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Republic of Indonesia

Republik Indonesia  (Indonesian)
Motto: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Old Javanese)
(English: "Unity in Diversity")
National ideology: Pancasila[1][2]
Indonesia (orthographic projection).svg
Capital
and largest city
Jakarta
6°10′S 106°49′E
Official language
and national language
Indonesian
Regional languages
Over 700 languages
Ethnic groups Over 300 ethnic groups
Religion
(2010)
Demonym(s)Indonesian
GovernmentUnitary presidential constitutional republic

• President
Joko Widodo
Ma'ruf Amin
Puan Maharani
Muhammad Syarifuddin
LegislaturePeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
Regional Representative Council (DPD)
People's Representative Council (DPR)
Formation

2nd century
13th century
20 March 1602
1 January 1800
9 March 1942
17 August 1945
27 December 1949
• Unitary republic
17 August 1950
Area
• Land
1,904,569 km2 (735,358 sq mi)
• Water (%)
4.85
Population
• 2018 estimate
267,670,543
• 2010 census
237,641,326
• Density
138/km2 (357.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2019 estimate
• Total
$3.740 trillion
• Per capita
$14,840
GDP (nominal)2019 estimate
• Total
$1.200 trillion
• Per capita
$4,460
Gini (2018)Positive decrease 39.0
medium
HDI (2018)Increase 0.707
high · 111th
CurrencyIndonesian rupiah (Rp) (IDR)
Time zoneUTC+7 to +9 (various)
Date formatDD/MM/YYYY
Driving sideleft
Calling code+62
ISO 3166 codeID
Internet TLD.id

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of more than seventeen thousand islands, including Sumatra, Java, Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi, and New Guinea (Papua). Indonesia is the world's largest island country and the 14th largest country by land area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). With over 267 million people, it is the world's 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.

The sovereign state is a presidential, constitutional republic with an elected legislature. It has 34 provinces, of which five have special status. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the second-most populous urban area in the world. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia. Other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 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 7th century when Srivijaya and later Majapahit traded with entities from mainland China and the Indian subcontinent. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign influences from the early centuries and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Sunni traders and Sufi scholars brought Islam, while Europeans introduced Christianity through colonisation. Although sometimes interrupted by the Portuguese, French and British, the Dutch were the foremost colonial power for much of their 350-year presence in the archipelago. The concept of "Indonesia" as a nation-state emerged in the early 20th century and the country proclaimed its independence in 1945. However, it was not until 1949 that the Dutch recognised Indonesia's sovereignty following an armed and diplomatic conflict between the two.

Indonesia consists of hundreds of distinct native ethnic and linguistic groups, with the largest one being the Javanese. A shared identity has developed with the motto "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. The economy of Indonesia is the world's 16th largest by nominal GDP and 7th by GDP at PPP. The country is a member of several multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, G20, and a founding member of Non-Aligned Movement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, East Asia Summit, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Etymology

The name Indonesia derives from Greek Indos (Ἰνδός) and the word nesos (νῆσος), meaning "Indian islands". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, Malayunesians—for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia; they preferred Malay Archipelago (Dutch: Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost); and Insulinde.

After 1900, Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and native nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularised the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first native scholar to use the name was Ki Hajar Dewantara when in 1913 he established a press bureau in the Netherlands, Indonesisch Pers-bureau.

History

Early history