Tag: Indonesia

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Comprising over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.

Indonesia operates as a presidential republic with an elected legislature and consists of 38 provinces, nine of which have special autonomous status. Jakarta, the largest city, is the world's second-most-populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and the eastern part of Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity.

The Indonesian archipelago has been a valuable region for trade since at least the seventh century, when Sumatra's Srivijaya and later Java's Majapahit kingdoms engaged in commerce with entities from mainland China and the Indian subcontinent. Over the centuries, local rulers assimilated foreign influences, leading to the flourishing of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms. Sunni traders and Sufi scholars later brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolise trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II and has since faced challenges such as separatism, corruption, and natural disasters, alongside democratisation and rapid economic growth.

Indonesian society comprises hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups, with Javanese being the largest. The nation's identity is unified under the motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, defined by a national language, cultural and religious pluralism, a history of colonialism, and rebellion against it. A newly industrialised country, Indonesia's economy ranks as the world's 16th-largest by nominal GDP and the 7th-largest by PPP. As the world's third-largest democracy and a middle power in global affairs, the country is a member of several multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, G20, MIKTA, BRICS and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, APEC and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.