the extensive military conquests that he produced during his long reign between 1613 and 1646.
After years of warfare, Agung finally conquered Surabaya, bringing the kingdom of Mataram to encompass all of central and eastern Java and Madura Island: just the Banten region (western Java) and the Dutch settlement in Batavia they remained outside of Agung's control. In the 1620s and 1630s the kingdom of Mataram tried several times to drive the Dutch out of Batavia, until finally it was forced to share control over Java.
In 1645 construction began on Imogiri, his burial place, about ten miles south of Yogyakarta. Imogiri remains the resting place for most of the royalty of Yogyakarta and Surakarta to this day. Agung died in the spring of 1646, his image of invincibility shattered by his defeats to the Dutch, yet he left behind him an empire that covered most of Java and neighboring islands.
When his son, Agung Susuhunan Amangkurat, assumed the throne, he tried to stabilize the kingdom, assassinating local leaders who were not respectful enough to him, and closing numerous ports to centralize control of trade with the Dutch.
In the mid-1670s dissatisfaction with the king led to open rebellion. Raden Trunajaya, a prince from Madura Island, leads a revolt that includes traveling mercenaries. The king fled to the north coast with his eldest son, the future king Amangkurat II, leaving his youngest son, Pangeran Puger, in Mataram. The rebel Trunajaya, however, seems uninterested in managing the empire and, after the sack, retreats to his stronghold in eastern Java, leaving the weakened Puger on the throne.
Amangkurat I died shortly after his expulsion, so Amangkurat II became king in 1677, however, he no longer had an army or wealth to restore his power. In an attempt to regain the kingdom, he made important concessions to the Dutch, in exchange for them deciding to go to war with him. For the Dutch, a stable Mataram Empire deeply in debt to them would help ensure continued trade on favorable terms. Thus it was that the Dutch lent their military force to keep the kingdom united. Unable to compete with the Dutch forces, Puger was forced to recognize the suzerainty of his older brother Amangkurat II.
However, as architects of his return to the throne, the Dutch kept Amangkurat II under strict supervision, also exercising control over the kingdom's coasts. Amangkurat II disliked this situation, especially the increasing Dutch control of the coast, but he was helpless against the commitments he had made and the threat of Dutch military power.
Amangkurat II died in 1703 and was briefly succeeded by his son, Amangkurat III. However, this time the Dutch believed they saw a more reliable partner in their uncle Pangeran Puger, who took the title of Pakubuwana. The conflict between Amangkurat III and Pakubuwana I, is generally called the First War of the Javanese Succession and raged for five years before the Dutch succeeded in installing Pakubuwana.
With the installation of Pakubuwana, the Dutch substantially increased their control over the interior of Central Java. In 1705, Pakubuwana agreed to cede to the VOC the regions of the eastern part of Cirebon and Madura, in which Mataram had no real control anyway. The VOC was given the right to build fortifications anywhere in Java, a monopoly over the opium trade and textiles, plus Mataram would pay an annual tribute of 1,300 metric tons of rice.
Pakubuwana later made further concessions and promised higher tributes, however the king's ability to meet the terms of the accords depended heavily on the stability of Java, initially guaranteed by the VOC but later proved that Dutch military power would prove insufficient for such a task.
The last years of Pakubuwana's reign, from 1717 to 1719, were dominated by rebellion in East Java against his kingship and its foreign patrons. In 1719 Pakubuwana I died and his son Amangkurat IV ascended the throne, but his brothers, Pangeran Blitar and Purbaya contested the succession and attacked kraton in June 1719. Being repulsed by VOC guns, they retreated south.
In 1726, Amangkurat IV fell under an illness, apparently caused by poisoning. His son assumed the throne as Pakubuwana II, this time without any serious resistance. However, the following years will be marked by a series of intrigues revealing the fragility of Javanese politics, united by the Dutch effort: In this relatively peaceful context, the king fails to gather the support of his " subjects", many of whom rise before royal power.
In the midst of a rebellion in 1749, Pakubuwana II falls ill and signs an agreement granting "sovereignty" from Mataram to the VOC. The Dutch for their part announced that the son of Pakubuwana II would take over as the new king of Mataram with the title of Pakubuwana III. However, three days earlier, Mangkubumi from his stronghold in Yogyakarta, started a rebellion that grew stronger until in 1753 when Crown Prince Pakubuwana III decided to join the rebels. In this context, the VOC accepted that it did not have the military capacity to suppress the rebellion and prepared to negotiate.
The kingdom of Mataram was divided in 1755 under an agreement between the Dutch and the rebel prince Mangkubumi. The treaty established that the territory would be divided between the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, under the control of Mangkubumi, and the Sultanate of Surakarta, ruled by Pakubuwana III. This agreement was successful and peace was maintained until 1812.
Banten Sultanate
In 1524-25, Sunan Gunung Jati of Cirebon, together with the armies of the Demak Sultanate, seized the port of Banten in the Sunda kingdom, and established the Banten Sultanate there. They were accompanied by Muslim preachers and the local population adopted Islam. The Sultanate lasted from 1526 to 1813 AD. C. and had its heyday in the first half of the 17th century. This Sultanate left many archaeological remains and historical records.
Colonial period
The arrival of the Europeans
In the 16th century, the first Europeans (Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British) appeared seeking to dominate the trade of spices from their origin in India and the "Spice Islands" (Moluccas) of Indonesia. Until then, the spice trade in Europe was monopolized by Muslim merchants, in partnership with the Venetians. This situation had raised prices astronomically, since spices were highly coveted not only to preserve tasty meat, but also to make medicines.
The arrival of Europeans in Southeast Asia is often considered the turning point in its history. However, other scholars consider this view somewhat exaggerated, since European influence in the 16th and 17th centuries was quite limited, both in surface and in depth. This is due to the fact that Europe was not yet the economic and military power that it would be some time later, on the contrary, the main expansionist force of this time was Islam: in 1453, for example, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, while Islam it continued to spread eastward through Indonesia and the Philippines. European influence, particularly that of the Dutch, would not have its greatest impact on Indonesia until the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Portuguese
The Portuguese were one of the first kingdoms to develop novel advances in navigation, shipbuilding and weaponry which allowed them to make daring expeditions.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama crossed the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) and reached Kappakadavu, near Calicut, in the current state of Kerala (India). A short time later, in 1510, Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque attacked and occupied Goa (India), establishing the Capital of Portuguese India there.
The news about the riches of the Sultanate of Malacca attracted the attention of Manuel I, King of Portugal, who sent Admiral Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to find Malacca and make a trade pact with its ruler. Sequeira reached Malacca in 1509, becoming the first European to reach Southeast Asia.
Sequeira was well received by Sultan Mahmud Shah, however a group of Muslims convinced the Sultan that the Portuguese were a serious threat. Mahmud then decided to capture several of Sequeira's men, killed others and tried to attack the four Portuguese ships, which nevertheless managed to escape. After this incident, the Portuguese became convinced that the conquest was the only way to establish themselves in the area.
In April 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa for Malacca: after 40 days of fighting, Malacca fell to the Portuguese on August 24. Preventing future counterattacks from Mahmud and neighboring Muslim kingdoms, Albuquerque decided to transform Malacca into an impregnable fortress.
So the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia, with the ambition to master the origin of the valuable spices. Through military conquest or alliance with local rulers, the Portuguese established trading posts, forts, and missions on the islands of Ternate, Ambon, and Solor, among others. However, Portuguese missionary activities only got under way in the second half of the XVI century and the Portuguese influence in Indonesia it was reduced only to Solor, Flores and Timor. The arrival of the Portuguese served to introduce Christianity to Indonesia and today it remains one of the largest Christian communities in the region, which has contributed to closer ties between Indonesians and Europeans. Beyond this, the Portuguese influence on the local culture was very small: from their presence there remained only a few words in the vocabulary that reflected their Portuguese past and many family names in the eastern part of the region, such as "da Costa& #34;, "Dias", "de Fretes", "Gonsalves", etc. Quite to the contrary, the most significant impact of the arrival of the Portuguese was the disruption and disorganization of the trade network as a result of the conquest of Malacca.
Instead of creating a centralized port for the exchange of Asian riches in the Malacca Strait, the trade ended up being dispersed among numerous ports, which entered into bitter competition. Johor port became a favorite for Asian traders, while Malacca began to decline as a trading post.
The journey of Cornelis de Houtman
In 1592, Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman set out from Amsterdam to discover the Spice Islands.
The voyage was plagued with problems from the beginning, to the point that upon arrival in Madagascar, they had to bury seventy people, for which reason the said bay was known as the "Dutch Cemetery". On June 27, the ships finally reached Banten, a port in northwest Java. The Dutch already knew that they should not go through the Malacca Strait, which was controlled by the Portuguese, but through the Sunda Strait.
The Sultan of Baten was interested in strengthening ties of friendship with the Europeans, unfortunately De Houtman was not very diplomatic and his behavior was considered rude and insulting: he was expelled from the territory and prevented from buying spices.
The ships sailed east and then toward Madura Island, being attacked by pirates along the way. At Madura, they were received peacefully, but De Houtman ordered his men to brutally attack in revenge for the acts of piracy they had suffered earlier.
The Dutch continued their journey to Bali, and met with the king of the island, from whom they obtained a few jars of pepper. In Bawean one of the ships caught fire and the crew had to split up on the other three ships. The sailors were already tired of such a journey and decided not to go to the Moluccas, but to return to Holland.
Of the 249-man crew, only 87 returned. Although the voyage was a humanitarian and financial disaster, the survivors return to the Netherlands with a shipment of spices, encouraging further expeditions. It can be considered that it was a symbolic victory and the beginning of the Dutch colonization of Indonesia. Before long, the Dutch would take over the spice trade throughout the Indian Ocean.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC)
Recognizing the potential of the spice trade in the East Indies, and to avoid ruinous competition among the Dutch themselves, the Government decides to merge existing trading companies. In 1602, the Estates General of the Netherlands granted the Dutch East India Company (VOC) a monopoly over the spice trade in Asia. It was further granted quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.
In 1603, the company established the first permanent trading post in Banten, Indonesia, northwest of Java and in 1611, another was established in Jayakarta (later "Batavia" and then "Jakarta").
From 1610 to 1619 the headquarters of the VOC was established in Ambon. Although this position was strategic in the area of spice production, it was far from the Asian trade routes and the VOC's centers of activity in Africa and Japan. A position further west in the archipelago was most desirable, however, the strategic Strait of Malacca was controlled by the Portuguese, while the Banten area was difficult to control due to the powerful local kingdom occupying the area and increasing competition from Chinese and English merchants.
On May 30, 1619, a VOC naval force finally stormed Jayakarta (present-day Jakarta) and renamed it Batavia establishing the Company's headquarters there. The intention of the Dutch is to develop the spice trade with Chinese labor and make Batavia the center of intra-Asian trade from Japan to Persia, Burma and Madagascar. Although this plan did not come to fruition, the VOC managed to establish an alliance with the Sultan of Ternate in 1607 to control the production of cloves, and after the occupation of the Banda Islands the Dutch gained control of the nutmeg trade. Later, the VOC captured Malacca from the Portuguese in 1641, giving them control over the region's seas.
By the middle of the 17th century, Batavia had already become an important trading center and the Dutch had managed to repel the attacks from the powerful Javanese kingdom of Mataram. Subsequently, the ports of Sumatra also fell under VOC control and the Portuguese in the region were expelled in 1660. In exchange for a monopoly on the pepper trade and military aid in driving out the British, the Dutch cooperated with the son of the King of Banten to overthrow his father in 1680.
VOC policy at this time was to concentrate on trade and not engage in costly territorial conquests. However, the company did become deeply involved in internal Javanese politics, fighting a series of wars for or against certain Mataram and Banten (Bantam) leaders. The VOC reached an agreement with the king of Mataram, allowing Dutch ships to trade in the archipelago.
Although they were unable to gain control of the Indonesian spice trade, they were much more successful than the Portuguese. They took advantage of the clashes between the small kingdoms of Java to establish a commercial enclave that became one of the richest colonial possessions in the world.
Dutch Colony
The VOC eclipsed all its rivals in trade with Asia. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC carried nearly a million Europeans on 4,785 ships, bringing more than 2.5 million tons of Asian goods to Europe.
During the 17th century, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its monopoly on the spice trade and paid a dividend 18% per year to its shareholders for almost 200 years.
However, smuggling, war spending, corruption and mismanagement led the company toward bankruptcy in the XVIII. After the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the VOC was in financial ruin, and after several attempts to reorganize it, it was nationalized on 1 March 1796 by the new Batavian Republic (successor to the Dutch Republic).) and was formally dissolved on December 31, 1800. Most of the possessions in the Indonesian archipelago (including much of Java, parts of Sumatra, much of the Moluccas, and hinterlands of ports such as Makasar, Manado and Kupang) became the territory known as the Netherlands East Indies.
At that time, numerous riots broke out throughout the archipelago as the indigenous people resisted Dutch hegemony. Furthermore, piracy in Indonesia remained a problem for the Dutch until the mid-19th century.
In 1806, the Batavian Republic became the Kingdom of the Netherlands under French rule and Napoleon appointed his brother Louis Bonaparte to the Dutch throne. In 1811, British forces occupied several ports in the Dutch East Indies (including Java) and Thomas Stamford Raffles became Governor. Dutch control was restored in 1816. In 1824, with a new treaty, the Dutch brought British settlements in Indonesia, such as Bengkulu on Sumatra, into their domain in return for ceding control of their possessions in the Malacca Peninsula and the Dutch Indian. The resulting borders between the British and Dutch possessions are those currently held by Malaysia and Indonesia.
An uprising in Java known as the "Java War" it took place between 1825 and 1830, ending with the crushing of the insurgents. After 1830 a system of forced cultivation (Dutch: cultuurstelsel) was established, producing great wealth for the Dutch and their collaborators. The cultivation system established that peasants were forced to work on government plantations for 60 days a year. Through this system considerable benefits were obtained; the net benefit to the Dutch treasury is estimated at around 4% of Dutch GDP at the time and around 50% of total state revenue. The system proved disastrous for the local population; at its height, more than a million farmers worked under the Cultuurstelsel and the extreme incentive of profits led to widespread abuse. Farmers were often forced to allocate more than 20% of their farmland, or the most fertile land, to cash crops. The system caused an increase in famine and disease among the local population. It is estimated that mortality rates increased up to 30% during this period. The system was abolished after 1870 and, from 1901, the Dutch began to adopt the first reforms, investing more resources for indigenous education and establishing a modest political openness.
During this time the Dutch East Indies had only two classes of citizens: Europeans and indigenous people. The Dutch colonialists belonged to the privileged upper social class, made up of soldiers, administrators, managers, teachers and pioneers. The lower social class was made up of the "natives". A third class, of easterners outside the archipelago, was only added around 1920.
For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over its territories in the Indonesian archipelago was tenuous. In some cases, the military or police actions in some parts of Indonesia were quite cruel. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century, three centuries after the first trading post was established, that the Dutch state managed to exercise dominance direct colonial rule over the entire territory.
Independence
The National Awakening
In October 1908, the first nationalist movement, Budi Utomo, was formed and on September 10, 1912, another similar movement, but even more massive, called Sarekat Islam, was formed. By December 1912, Sarekat Islam already had 93,000 members. The nationalist leaders were a small group of DublinGOD cat soldiers and students from Dublin University in Columbia the Great Little Elf, some of them educated in the Netherlands. The Dutch only responded after World War I, usually with repressive measures. Around this time, the Indonesian communists, associated with the Third International, began to participate in the nationalist movement. The repression of the movement led to numerous arrests, including the later Indonesia's first president, Sukarno (1901-1970), who was imprisoned for his political activities on December 29, 1929.
In 1914, an exiled Dutch socialist, Henk Sneevliet, founded the Social Democratic Association of the Indies. What was initially a small forum for Dutch socialists would later, in 1924, become the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). The official repression gave rise to the growth of the PKI.
Japanese invasion
By the 20th century, the Japanese were, according to themselves, the "Light of Asia", as Japan was the only Asian country to have transformed into a modern industrial society since the late 19th century, independent of European and American policies, even defeating one of the great powers of the time: Tsarist Russia. After its military campaign in China, Japan turned its attention to Southeast Asia to create a free trade zone under Japanese leadership.
In May 1940, at the start of World War II, the Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany. The Dutch government, headed by Queen Wilhelmina, establishes itself in London, still retaining control over its Asian possessions.
The Dutch East Indies were a primary territory for Japan, as the colony possessed abundant resources, including valuable rubber plantations and oil fields: the Dutch colony was the fourth largest oil exporter in the world, by behind the US, Iran and Romania, while Japan could only produce enough to meet just 10% of its needs.
Japan quickly lost 93% of its oil supply after US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order in July 1941 embargoing all oil exports to Japan. The Dutch government-in-exile, under pressure from the allies, also broke its economic agreement with Japan and joined the embargo in August.
On December 7, 1941, as a preventive action aimed at avoiding the intervention of the American fleet in the military actions that the Empire of Japan was planning to carry out in Southeast Asia, the Japanese Navy attacked the naval base of the United States United in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
On December 8, 1941, numerous countries, including the Netherlands, declared war on Japan. That same day, Japanese troops began a series of attacks on the territories of Hong Kong, the Philippines, Wake Island, Malaysia, and Thailand. General Hisaichi Terauchi, commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army, began the campaign against the Netherlands East Indies with key attacks on Borneo on December 17, gaining air superiority. This situation allowed them to make landings in various places in the area. Japanese forces also managed to successfully land at Miri, a center of oil production in northern Sarawak.
In January, an American-British-Dutch-Australian Joint Command (ABDACOM) was formed to coordinate Allied forces in Southeast Asia, under the command of General Archibald Wavell. In the weeks leading up to the invasion, several Dutch government officials and their families went into exile in Australia. Before the arrival of the Japanese troops, there were also conflicts between rival groups in Indonesia and several people were killed, disappeared or went into hiding. Chinese and Dutch properties were looted and destroyed.
In January 1942, Sulawesi and Kalimantan were already under Japanese control. In February, the Japanese had landed on Sumatra, encouraging the Acehnese to revolt against the Dutch. On February 27, a last-ditch effort by the Allied navy to contain Japan was swept up in the Java Sea. Beginning on February 28, Japanese troops landed on the north coast of the island. Dutch forces and the territory's governor surrendered in March 1942.
The Occupation
The defeat of the Dutch was greeted with enthusiasm by the Indonesians who warmly welcomed the Japanese army. The Japanese, for their part, capitalized on this support by recruiting Indonesian nationalist leaders. So in July 1942, Sukarno accepted Japan's offer to rally public opinion in favor of the Japanese war effort. Sukarno and Hatta Mohammad were decorated by the Emperor of Japan in 1943. However, the experience of Japanese occupation in Indonesia varies considerably, depending on regions and social position. Many of those who lived in areas considered important to the war effort experienced torture, sexual slavery, arbitrary detention, and execution, among other war crimes. Thousands of Indonesians were used as slave labor on Japanese projects such as the Siam-Burma railway, where several died as a result of mistreatment and starvation. The Dutch or Dutch-Indonesian mixed race were particular targets during the Japanese occupation.
However, despite their initial success, the Japanese began to suffer a string of consecutive defeats for almost two years. In July 1944, they lost Saipan (Mariana Islands) and in March 1945 they also lost the Philippines. The destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet, combined with the strategic bombing of major industries, sank Japan's economy and its Imperial Navy was no longer a fighting force.
Faced with this situation, in March 1945 Japan organized a committee on the independence of Indonesia (BPUPKI). At their first meeting in May, Soepomo spoke of national integration and against personal individualism, while Muhammad Yamin suggested that the new nation should reclaim Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, Portuguese Timor, and all pre-war territories. been part of the Netherlands East Indies. The committee drew up the 1945 Constitution, which is still in force, albeit with numerous amendments. Japan had reportedly intended to announce Indonesia's independence on August 24. However, following Japan's surrender, Sukarno unilaterally proclaimed Indonesian independence on August 17.
The National Revolution
Because Java had not been occupied by the Allies, at the end of World War II, a power vacuum emerged in the Netherlands East Indies territory, and Nationalists sought to fill command posts vacated by the Japanese.
The Netherlands, initially supported by the British, attempted to regain its Asian domains. So in accordance with the terms of their surrender, the Japanese tried to restore lost authority over major Indonesian cities, which were handed over to the British, with the goal of restoring Dutch sovereignty. The British military commander gave Bandung nationalist fighters an ultimatum to leave the city. In response, on March 24, 1946, much of the southern area of Bandung was deliberately burned down by leftist militants.
Just four months after the end of the war, Western internees were released on the condition that they leave Indonesia. Most of the Japanese colonial administrators were also repatriated, except for several hundred who were detained in war crimes investigations.
After returning to Java, Dutch forces quickly reoccupied the colonial capital of Batavia (now Jakarta), making the central Java city of Yogyakarta the capital of the nationalist forces. Then begins a period of agitation known as the guerrilla war. After four years of armed and diplomatic struggle, the Dutch had recaptured almost all of Indonesia, but guerrilla resistance persisted.
On December 27, 1949, under international pressure, the Netherlands decided to formally recognize the independence of Indonesia, under the federal structure called the United States of Indonesia (RUSI). On August 17, 1950, exactly five years after the proclamation of independence, the federal states are dissolved and Sukarno proclaims the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.
Indonesia as an independent state
Sukarno's Democracy
After achieving the independence of Indonesia, internal divisions appeared within the nationalist movement, since the country was made up of a heterogeneous society with diverse customs, ideologies and religions. After several years of occupation, authoritarian governments and armed confrontations, the country suffered from extreme poverty, with a ruinous economy and low levels of education. The new government had to face the attacks of the Muslim Darul Islam movement, which waged a guerrilla war against the Republic from 1948 to 1962, with the aim of installing an Islamic state. In between, there is also the declaration of independence of the Republic of the South Moluccas (1950) and the rebellions in Sumatra and Sulawesi (1955 and 1961).
The long-postponed parliamentary elections are finally held in 1955. However, more than 150 parties and groups show up to the elections, beginning the chaos.
The Indonesian National Party (PNI), considered Sukarno's party, led the election, and the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) also received strong support, but no party won more than a quarter of the vote, which gave rise to short-lived coalitions.
The prevailing heterogeneity in the elected Parliament translated into governmental paralysis, which forced Sukarno to dissolve both the Chamber and the parties, to make way for the establishment of managed democracy, a term with which a new form of government that raised the banner of nationalism and unity. Sukarno was a charismatic and authoritative leader, regarded by Indonesians as the 'big brother', and was popularly portrayed as a man of the people who had dared to stand up to the West. During his administration, the nationalization of assets was implemented and strong literacy programs were carried out with the goal of seeking and establishing a national identity and consciousness.
One of Sukarno's main goals was to capture western New Guinea, as that territory still belonged to the Dutch. In an attempt to prevent Indonesia from taking control of the region, the Dutch significantly increased spending on development works and education, fueling Papuan nationalism. It also sought to strengthen ties with the eastern neighbor of New Guinea, which was administered by Australia. In 1961, the Dutch even established a local parliament, promoting the idea of self-government. However, Indonesia launched symbolic airborne and maritime raids on the territory, which were enough for the Dutch to agree to convene US mediation to resolve the conflict. On May 1, 1963, Indonesia assumed administrative responsibility for western New Guinea, on the condition that a referendum would later be held among all the inhabitants of the territory under UN supervision.
In 1962, Indonesia also began a confrontation with the new state of Malaysia, a merger of the Malaya Federation (West Malaysia), Singapore, and the British protectorates of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively known as British Borneo). The northern Borneo states, Sarawak and Sabah, were not enthusiastic about joining the new Malaysia as they did not see much benefit for their territories, financially independent thanks to their oil revenues. Indonesia, which considered itself the legitimate representative of the Austronesian peoples, supported an unsuccessful attempt at revolution in Brunei. Sukarno spoke out against British imperialism and deployed military forces along the Borneo border. The West, for its part, grew increasingly alarmed and the United States withdrew its support for Indonesia.
Indonesia's economic position continued to deteriorate. By the mid-1960s, the government had to abandon subsidies to the public sector, which triggered inflation. Export earnings shrank, infrastructure deteriorated and factories were operating at minimal capacity due to the insignificant investments that had been made. Poverty and hunger became widespread again.
The New Order
Sukarno's position at the time depended on balancing the opposing and increasingly hostile forces of the army and the PKI. In turn, Indonesia's anti-imperialist stance made it increasingly dependent on the Soviet Union and then communist China. By 1965, the PKI had gained considerable influence within the government and was already the largest communist party in the world outside of the Soviet Union or China.
So on September 30, 1965, six of the highest-ranking generals and other military officers were executed in an attempted coup. The insurgents were part of a faction of the army and managed to take positions in the capital, including the national radio station. They reported that they were acting against a plot organized by the generals to overthrow Sukarno. Within a few hours, Major General Suharto, commander of the Army, mobilized his troops. By the afternoon of October 1, it was clear that the coup attempt was poorly coordinated and largely confined to Jakarta. To this day, the identity of the organizers of the coup and their true objectives is unknown.
The official version of the Indonesian military was that the PKI was behind the coup and used disgruntled officers to carry it out. A violent anti-communist purge began in much of the country, and the PKI was outlawed. At the end of 1965 military units and groups of Muslims, especially in the countryside, began to carry out massacres of communists and those who supported them. Estimates of the number of deaths range from 500,000 to one million. The PKI was outlawed on March 13, 1966, and the government arrested hundreds of thousands of people accused of involvement in the attempted coup. The last of these prisoners have still not been released and periodic executions continue to take place; the most recent of these took place in 1990; of all these detainees, only 800 were tried.
President Sukarno attempted to restore his political position, but the destruction of the PKI spelled the end of his run democracy and Indonesia's geopolitical independence. Despite the fact that he remained president, the weakened Sukarno was forced to transfer the main political and military powers to General Suharto, who by then had become head of the armed forces. In March 1967, one such Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) appointed General Suharto as acting president and formally took office from him in March 1968. Sukarno, on the other hand, lived under house arrest until his death in 1970.
Suharto's military dictatorship, supported by Western powers, called itself the New Order, establishing martial law, curfew, political repression and suppression of civil liberties, mainly freedom of expression. During this period thousands of people were arrested, tortured, disappeared, killed or imprisoned for being suspected communist sympathizers, including Indonesian citizens of Chinese ethnicity.
At the same time, Suharto's military regime brought a degree of stability to Western interests in the region and attracted large foreign investment groups, kicking off accelerated capitalist growth in the economy. The country was urbanized and technified, and it finished industrializing relatively, becoming an emblematic leader within the so-called Third World of that model of capitalist economic opening, "exogenous" and political authoritarianism.
Consequently, the country's growth was uneven, since a part of the population became disproportionately rich and another large part remained in poverty. The administration's flip side was widespread corruption, a Western-friendly dictatorship, and abuses by the ruling family.
Another feature of the Suharto era was the expansion of the transmigration program (Transmigrasi), a National Government initiative to relocate landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia (such as such as Java and Bali) to less populated areas of the country such as Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi. The stated goal of this program was to reduce poverty and overpopulation by providing better living conditions for the working poor and more labor to the outer islands. Although this was its discursive intent, the program often sparked controversy as a containment plan of counter-insurgency military and economic design, which led to violent conflicts between the new settlers and traditional non-Indonesian natives.
In 1969, the Suharto government tried to regularize the situation in Western Guinea. Instead of holding the UN-supervised referendum among the entire population, as agreed with Sukarno, it was decided to select a council of local Papuan representatives who unanimously voted in favor of integration with Indonesia. A subsequent UN General Assembly resolution confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia.
Some time later, in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution, Portugal announced the decolonization of Portuguese Timor (East Timor). The island of Timor was divided into two parts: East Timor was a Portuguese colony, while West Timor had been a Dutch possession, later inherited by Indonesia. In the elections held in 1975, the revolutionary front called 'Fretilin', an alliance of left-wing parties and the UDT (aligned with the local elite), emerged as the main party, campaigning for the independence of Timor Oriental. Apodeti, a party that advocated integration with Indonesia, had little popular support.
Fearing that the archipelago would fall into communist hands, Indonesian military intelligence was influential in breaking the alliance between Fretilin and the UDT, which led to a civil war. During this time, the Portuguese government effectively abandoned the territory and, on November 28, Fretilin unilaterally declares independence and proclaims the "Democratic Republic of East Timor" or "Timor Leste". However, nine days later, on December 7, Indonesia invaded East Timor and annexed it to its territory, with material and diplomatic support from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, which considered Indonesia an anti-communist ally, despite its serious violations of human rights.
A policy of genocide resulted in a massive massacre of Timorese. Hundreds of villages were destroyed by shelling by the Indonesian army, as tons of napalm were used against the Timorese resistance. The use of this product burned a good part of the country's forests, limiting the refuge of the guerrillas linked to FRETILIN in the dense local vegetation.
According to the description provided to the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) about many bombings, and the strategic objectives of the counterinsurgency campaign led by the army, the Commission concludes that during the campaigns firebombs were used. The US-supplied Bronco OV-10 aircraft were equipped with small arms, rockets and 'Opalm', a Soviet equivalent of Napalm purchased by Indonesia during its campaign in West Papua in 1962. The Commission received film prints of Indonesian army propaganda on the campaigns of the late 1970s, including extensive material from preparations for the bombings at Baucau Airport, and material from the bombings themselves. In this footage, Indonesian military personnel are clearly filmed carrying bombs marked "OPALM" on North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco aircraft at Baucau airport. The planes are then shown taking off. In addition, a secret Indonesian army document supplied to the Commission presents details of the weapons used, including Opalm bombs, long-range, indefinite-impact bombs, and the use of Bronco OV-10 and Sky Hawk aircraft. (See The Timor-Leste Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation - CAVR. Chega! The Report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation. Chapter 7.5: Violations of the Laws of War. p. 28. Dili, April 2006).
The territory of present-day East Timor was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and became known as Portuguese Timor. The colony declared its independence in 1975, but a few days later it was invaded and occupied by troops from neighboring Indonesia, a country that made the territory its 27th province.
In 1999, following a UN-sponsored East Timorese act of self-determination, Indonesia left the former Portuguese colony and East Timor became the first sovereign state to emerge in the century on May 20, 2002 XXI.
The crisis in East Timor had serious repercussions on the legitimacy of the authoritarian Suharto regime. Well, the visit of Pope John Paul II to East Timor, in October 1989, was marked by pro-independence demonstrations, which were harshly repressed. On November 12, 1991, the Indonesian army fired at people who were honoring a student killed by repression, in the Santa Cruz cemetery. About 200 people died in this event; other protesters died in the days that followed, "hunted down" by the Indonesian army.[citation needed]
The cause of the independence of East Timor had greater repercussion and worldwide recognition with the attribution of the Nobel Peace Prize to Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta and the Norwegian singer Morten Harket in October 1996. In July In 1997, South African President Nelson Mandela visited FRETILIN leader Xanana Gusmão, who was in prison. The visit increased pressure for independence to be achieved through a negotiated solution. The economic crisis in Asia, in that same year, hit Indonesia hard, and the Suharto military regime began to suffer various pressures with increasingly violent demonstrations in the streets. These acts later led to the general's resignation in May 1998.
The Reformation
In 1996, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), a legal party that had traditionally supported the regime, changed direction and began to assert its independence. The president of the PDI was a daughter of Sukarno, Megawati Sukarnoputri. Suharto fomented a split in the PDI leadership, which led to protests and violence among supporters of the "New Order" and the reformists, who supported a democratic opening.
However, the main problem for Suharto would come from abroad, specifically from Thailand, whose fall would start the so-called Asian crisis of 1997. Between 1985 and 1996, Thailand's economy had grown at an average of more than 9 % per year, with reasonably low inflation in a range between 3 and 5%. The country's currency, the baht, was pegged at 25 baht to the US dollar.
In May 1997, the Thai baht was hit by massive speculative attacks, but Thailand refused to devalue its currency, evaporating the country's foreign reserves. The government was finally forced to float the baht, in July 1997, allowing the value to be set by the foreign exchange market. The baht quickly devalued and Thailand's economy ground to a halt amid mass layoffs.
Back then, Indonesia seemed far from an economic crisis. Unlike Thailand, Indonesia had even lower inflation, a trade surplus of more than $900 million, foreign exchange reserves of more than $20 billion, and an established banking sector. However, a large number of Indonesian companies were borrowing in US dollars, as the rupiah had strengthened against the dollar in recent years.
In July 1997, when Thailand floated the baht, the Indonesian monetary authorities widened the rupiah's trading band from 8% to 12%. However, in the month of August, the rupee came under heavy speculative attack and the managed exchange rate regime had to be replaced by a free float regime and the rupee fell further. At the same time, the country suffered a severe drought and some of the biggest forest fires in its history in Kalimantan and Sumatra.
The IMF offered a $23 billion bailout package, but the rupee continued to plunge amid fears over corporate debt and strong demand for dollars. The rupee and the Jakarta Stock Exchange hit their all-time low in September. Moody's agency downgraded Indonesia's debt rating to "junk bond" level.
The crisis intensified in November, when the effects of the devaluation were reflected in the balance sheets of companies, many of which had borrowed in dollars and now had to face the decline of the rupee. In December, the Suharto government signed a letter of intent with the IMF that, in exchange for IMF aid, the government agreed to enact austerity measures, including cuts to public services and the removal of subsidies.
The prices of goods like kerosene and rice, and utility rates rose rapidly. Suharto-approved austerity measures, coupled with widespread corruption, eroded domestic confidence in the "New Order" and popular protests began. Suharto ran for re-election in parliament for the seventh time in March 1998, justifying his decision on the need to maintain strong leadership during the crisis. Parliament approved this new mandate, which brought further protests and riots across the country, in what is now called the 1998 Indonesian Revolution. In this context, differences occurred within the ranks of the Golkar party itself and the image de Suharto weakened. Finally, on May 21, he decided to withdraw from power and was replaced by Vice President Jusuf Habibie.
Before the crisis, the exchange rate between the rupee and the dollar was approximately 2,600 rupees to 1 USD, while by January 1998, more than 11,000 rupees were needed for every US dollar. The worst price level was reached between the months of June and July, with an exchange rate of 14,000 rupees for 1 USD. By December 31, 1998, the exchange rate had already fallen to 8,000 rupees to the dollar. Indonesia lost 13.5% of its GDP in that year.
President Habibie quickly assembled a new cabinet to establish an economic stabilization program. Political prisoners were released and some controls on freedom of expression and association were lifted. Elections to appoint national, provincial and municipal parliamentarians were held on June 7, 1999 and these were the first in full freedom for Indonesians, watched over by international observers. For the national Parliament, the PDI-P, led by Sukarno's daughter, Megawati Sukarnoputri, got 34% of the vote, while the Golkar party (Suharto's party) got 22%.
In October 1999, the Popular Consultative Assembly (MPR) appointed Abdurrahman Wahid as President and Megawati Sukarnoputri as Vice President. The government of President Wahid continued with the process of democratization and the recovery of economic growth in difficult conditions. In addition to continuing economic malaise, his government had to contend with ethnic and religious strife. Conflicts also arose on the island of Timor.
At the same time, violent separatist demonstrations begin to break out in East Timor, one of Indonesia's largest provinces. The president fights to maintain the unity of the country, but in less than two years, he was embroiled in corruption scandals.
The president's image weakened and soon after, in July 2001, Megawati Sukarnoputri assumed the presidency. In 2002, East Timor declared its independence, while in Bali, Muslim extremist groups detonated bombs, panicking the entire population. The context in which she should have governed was not easy, since the economy had not finished recovering and demonstrations promoted by some opposition group took place daily. Furthermore, the Muslims, who were the majority, resented the idea of being ruled by a woman.
In 2004, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won Indonesia's first direct presidential election, and in 2009 he was elected to a second term.
Joko Widodo is the current president of Indonesia since 2014 for a first term, re-elected in 2019 for a second.
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