Feb. 21

Indonesia is a fascinating place. Its history and diversity make it different from perhaps all of the countries we will be visiting. There are 17,000 islands stretching across 3000+ miles; 922 are populated. The largest of the islands are relatively well known: Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Borneo, and New Guinea.  Its 280  million people make it the 4th largest country in the world. Jakarta is the 2nd largest urban area in the world. It is the most populous Muslim country; 87% of the country is Muslim. There are 600 ethnic groups and 700 languages spoken.

How do you govern with all of  the remote islands and different cultural backgrounds and languages?  I don’t know, but there are 38 provinces and 9 autonomous states. Below that are regencies, cities, districts, villages, neighborhoods, and hamlets. They say that once one gets beyond the larger islands, the villages are the most influential government entity. (All politics are local?)

We are told that humans started in Africa millions of years ago and migrated across Asia to reach what began as a land bridge and became islands as sea levels rose. Archaeologists discovered evidence of “the Java Man” from a million years ago. As the islands developed, seafarers arrived from Taiwan from the west and Melanesia from the east. The combination of early settlers and immigrants led to the cultural diversity we see today. The trade with outside countries only added to the diversity. As early as the 7th century, there was trade with China and India. That explains some of the Hindu and Buddhist influence. Islamic traders appeared in the 13th century; they clearly had an impact in establishing a nation that is so heavily Muslim.

Trade from the islands had a major impact on the development of the “western world.” Abundant spices like cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and mace were traded to Europeans. Spices were extremely popular and valuable. They were used to make unrefrigerated meat more palatable,among other things. We are familiar with the travels of Marco Polo and the spice roads in the 13th and 14th centuries. The spices were moved by caravan to Istanbul, picked up by Venetians and distributed around Europe. That worked until the Ottomans conquered Istanbul and cut off the Europeans. The Spanish response was to send Columbus west to find a route to the “Indies.” You may recall that a landmass got in his way. The Portuguese sent Vasco de Gama east around  Africa and the Portuguese got as far as India. Goa became a spice hub.

The Dutch were a sea power at the time and found an innovative way to enter the colonial competition. While the British established a British East India company around 1600, they weren’t especially successful. The Dutch established the Dutch East India (DEI) Company in 1602 and it became wildly successful. (Luckily, Elon Musk wasn’t around or DEI might have been eliminated.) Prior to the DEI, voyages were financed ship by ship. If a ship returned successfully, the financiers became rich. However, pirates, shipwrecks and disease frequently were victorious. The DEI found a way to spread the risk. Essentially it became the first multinational  corporation. they introduced public trading of stocks and bonds on a stock exchange. The DEI was more than just a trading company. They were given the right to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, establish colonies and strike coins. With their near monopoly on spices and through slave trading,  they became 2 1/2 times more valuable than Apple in today’s dollars. They achieved an 18 percent return over almost 200 years. Their dissolution in 1799 was attributed to smuggling, corruption and administrative costs.

Dutch control of Indonesia lasted until World War 2. Following a Japanese takeover during the war, Indonesia achieved independence in 1949. They have been generally democratic since then but it hasn’t been a straight line. While they have made economic progress, they are wrestling with impacts of over harvesting forests and impacts of climate change on agriculture. With its size and population, Indonesia remains a major player in the region.