Indonesia

The archipelago sits across the sea lanes between India and China, and its early states lived from trade. Srivijaya, centred on Palembang in Sumatra from the 7th century, controlled the Strait of Melaka and was a centre of Buddhist learning visited by Chinese pilgrims.

Inland Java grew rich on rice. The Sailendra dynasty built Borobudur around 800, a stepped Buddhist mountain of stone with over 2,600 relief panels; the Hindu Sanjaya line built Prambanan nearby a few decades later. Both were half-buried by volcanic ash and jungle until their restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Majapahit, based in East Java from 1293, claimed authority over much of today's Indonesia under the minister Gajah Mada. Its Hindu-Buddhist court culture survives most clearly in Bali, where nobles and priests settled as Islam spread across Java.

Islam arrived with Muslim traders from the 13th century, first in northern Sumatra (Aceh) and then along Java's north coast. Sultanates such as Demak, Mataram, Banten and Ternate replaced the older kingdoms; conversion was gradual and absorbed much local tradition.

Europeans came for cloves, nutmeg and mace, which grew only in the Maluku islands. The Portuguese arrived first; the Dutch East India Company (VOC), founded in 1602, used monopoly and massacre to control the spice islands and built its base at Batavia, now Jakarta.

After the VOC went bankrupt in 1799, the Dutch state took over. The Java War (1825–30) against Prince Diponegoro was followed by the Cultivation System, which forced Javanese farmers to grow export crops. Dutch control spread over the outer islands only in the early 20th century; Aceh fought for thirty years and Bali's royal courts chose ritual mass suicide (puputan) in 1906 and 1908 rather than surrender.

Nationalism grew among educated Indonesians in the 1920s; in 1928 the Youth Pledge proclaimed one nation, one people and one language, Indonesian. Japan occupied the islands in 1942–45. Two days after Japan surrendered, Sukarno and Hatta declared independence on 17 August 1945, and four years of war and diplomacy followed before the Netherlands recognised it in 1949.

Sukarno's 'Guided Democracy' ended in 1965–66 when an alleged coup attempt was followed by army-led mass killings of perhaps half a million suspected communists. General Suharto ruled until 1998 with a 'New Order' of growth, corruption and repression, including the occupation of East Timor. The Asian financial crisis brought him down; Reformasi introduced direct elections, press freedom and regional autonomy.

Indonesia has about 285 million people and over 600 ethnic groups. The Javanese are the largest, about 40 per cent; the Sundanese of West Java are second. Others include the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, famous as traders and for their matrilineal inheritance, the Batak around Lake Toba, the Bugis sailors of Sulawesi and hundreds of Papuan peoples.

The national language was a deliberate choice. Indonesian is a standardised form of Malay, the old trade language of the archipelago, rather than Javanese; it made no single group dominant. Almost everyone now speaks it, usually alongside a regional mother tongue.

The state ideology, Pancasila, sets out five principles: belief in one God, humanity, national unity, democracy by consensus and social justice. The motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, 'unity in diversity', is on the national coat of arms.

Transmigration programmes moved millions from crowded Java to other islands from the colonial era to the 2000s, causing tensions in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. Papua, incorporated in 1969, still has an independence movement and armed conflict in the highlands.

About 87 per cent of Indonesians are Muslim, the largest Muslim population of any country. Most follow a moderate Sunni tradition shaped by the two mass organisations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which run schools, hospitals and universities. Aceh, the one province allowed to apply Sharia law, is the exception.

The state recognises six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Every citizen's ID card records one of them, and belief in God is the first principle of Pancasila.

Bali is about 87 per cent Hindu, but Balinese Hinduism is its own tradition: Shiva and the Hindu gods are joined by ancestor spirits and local deities, and daily offerings (canang sari) of flowers and rice are placed at shrines, doorways and crossroads. Every village has at least three temples, and the 210-day pawukon calendar sets festivals such as Galungan.

Older beliefs run beneath the recognised religions: Javanese kejawen mysticism, the Torajan funeral rites of Sulawesi, and spirit beliefs across the eastern islands.

Batik, patterns drawn on cloth in wax and then dyed, is the best-known Indonesian art and listed by UNESCO. Court batik from Yogyakarta and Solo uses brown and indigo motifs once restricted to royalty; coastal batik from Pekalongan and Cirebon is brighter and shows Chinese and Dutch influences.

Gamelan ensembles of bronze gongs, metallophones and drums accompany dance, ceremony and theatre. Javanese gamelan is slow and meditative; Balinese gamelan is fast and interlocking.

Wayang kulit, shadow puppetry with carved leather figures, retells the Mahabharata and Ramayana in all-night performances led by a single dalang who voices every character. Wayang golek uses wooden rod puppets in West Java.

Bali's dance and painting drew artists from abroad in the 1930s; Walter Spies helped shape the kecak dance and the Ubud painting scene. Ubud remains the island's arts centre, with nightly dance performances and several museums.

Rice is the base of every meal; a meal without rice is not a meal. Around it come small dishes: tempeh (fermented soybean cake, a Javanese invention), fried chicken, vegetables, sambal chilli relish and crackers. Warungs cook in the morning and serve at room temperature through the day.

Regional cooking differs sharply. Padang (Minangkabau) food, with rendang and coconut curries, is served in restaurants across the country. Javanese food is sweet with palm sugar and kecap manis; Balinese food uses pork and a complex spice paste called base genep; Manado food is famous for heat.

Street life runs on the kaki lima carts, the ojek motorbike taxi (now app-based through Gojek and Grab) and the minimarket. Evenings bring night markets and martabak stalls.

The biggest event of the year is Idul Fitri at the end of Ramadan, when tens of millions go home (mudik) to their villages. Transport sells out for two weeks, and cities like Jakarta empty.