officially Republic of Indonesia formerly Netherlands Indies
Archipelago country, located off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia .
It comprises about 13,670 islands, of which more than 7,000 are uninhabited. Area: 742,308 square miles (1,922,570 square km). Population (2004 est.): 222,611,000. Capital: Jakarta (on Java ). Indonesia has more than 300 ethnic groups, which fall into three broad divisions: the Muslim rice growers of Java and neighbouring islands; the Muslim coastal peoples, including the Dayak and other ethnic groups. Languages: Bahasa Indonesia (official); some 250 languages from different ethnic groups. Religions: monotheism (official), Islam (more than four-fifths), Hinduism, Buddhism. Currency: rupiah. The Indonesian archipelago stretches 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from west to east. Major islands include Sumatra , Java (with more than half of Indonesia's population), Bali , Lombok , Sumbawa , about three-fourths of Borneo , Celebes (Sulawesi), the Moluccas , and the western portions of Timor and New Guinea . The islands are characterized by rugged volcanic mountains and tropical rainforests. Geologically unstable, Indonesia has frequent earthquakes and 220 active volcanoes, including Krakatoa (Krakatau). Only one-tenth of its land is arable, and rice is the staple crop. Oil, natural gas, timber products, garments, and rubber are major exports. Indonesia is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president. Proto-Malay peoples migrated to Indonesia from mainland Asia before 1000 BC. Commercial relations were established with China about the 1st century AD, and Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences from India began to take hold. Indian traders brought Islam to the islands in the 13th century; it spread throughout the islands
except Bali , which retained its Hindu religion and culture. European influence began in the 16th century, and the Dutch ruled Indonesia from the late 17th century until 1942, when the Japanese invaded. Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence in 1945, which the Dutch granted, with nominal union to The Netherlands, in 1949; Indonesia dissolved this union in 1954. The suppression of an alleged coup attempt in 1965 resulted in the deaths of more than 300,000 people the government claimed to be communists, and by 1968 General Suharto had taken power. His government forcibly incorporated East Timor into Indonesia in 1975–76, with much loss of life. In the 1990s the country was beset by political, economic, and environmental problems, and Suharto was deposed in 1998. Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid was elected president in 1999 but was replaced in 2001 by his vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the eldest daughter of Sukarno. In 2004 she was succeeded by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In 1999 the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia, which was granted; after a period under UN supervision, it achieved full sovereignty in 2002. In 2004 a large tsunami generated by an earthquake off the western coast of Sumatra caused widespread death and destruction.