Saturday 31 August 2013

History of Indonesia: Pre-colonial civilizations

History of Indonesia: Pre-colonial civilizations

History of Indonesia#Pre-colonial civilizations
The history of Indonesia has been shaped by its geographic position, its natural resources, a series of human migrations and contacts, wars and conquests, as well as by trade, economics and politics. Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,508 islands 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.
History of Indonesia#Pre-colonial civilizationsEuropeans 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 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.
In 2003, on the island of Flores, fossils of a new small hominid dated between 74,000 and 13,000 years old and named "Flores Man" were discovered much to the surprise of the scientific community. This 3 foot tall hominid is thought to be a species descended from Homo Erectus and reduced in size over thousands of years by a well known process called island dwarfism. Flores Man seems to have shared the island with modern Homo sapiens until only 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. In 2010 stone tools were discovered on Flores dating from 1 million years ago, which is the oldest evidence anywhere in the world that early man had the technology to make sea crossings at this very early time.
The archipelago was
the latest ice age. Early
spread from mainland Asia
Australia. Homo sapiens reached
years ago. In 2011 evidence
neighbouring East Timor, showing
early settlers had
implication the technology needed
reach Australia and other
and consuming large
as tuna.
formed during the thaw after
humans to travelled by sea and
eastward to New Guinea and
the region by around 45,000
was uncovered in
that 42,000 years ago these
high-level maritime skills, and by
to make ocean crossings to
islands, as they were catching
numbers of big deep sea fish such
-
Ideal agricultural
wet-field rice cultivation as
allowed villages, towns, and
the 1st century CE. These
ethnic and tribal religions.
temperature, abundant rain and
wet rice cultivation. Such
organised society in contrast to
simpler form of cultivation
elaborate social structure to
conditions, and the mastering of
early as the 8th century BCE,
small kingdoms to flourish by
kingdoms evolved with their own
Java's hot and even
volcanic soil, was perfect for
agriculture required a well
dry-field rice which is a much
that doesn't require an
support it.
References to the
kingdom in Java and Sumatra
from 200 BCE. The earliest
Indonesia is from the Ujung Kulon
an early Hindu statue of
was found on the summit of
Island. There is also
Sunda territory in West Java
and according to Dr Tony
Archeology Agency, Jiwa Temple in
also built around this time.
Dvipantara or Jawa Dwipa Hindu
appear in Sanskrit writings
archeological relic discovered in
National Park, West Java, where
Ganesha from the 1st century CE
Mount Raksa in Panaitan
archeological evidence of a kingdom in
dating from the 2nd century,
Djubiantono, the head of Bandung
Batujaya, Karawang, West Java was
-
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 CE. Located in West Java close to modern-day Jakarta, its 5th-century king, Purnawarman, established the earliest known inscriptions in Java, the Ciaruteun inscription located near Bogor. On this monument, King Purnavarman 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 Purnavarman, the heroic conqueror of the world". This inscription is in Sanskrit and is still clear after 1500 years. 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.
Three rough plinths
the 4th century are found in
Mahakam River. The plinths bear
Pallava script of India reading
priests".
dating from the beginning of
Kutai, East Kalimantan, near
an inscription in the
"A gift to the Brahmin
-
The political history
archipelago during the 7th to 11th
Srivijaya based in Sumatra, also
Java and constructed
monument in the world. The
centuries isn't well known due to
states dominated this period;
greatest of the pre-Islamic
the west coast of the Malay
of the Muslim trading
of Indonesian
centuries was dominated by
Sailendra that dominated central
Borobudur, the largest Buddhist
history of the 14th and 15th
scarcity of evidence. Two major
Majapahit in East Java, the
Indonesian states, and Malacca on
Peninsula, arguably the greatest
empires.
Medang or previously
Indianized kingdom based in
Yogyakarta between the 8th and 10th
kingdom was moved from central
Sindok. An eruption of Mount
struggle may have caused the
known as Mataram was an
Central Java around modern-day
centuries. The center of the
Java to east Java by Mpu
Merapi volcano or a power
move.
The 1st king of Mataram
inscriptions in stone. The
Prambanan in the vicinity of
Dharmawangsa ordered the
Old Javanese in 996.
was Sri Sanjaya and left
monumental Hindu temple of
Yogyakarta was built by Daksa.
translation of the Mahabharata into
-
The kingdom collapsed
Dharmawangsa's reign under military
the last major kings of
reigned from 1016 until 1049.
Bali and a relative of
kingdom including Bali under
into chaos at the end of
pressure from Srivijaya. One of
Mataram was Airlangga who
Airlangga was a son of Udayana of
Dharmawangsa re-established the
the name of Kahuripan.
Srivijaya was centred
centre of present day
"state" in the modern sense with
centralized government to which the
Srivijaya was a confederacy form
royal heartland. It was a
influence far beyond the coastal
Southeast Asia. Trade was the
as it is for most societies
Srivijayan navy controlled the
through the Strait of Malacca.
in the coastal trading
Palembang. Srivijaya wasn't a
defined boundaries and a
citizens own allegiance. Rather
of society centered on a
thalassocracy and didn't extend its
areas of the islands of
driving force of Srivijaya just
throughout history. The
trade that made its way
-
By the 7th century, the
states of Srivijaya lined both
Melaka. Around this time,
suzerainty over large areas of
of the Malay Peninsula.
straits, the empire controlled
and local trade. It
until the 13th century. This
culture throughout Sumatra,
western Borneo. A stronghold of
attracted pilgrims and scholars
harbors of various vassal
coasts of the Straits of
Srivijaya had established
Sumatra, western Java, and much
Dominating the Malacca and Sunda
both the Spice Route traffic
remained a formidable sea power
spread the ethnic Malay
the Malay Peninsula, and
Vajrayana Buddhism, Srivijaya
from other parts of Asia.
A series of Chola raids in the 11th century weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive agriculture rather than coastal and long distance trade. Srivijayan influence waned by the 11th century. The island was in frequent conflict with the Javanese kingdoms, 1st 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.
Despite a lack of
that Majapahit was the most
pre-Islamic states. The Hindu
eastern Java in the late 13th
experienced what is often referred
Indonesian history, when its
southern Malay Peninsula,
about 1293 to around 1500.
historical evidence, it is known
dominant of Indonesia's
Majapahit kingdom was founded in
century, and under Gajah Mada it
to as a "Golden Age" in
influence extended to much of
Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali from
-
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 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.
The earliest accounts
archipelago date from the Abbasid
early accounts the
famous among early muslim
abundance of precious spice trade
galangal and many other spices.
of the Indonesian
Caliphate, according to those
Indonesian archipelago were
sailors mainly due to its
commodities such as nutmeg, cloves,
-
Although Muslim
South East Asia early in the
among the inhabitants of the
the 13th century in
known that the spread of Islam
archipelago, the fragmentary
rolling wave of conversion
rather, it suggests the process
The spread of Islam was
links outside of the
the royalty of major
new religion.
traders 1st traveled through
Islamic era, the spread of Islam
Indonesian archipelago dates to
northern Sumatra. Although it is
began in the west of the
evidence does not suggest a
through adjacent areas;
was complicated and slow.
driven by increasing trade
archipelago; in general, traders and
kingdoms were the 1st to adopt the
-
Other Indonesian areas
it the dominant religion
end of the 16th century. For
overlaid and mixed with existing
influences, which shaped the
Indonesia, particularly in Java.
majority. In the eastern
Islamic missionaries were
centuries, and, currently, there
both religions on these
gradually adopted Islam, making
in Java and Sumatra by the
the most part, Islam
cultural and religious
predominant form of Islam in
Only Bali retained a Hindu
archipelago, both Christian and
active in the 16th and 17th
are large communities of
islands.
The Sultanate of
Java, after the Sultanate of
Sultanate of Pajang.
Mataram was the 3rd Sultanate in
Demak Bintoro and the
-
According to Javanese
became the ruler of the Mataram
support of the kingdom of Pajang
current site of Surakarta .
Kyai Gedhe Mataram after his
records, Kyai Gedhe Pamanahan
area in the 1570s with the
to the east, near the
Pamanahan was often referred to as
ascension.

 

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