Indonesia

Indonesia, () officially the Republic of Indonesia, (; ; ) is a nation in Southeast Asia and Oceania. As the biggest archipelago country in the world, Indonesia has 17,504 islands. The most important islands of Indonesia are Java, Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, on the island of Java, but there are plans to change it to Nusantara. The current president is Joko Widodo. Modern Indonesia began on the 17th of August 1945. At 10 o'clock on that Friday morning, Soekarno and Hatta read Indonesia's Declaration of Independence. Indonesia's Independence Day is a national holiday.
Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world with 238,452,952 people (2004 est.). Half of the population lives in Java, There are 111 people per km. The land area is , or slightly smaller than Mexico. The official national language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia, but 749 native languages are also spoken in different parts of Indonesia, and widely native languages spoken in Indonesia include Javanese, Balinese, and Sundanese. Indonesia's neighbors are Australia to the south, Singapore to the northwest, and Philippines to the northeast. Other nearby countries are Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and East Timor which share land borders with Indonesia.
Indonesia has the most active volcanoes of any country in the world. It is also close to fault lines so there are many earthquakes and tsunamis.
Most people in Indonesia follow Islam, but Indonesia is not an Islamic country by law. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population on earth. Other religions Indonesians follow include Christianity (Protestanism and Catholicism), Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.
History
Pre World War II
Indonesia has a written history as far back as the 7th century and a much longer oral history. Before the colonial Dutch came in the 1596, much of what is now Indonesia was many different kingdoms. Often they were fighting each other.
Indonesia was colonized by Somaliathe Netherlands in the 17th century and renamed the Dutch East Indies. During this time, the Dutch captured thousands of Malagasy people from Madagascar and forced them to work on pepper plantations in their colonies as slaves. The Dutch treated the islands like their property until World War II.
During World War II, the Japanese drove out the Dutch and took control of Indonesia. After Japan surrendered in the war, Indonesia claimed its independence on the 17th of August 1945. The proclamation was read by Sukarno and Hatta in Jakarta. Sukarno later became Indonesia's first President and Mohammad Hatta became Indonesia's first vice President.
British troops came into Indonesia to restore peace and to rescue Europeans who had been prisoners of the Japanese. The British troops also had the job of shipping home 300,000 Japanese troops. The Indonesian Republicans fought the British troops, because it was expected that the British would give Indonesia back to the Dutch. The Indonesian Republicans killed many of the Japanese prisoners, before they could be sent home. They also began killing people from minority groups who might be against the new Republic. Many European and Indonesian European people were killed. Many Chinese business people and other minority groups were killed or made homeless. In Java there were many thousands of homeless people.
In 1946, the Dutch came back. When the British left in 1946, there were 55,000 Dutch soldiers in Indonesia. The Dutch action was called "Operatie Product" or "Politionele Acties". The Indonesian Republicans fought the Dutch until 1949. But the Indonesian Republicans were badly organised and often fought among themselves. As the Dutch forced the Republican soldiers out of different areas, they moved in more troops until there were 100,000 Dutch troops. The Dutch refused to obey the United Nations who said they should stop the fighting in Indonesia. The United States of America organised for meetings between Dutch and Indonesian leaders. The Dutch finally agreed to recognise Indonesia's independence in November 1949.
Because of the fighting and the bad organisation, it took a long time for the country to become peaceful, and for the economy to get better. Many Indonesian soldiers had died, between 45,000 and 100,000. Also, a very large number of civilians, Indonesians, Europeans and Chinese, had died; perhaps as many as 100,000.
Provinces
Indonesia has 34 provinces. Five of them have special status. Each province has its own legislature and governor. The provinces are divided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota). These are further divided into districts (kecamatan), and again into village groupings (either desa or kelurahan).
Indonesian provinces and their capitals - listed by region
(Indonesian name in parentheses if different from English)
* are provinces with Special Status
Sumatra
Aceh* - Banda Aceh
North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) - Medan
West Sumatra (Sumatera Barat) - Padang
Riau - Pekanbaru
Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau) - Tanjung Pinang
Jambi - Jambi (city)
South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) - Palembang
Bangka-Belitung (Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) - Pangkal Pinang
Bengkulu - Bengkulu (city)
Lampung - Bandar Lampung
Java
Special Capital Territory of Jakarta* (Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta) - Jakarta
Banten - Serang
West Java (Jawa Barat) - Bandung
Central Java (Jawa Tengah) - Semarang
Yogyakarta Special Region* (Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta) - Yogyakarta (city)
East Java (Jawa Timur) - Surabaya
Lesser Sunda Islands
Bali - Denpasar
West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat) - Mataram
East Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Timur) - Kupang
Kalimantan
West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat) - Pontianak
Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah) - Palangkaraya
South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) - Banjarmasin
East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) - Tenggarong Seberang
North Kalimantan ("Kalimantan Utara") -Tanjung Selor
Sulawesi
North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara) - Manado
Gorontalo - Gorontalo (city)
Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah) - Palu
West Sulawesi (Sulawesi Barat) - Mamuju
South Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan) - Makassar
South East Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tenggara) - Kendari
Maluku Islands
Maluku - Ambon
North Maluku (Maluku Utara) - Sofifi
Western New Guinea
West Papua* (Papua Barat) - Manokwari
Papua* - Jayapura
People and culture
There are people of many different cultural groups living in Indonesia, has more than 700 ethnic groups. It is affected by Indians, Chinese people, Arabs, Malays and Europeans. The Javan hawk-eagle is the national bird.