Indonesia by brief

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago, with more than 17,500 islands that scattered between 6 degrees north latitude to 11 degrees south latitude and from 9 degrees to 141 degrees east longitude. Indonesia bridges two continents, Asia and Australia/Oceania. This strategic position profoundly influences the country's culture, social and political life, and the economy.

Spanning the length of 3,977 miles from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, if its territorial waters were included, the total area of Indonesia would cover 1.9 million square miles.

The five major islands of Indonesia are: Sumatra with an area of 473,606 square km, Java with an area of 132,107 square km, Kalimantan with 539,460 square km, Sulawesi with 189,216 square km, and Papua covering an area of 421,981 square km.

Culture

Sriwijaya...Majapahit...Mataram...Spice Islands... Dutch East Indies...... over the centuries, the islands have been known by many different names. The modern Republic of Indonesia , born on August 17, 1945, may be relatively young among the world's roster of nations. But it embraces a people whose roots stretch deep into antiquity. Indeed, one of the earliest archaelogical discoveries of human life named "Java Man."
 

One way of grasping the successive waves of human settlement shaping Indonesian history is to observe the composition of Indonesia's 180 million citizens as they are today. In all, Indonesia is home to nearly 300 seperate linguistic groups. The majority of Indonesia's people are or Malay stock (similar to the original inhabitants of the neighboting countries of Malaysia and the Philippines).

Historically, the Malay people split into dozens of smaller subgroups, dispersing throughout the archipelago in widely varying family structures and language groups.

Of these, the most numerous and culturally influential within Indonesia today are the Javanese, inhabitant of Central Java. But equally enduring cultural traditions are to be found among the Sundanese of West Java... the Minahasan people of North Sulawesi... The Bugis and Makassars of South Sulawesi... and of course, the people of Bali, famed for their changeless ways.

Indonesia also is home to a rich tapestry of other ethnically distinc indigenous people. The Dani, Asmat, and dozens of other tribes of Irian Jaya (the Indonesian province on the island of New Guinea) are of Melanesian stock. The people of Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sunda) islands... the Dayaks of Kalimantan (the Indonesian portion of Borneo)... and the Batak of North Sumatra, each represent groups of distinct ethnic origins and customs.

Indonesia even has one large ethnic subgroup -- the Minangkabau of West Sumatra -- whose matrilineal society is ruled by women, with property passed from mother to daughter, rather from father to son. (Make a link to this text along with pictures)

With diverse traditions of social organization and cultural development in place for hundreds of years. Indonesia's people naturally provide a rich and varied mosaic of artistic and cultural activities in all forms an expressions.

The lively arts -- music and dance -- are widespread throughout Indonesia. Traditional forms -- especially gamelan music from Java and dance from Bali -- have long been known beyond the borders of Indonesia. They are still being learned from childhood -- and performed actively -- to this day. Indonesia's graphic arts -- most notably its fabled textiles, including Javanese batik and ikat weavings from Sumatra and the Nusa Tenggara islands -- have achieved high forms of expression an are prized by collectors the world over.

Many of Indonesia's smaller ethnic groups -- particularly the Batak, Dayak, Nias and Asmat peoples -- have developed a strongly characteristic form of artistic expression, rendered prolifically in ceremonial objects, fashioned in unique design motifs from wood and stone. In the face of such ethnic diversity, the newly-formed republic decided following independence that a single, standard, nationwide language was essential as a meands of uniting Indonesia's people. To this day, local dialects can still be heard in villages throughout the archipelago. But "Bahasa Indonesia" (which gained formal recognition in the 1920s, founded on the traditional Malay language, which is also today's official language in neighboring Malaysia) has met with almost universal exceptance -- making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

The patterns characterizing Indonesia's ethnic history can also be seen in the country's religious development. In successive phases, Indonesia was influenced by the spread of Animism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. (link to picture with text.)

Today, the country's dominant religion is Islam. Indeed, with over 85 percent of the population following the Islamic faith, Indonesia has more Moslem adherents than the entire Arab world. In spite of this, all major religions continue to be practiced throughout the country, a freedom guaranteed by national law. Each of the country's four major religions is honored with at least one national holiday every year.

Today, the world's most magnificent Buddhist temple, Borobudur, can be found only a few miles from one of Hinduism's most important historic shrines -- Prambanan -- in Central Java. Meanwhile, in modern downtown Jakarta, the city's Roman Catholic cathedral and Istiqlal, the largest of its Islamic mosques, stand only a few hundred meters apart.

Because Indonesia achieved national independence through revolution, the early years of the new republic were focused on forging a consensus of national unity and basic political orientation under the leadership of Soekarno, the nation's founding president. The first two decades following independence were marked by political and economic turbulence not uncommon among countries in the initial stages of nation building. By the late 1960's, however, following several years of "growing pains" -- characterized by intense cathartic internal struggles -- Indonesia succeeded in resolving its early difficulties, including a period of severe political volatility in 1965-1966. Under the "New Order" government of President Soeharto, the country launched itself briskly on a path of pragmatic growth and development, to which it has held firmly ever since.
 

http://www.undp.or.id/general/about_indonesia.asp