Lessons and Fairy Tales

History of Indonesia

The history of Indonesia covers a very long span of time that began since prehistoric times based on the discovery of "Javanese Man" which was 1.7 million years ago. The historical period of Indonesia can be divided into five eras: Precolonial Era, the emergence of Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic kingdoms in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo which mainly relied on trade; the Colonial Era, which was the, the influx of Europeans (primarily Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish) who wanted spices resulted in colonization by the Dutch for about 3.5 centuries between the early 17th century to the mid-20th century; Early Independence Era, post-Proclamation of Indonesian Independence (1945) until the fall of Sukarno (1966); New Order Era, 32 years of Soeharto's reign (1966–1998); and the Reform Order that lasted until now.

Prehistorically

Geologically, the territory of modern Indonesia (for convenience, hereinafter Nusantara) is a confluence between three major continental plates: Eurasian Plate, Indo-Australian Plate, and Pacific Plate (see Geological article of Indonesia). The Indonesian archipelago as it exists today was formed at the time of melting ice after the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.

During the Pleistocene, when it was still connected to Mainland Asia, the first settlers arrived. The first evidence to show the early inhabitants were fossils of Homo erectus Javanese humans from 2 million to 500,000 years ago. The discovery of the remains of the "man of Flores" (Homo floresiensis) in Liang Bua, Flores, opens the possibility of the survival of H. erectus until the last Ice Age.

The first Homo sapiens is thought to have entered the archipelago 100,000 years ago, passing through the Asian coastline of West Asia, and by about 60 000 to 70 000 years ago it had reached the islands of Papua and Australia. They, who typified dark skin and tightly curled hair, became the ancestors of today's indigenous Melanesians (including Papuans) and carried an oblong axe (Paleolithic) culture. A wave of Austronesian-speaking immigrants with Neolithic culture came surging since 3000 BC from Southern China through Formosa and the Philippines carrying a square pickaxe culture (the Dongson culture). This migration process is part of the Pacific occupation. The arrival of the Mongoloid wave tends westward, pushing the early inhabitants eastward or interbreeding with the locals and characterizing the physical inhabitants of Maluku and Nusa Tenggara. These settlers brought with them agricultural techniques, including cultivating rice in rice fields (the slowest evidence since the 8th century BC), raising buffalo, processing bronze and iron, ikat weaving techniques, etc, megalithic practices, as well as the worship of spirits (animism) and sacred objects (dynamism). In the first century BC already formed settlements and small governments, and very likely already entered the influence of trust from India due to business relations.

The Era of Kingdoms in the Archipelago

Early history

Indian scholars have written about Dwipantara or the Hindu kingdom of Java Dwipa on Java and Sumatra Island or Swarna Dwipa around 200 BC. The earliest physical evidence that mentions the existence of two kingdoms of Hinduism in the 5th century, namely the Kingdom of Tarumanagara who controlled West Java and the Kingdom of Kutai on the coast of the Mahakam River, Kalimantan. By 425 Buddhism had reached the region.

Nusantara has a heritage of hundreds of years old civilization with two major empires, namely Srivijaya in Sumatra in the 7th to 14th centuries and Majapahit in Java in the 13th to 16th centuries, coupled with dozens of small kingdoms that often become vassals of their stronger neighbors or interconnected in a kind of marriage and trade ties (such as in Maluku). This was before Western Europe experienced the Renaissance in the 16th century.

In the 4th to 7th centuries in the region of West Java there is a Hindu-Buddhist pattern kingdom, namely the Kingdom of Tarumanagara which continued with the Kingdom of Sunda until the 16th century. In the 7th to 14th centuries, the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya flourished in Sumatra. The Chinese explorer I Ching visited the Srivijaya capital, Palembang, around 670. At its peak, Srivijaya controlled areas as far as West Java and the Malay Peninsula. The 14th century also witnessed the rise of a Hindu kingdom in East Java, Majapahit. Patih Majapahit between 1331 and 1364, Gajah Mada managed to gain control over the area that is now mostly Indonesia and almost the entire Malay Peninsula. The legacy of the Gajah Mada period includes the codification of law and in Javanese culture, as seen in the epic Ramayana.

Islamic Kingdom & Sultanate

The Sultanate as a government by Muslim rulers was present in Indonesia around the 12th century and established civilization. However, in fact Islam has entered Indonesia in the 7th century AD. There was already a busy and international shipping route through the Strait of Malacca that connected the Tang Dynasty in China, Srivijaya in Southeast Asia, and the Umayyads in West Asia since the 7th century.

According to Tang Dynasty Chinese sources, towards the end of the third quarter of the 7th century, an Arab merchant became the leader of a Muslim Arab settlement on the coast of Sumatra. Islam also has an influence on existing political institutions. This is seen in 100 AH (718 AD) King Srivijaya Jambi named Srindravarman sent a letter to Caliph Umar bin Abdul Aziz of the Umayyad Caliphate asking to be sent a dai that could explain Islam to him. The letter reads: “From the King in the King who is the descendant of a thousand kings, whose wife is also the grandson of a thousand kings, in whose stables there are a thousand elephants, in its territory there are two rivers that irrigate the agarwood tree, fragrant spices, nutmeg and camphor that are as fragrant as it reaches a distance of 12 miles, to the King of Arabia who did not associate any other gods with Allah. I've sent you a gift, which is actually a gift not so much, but just a sign of friendship. I want you to send me someone who can teach Islam to me and explain to me about its laws.” Two years later, in 720 AD, King Srindravarman, who was originally Hindu, converted to Islam. Sriwijaya Jambi is also known as 'Sribuza Islam'. Unfortunately, in 730 AD Srivijaya Jambi was taken captive by Sriwijaya Palembang who still embraced Buddhism.

Islam continues to solidify into a political institution that espouses Islam. For example, an Islamic sultanate named Peureulak Sultanate was established on 1 Muharram 225 H or 12 November 839 AD. Another example is the Sultanate of Ternate. Islam entered the kingdom in the Maluku Islands in 1440. The king was a Muslim named Bayanullah.

The Islamic Sultanate then increasingly spread its various teachings to the population and through intermingling, replacing Hinduism and Buddhism as the main beliefs in the late 16th century in Java and Sumatra. Only Bali retains a Hindu majority. In the islands of the East, Christian and Islamic clergy were known to have been active in the 16th and 17th centuries, and today there are a large majority of both religions in the islands.

The spread of Islam is carried out through trade relations outside the archipelago; this is because the spreaders of da'wah or missionary are emissaries from Muslim countries who come from outside Indonesia, so in order to support themselves and their families, these missionaries worked through trade, and these missionaries spread Islam to the traders of the indigene population, until these traders embraced Islam and spread to other residents, because generally traders and royal experts were the first to adopt the new religion. Important Islamic kingdoms include: Demak Sultanate Djipang Kingdom Samudera Pasai Kingdom, Banten Sultanate which established diplomatic relations with European countries, Mataram Sultanate, Iha Sultanate, Gowa Sultanate, Gorontalo Sultanate, etc, The Sultanate of Ternate, and the Sultanate of Tidore in Maluku.