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 Prabowo Subianto. 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 Indonesian, but 749 native languages are also spoken in various parts of Indonesia, and native languages widely 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 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 Europeans and Indonesian Europeans 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.

Sukarno was an early leader of Indonesia. Suharto followed his rule.

## Provinces
Indonesia has 38 provinces, and nine 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&nbsp;– listed by region**
(Indonesian name in parentheses if different from English)
 are provinces with Special Status

**Sumatra**
* Aceh*&nbsp;– Banda Aceh
* North Sumatra (*Sumatera Utara*)&nbsp;– Medan
* West Sumatra (*Sumatera Barat*)&nbsp;– Padang
* Riau&nbsp;– Pekanbaru
* Riau Islands (*Kepulauan Riau*)&nbsp;– Tanjung Pinang
* Jambi&nbsp;– Jambi (city)
* South Sumatra (*Sumatera Selatan*)&nbsp;– Palembang
* Bangka Belitung Islands (*Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung*)&nbsp;– Pangkal Pinang
* Bengkulu&nbsp;– Bengkulu (city)
* Lampung&nbsp;– Bandar Lampung
**Java**
* Special Territory of Jakarta* (*Daerah Khusus Jakarta*) &nbsp;– Jakarta
* Banten&nbsp;– Serang
* West Java (*Jawa Barat*)&nbsp;– Bandung
* Central Java (*Jawa Tengah*)&nbsp;– Semarang
* Yogyakarta Special Region* (*Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta*)&nbsp;– Yogyakarta (city)
* East Java (*Jawa Timur*)&nbsp;– Surabaya
**Lesser Sunda Islands**
* Bali&nbsp;– Denpasar
* West Nusa Tenggara (*Nusa Tenggara Barat*)&nbsp;– Mataram
* East Nusa Tenggara (*Nusa Tenggara Timur*)&nbsp;– Kupang

**Kalimantan**
* West Kalimantan (*Kalimantan Barat*)&nbsp;– Pontianak
* Central Kalimantan (*Kalimantan Tengah*)&nbsp;– Palangkaraya
* South Kalimantan (*Kalimantan Selatan*)&nbsp;– Banjarbaru
* East Kalimantan (*Kalimantan Timur*)&nbsp;– Samarinda
* Special Territory of Nusantara Capital City* (*Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Nusantara*) &nbsp;– Nusantara
* North Kalimantan (*Kalimantan Utara*)&nbsp;–Tanjung Selor
**Sulawesi**
* North Sulawesi (*Sulawesi Utara*)&nbsp;– Manado
* Gorontalo&nbsp;– Gorontalo (city)
* Central Sulawesi (*Sulawesi Tengah*)&nbsp;– Palu
* West Sulawesi (*Sulawesi Barat*)&nbsp;– Mamuju
* South Sulawesi (*Sulawesi Selatan*)&nbsp;– Makassar
* Southeast Sulawesi (*Sulawesi Tenggara*)&nbsp;– Kendari
**Maluku Islands**
* Maluku&nbsp;– Ambon
* North Maluku (*Maluku Utara*)&nbsp;– Sofifi
**Western New Guinea**
* Southwest Papua* (*Papua Barat Daya*)&nbsp;– Sorong
* West Papua* (*Papua Barat*)&nbsp;– Manokwari
* Central Papua* (*Papua Tengah*)&nbsp;– Nabire
* Papua*&nbsp;– Jayapura
* Highland Papua* (*Papua Pegunungan*)&nbsp;– Jayawijaya
* South Papua* (*Papua Selatan*)&nbsp;– Salor

## 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. There are many dances in Indonesia too, like the Piring and Payung dances of West Sumatra, the Gandrung dance of Java and the Saman dance of Aceh. The Javan hawk-eagle is the national bird. Indonesia is a popular destination to travel to experience the new culture and beautiful land scape.

## Gallery 

File:Museum Nasional Indonesia.jpg|National Museum of Indonesia in Central Jakarta
File:Jakarta Skyline Part 2.jpg|Wisma 46, Indonesia's tallest office building, in the middle of Jakarta skyscraper
File:Central Jakarta.JPG|Jalan Thamrin, the main avenue in Central Jakarta
File:Gambir Station Platform.jpg|A train at Gambir station in Central Jakarta
File:BungKarno-indonoob.JPG|The Bung Karno Stadium is capable of hosting more than 80,000 spectators.
File:Indonesia 2002 CIA map.png|Map of Indonesia
File:Indonesia provinces english.png|Provinces of Indonesia
File:Jalan malioboro - Jogjakarta.JPG|Malioboro, the most famous street in Yogyakarta city
File:Transjogja.jpg|Trans Jogja Bus. A bus rapid transit system in Yogyakarta city.
File:SOTO FOOD.jpg|A selection of Indonesian food, including *Soto Ayam* (chicken soup), *sate kerang* (shellfish kebabs), *telor pindang* (preserved eggs), *perkedel* (fritter), and *es teh manis* (sweet iced tea)
File:Indonesian Army infantryman participating in the GPOI.jpg|An Indonesian Army infantryman participating in the U.N.'s Global Peacekeeping Operation Initiative
File:Panser side left.JPG|Pindad Panser "Anoa" shown during Indo Defense and Aerospace Expo 2008
File:AURI B-25.jpg|B-25 Mitchell bombers of the AURI in the 1950s
File:Jmnei.jpg|A Javanese engineer closes one of the gun bay doors on a Dutch Buffalo, January 1942.
File:ID diesel loco CC 201-05 060327 4217 kta.jpg|GE U20C in Indonesia, #CC201-05
File:Diesel locomotive CC 203 22 at Gambir Station.jpg|GE U20C "Full-Width Cabin" in Indonesia, #CC203-22
File:ID diesel loco CC 204-06 060403 2512 mri.jpg|GE U20C full computer control locomotive in Indonesia, #CC204-06

## References