300's

The kingdom of Kutai [pron. 'coo-tay'] in Eastern Kalimantan (an island whose size is comparable to the whole France) is usually said as the first page of Indonesian history - though of course there was no such a thing as 'Indonesia' then.

From existing records it is known that India had a relation with some Indonesian kingdoms since the first century, and Hinduism was to be there still for at least one and a half millennium.

'Hindu', originally the name of the people that came from the assimilation of the native Dravida of India and the Aryan (Indo-German) immigrants from the Caucasia (they're really everywhere, weren't they), was the first imported belief for Indonesians.

Kutai organized its polity just like the Indians. Its heyday was believed to be attained under King Mulawarman; at least he's the only one who left some tracks behind.

Meanwhile, in Japan, there was no trace yet of any historic stuff. Japan was much lagging behind the already robust Chinese kingdoms of Han, Wu and Wei (not yet such a thing as a united empire) which unfortunately were busy maiming each other in this period of time.

As far as the Netherlands was concerned, itself didn't exist yet. The august Romans were everywhere, so the little patch of 'low countries' were naturally within their disposal. Aside from the writing system introduced by the Romans to the would-be Hollanders very early in the first centuries, and the foundation they laid for future Dutch cities like Maastricht and Utrecht, no political clot worth mentioning was to be dug from the area.

But this hundred years were historically significant in other places: in 313 the Edict of Milan (officializing Christianity) was adopted, followed by the reign of Constantine the Great (Roman Emperor, 305-337). That, and the birth of the ambivalent architectural splendor named Constantinople (previously called Byzantium, and later Istanbul), happened around the same time as the equatorial archipelago later named 'Indonesia' made up its mind to adopt the first organized and systematic religion (Hinduism), pushing indigenous animism to the shadows -- and this thing would live there unchallenged for the next 1704 years.

In 21st century the kind of belief in the spirits is, having been smuggled into the plural organised religions through the previous hundreds of years, anything but dead, although by necessity buried. All you have to do is turn on the TV and catch any of Indonesian channels in the act of pleasing both couch-potatoes and major advertisers via endless reality shows involving the entire menagerie of 'those we don't speak of'. Throwing in a few volunteers that look exactly like your neighbors, a playful sprite, a couple of vengeful ghosts, some 'Eastern Gothic' ruins, a night as jet-black as ink, extensively smokey incense, and a Japanese infra-red camera, such shows never fail to snatch the highest rating in 2004, in any appearance a nationwide craze.

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KlikRupiah

While St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (got the office in 396), released his eternal Confessions and City of God to the paralyzed believers whose horizon was turning into macabre vistas impressionistically painted by the sword of Atilla (c. 406-453), king of the Huns, far away eastward the kingdom of Tarumanegara [pron. 'tah-room-ah-nah-gah-rah'] under King Purnawarman was busy governing virtually the whole modern West Java. The size of Java is approximately the same as the State of New York, and the western part of it is a third of that -- not much, compared to 21st century Indonesia of around 13,000 islands, but impressive enough by the standards of the age of kings. Tarumanegara, about which history was rather silent beyond the record about Purnawarman, would disappear entirely in the seventh century; sending West Java into the 'dark ages' where no substantial power in managerial hands was known for several centuries ahead.



Buddhism was introduced to the Japanese during the reign of Emperor Kimmei. Of course the 5th century Japan wasn't like today's; of the whole modern Japan -- whose size is no larger than Montana -- only a fraction was under the imperial sway.


note: i have many info about this, but still processing, wait for it .. ^^

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KlikRupiah

732

The Old Mataram [pron. 'mah-tah-ram'] kingdom of Central Java was ruled by the Sanjaya dynasty, its first king's descendants. This was a Hindu country, clearly agrarian and definitely landbound. So they had time to leave the Dieng temples (built from 778 to 850) to be inherited by modern Indonesia, and the most famous of the Sanjayanese kings, Rakai Pikatan, had built, among various fine monuments, the Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta, finished by king Daksa in the year 915. The glory days of the Sanjayas were rivalled by the Syailendra dynasty which claimed direct legacy of Sriwijayan rulers; at the end of 700's this Buddhist monarchy built the largest temple of the religion on Planet Earth, the Borobudur temple in Magelang, Central Java.

The Treaty of Verdun (843) sliced the great empire of Charlemagne (Charles the Great, 742-814), king of the Franks, into series of chaotic civil wars after his son Louis (ruling between 814-840) died. Charlemagne's grandsons, actually, were already on each other's throats even before their father expired. At the end of this outrage, when the choking smoke dispersed, what would be the kingdoms of France and Germany were seen wobbling towards history.

The Netherlands still remained inexistent. It was offhandedly attached to the properties of the 'Holy Roman Empire' -- which was to be that Germany mentioned before. For a very long time, nobody would say just 'Holland', either; it was always a mere part of whitewashed 'Holland and Belgium' or 'Benelux' (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) or whatever other mixed political and territorial entities, one of which was under the very French Duke of Burgundy and very Spanish Spain. On the other hand, just nearby, king Alfred (849-899) of Wessex was at his peak of personal development and consequently this brought what was to be called England to a secure place at the political horizon.

At approximately this time, Balaputera Dewa took the reign of Sriwijaya [pron. 'sah-ree-wee-jah-yah'], a mighty maritime kingdom in Southern Sumatera -- the Indonesian island a little larger than California. This kingdom was to be one of the constant references for modern Indonesians for 'glory days in the past'. Sriwijaya was a Buddhist country, and in its years of roses was very active in regional trade and foreign affairs. Its men seemed to have sailed everywhere. This was the source of the modern Indonesian insistence that "our ancestors were seafarers", reinforced by the Sulawesinese Makassar naval force later. Apart from the maritime business, Sriwijaya was said to be the greatest center of Buddhism outside India.

But not every Sriwijayanese was into Buddhism; in the seventh century there were already Arab villages along the shoreline, perhaps the first encounter of Indonesians with Islam. Its territory was vast enough, including parts of Java; the location just between China and India gave it life. It would see the last days after 1275 by the invasion of the Javanese king of Singasari, Kertanegara; and Sriwijaya was to perish under attack by the Javanese kingdom Majapahit that wished to conquer almost the entire Indonesia in 1300's.

Although it was always mentioned in foreign journals, Sriwijaya left virtually nothing in the line of cultural legacy - its people were too busy sailing and trading. But it had, with other seafaring empires later, established the Malayan language beyond its original boundary. The modern Indonesian language came from this prototype of lingua franca, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam - with enough modifications unique to each nation to warrant frequent misunderstanding and once in a while mutual incomprehension.



King Airlangga was to be the last great king of Old Mataram. After his death, the kingdom was cut in two. The Kediri [pron. 'kah-deer-ee'] kingdom was to continue Old Mataram (the other half made the short-lived Jenggala kingdom), but its capital was moved to East Java and it stopped using the name 'Mataram' altogether. Old Mataram was lastly heard of this year, and until after the year 1000 East Java was largely in a vacuum.

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KlikRupiah

wow.. so hard to read history in english... do you really2 understand with our history??? I got nice marks in my history in school, but now i've forgot everityhing i learned. haha

ops may be its my grammar make you hard to understand it, if any one can check it for me i will change with the good ones.. lol..

btw its okay if you still doesnt understand because its just earlier history of our country, because i have project to make all history of our country to be interesting for reading.. like romance of three kingdom.. hohohoho

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KlikRupiah

Please check the history of indonesia here :
https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat.../print/id.html

Well, a lot of countries for sure are envious on how successful and rich and established a country like America, Japan, etc...but not for indonesia i think...
maybe because :
[/quote]The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945[/quote]

no offense..

Visit my blog

I think you're flooding the forum rezex, beware and be careful

no offence
peace

GBU

Fact....august 17, 1945 indonesia express it's independence.