An Overview of the Republic of Indonesia
Located in Southeast Asia, the Republic of Indonesia consists of an extraordinary number of islands, over 17,000 in total. With this many islands, Indonesia is the largest archipelagic nation in the world. Indeed, Indonesia is also one of the largest nations in the world as far as population is concerned. As of 2006, Indonesia has a population of 222 million people. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country on the planet today. Indeed, it is the most populous nation in the world with a majority Muslim population. (As a side note: In the very immediate past, the Muslim faith became the largest religion in the world, out pacing Roman Catholicism for the first time.)
Although Indonesia does have a huge Muslim population, it officially is not an Islamic state. Rather, it is a republic with a president and an elected parliament. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta.
Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other countries that are neighboring to Indonesia include Singapore, Australia and the Philippines. In addition, the Indian territorial regions of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located nearby Indonesia.
The Indonesian islands have been a very important part of regional and international trade since the 7th century. It was at this time that the Indonesian Srivijava Kingdom established important trade relations with Imperial China. The fact is that Indonesia has been greatly influenced by a number of foreign powers throughout its history.
For example, because of the influence of India, both Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms prospered at different times in Indonesia. Muslim traders brough Islam to the islands, a religion and culture which definitely did take root. European powers continually were engaged in armed conflict with each other in order to control the Spice Islands which make up a portion of Indonesia.
In the end, Indonesia was a Dutch colony for three and a half centuries. Indonesia finally gained its independence from the Dutch following the Second World War. Since gaining independence, Indonesia has experience both positive and negative developments.
For example, on many levels the economy of the independent Indonesia has flourished. However, there have been some times at which there have been some fairly significant economic setbacks and difficulties. More recently. However, it appears that Indonesia is on course to a flourishing and prospering economy due to an expansion of industry and trade that has occurred in more recent times.
Politics in Indonesia has been marked by a fitful attempt to make the nation more democratic. While progress has been made in this direction over the course of the past few decades, the movement towards a more open and democratic Indonesia has not been without its own share of problems and setbacks.
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