Indonesia

Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms dominated the western islands for a millennium — the maritime empire of Srivijaya from Sumatra, and the Javanese Mataram and Majapahit, which left the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. Islam arrived through trade from around the thirteenth century and spread across most of the archipelago, while Bali kept its distinctive Hinduism.

Portuguese and then Dutch traders came for spices — nutmeg, cloves, and pepper worth more than gold in Europe. The Dutch East India Company, and later the Dutch state, built the colony of the Dutch East Indies over some 350 years, though full control of the outer islands came only in the early twentieth century, enforced through systems of forced cultivation and labour.

Japan occupied the islands in the Second World War; Sukarno declared independence in 1945, and after four years of war the Dutch recognised it in 1949. Sukarno's rule gave way, after the mass anti-communist killings of 1965–66, to General Suharto's 32-year "New Order" — development, corruption, and repression, including the invasion of East Timor. Suharto fell in 1998 amid the Asian financial crisis, and Indonesia has since become a functioning democracy with directly elected presidents, most recently Prabowo Subianto in 2024.

Indonesia's motto, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" — unity in diversity — reflects a country of hundreds of ethnic groups and languages held together by the national language and the state ideology, Pancasila, which enshrines belief in one God and recognises six official religions. About 87 percent of Indonesians are Muslim, with significant Protestant and Catholic populations, Hindus (mostly in Bali), and Buddhists.

Regional cultures are strong and distinct: Javanese refinement, courtly arts, and the wayang shadow-puppet epics; the matrilineal Minangkabau of Sumatra; the elaborate funerals and cliff graves of the Toraja in Sulawesi; the Batak of Lake Toba; and Balinese Hinduism, with its daily offerings, temple festivals, and dance.

Batik cloth and the gamelan orchestra are on UNESCO's heritage list. Everyday values include politeness, indirectness, respect for elders, community cooperation (gotong royong), and modest dress and public conduct outside the tourist enclaves. Ramadan and the Eid holidays, and the huge annual mudik homecoming migration, reshape the calendar.

Java holds more than half of Indonesia's roughly 280 million people, and Greater Jakarta is one of the world's largest and most congested metropolitan areas — sinking, flood-prone, and so strained that the government is building a new capital, Nusantara, in the forests of Borneo. Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, and Makassar are the other big cities.

The economy is Southeast Asia's largest, based on natural resources (palm oil, coal, nickel, gas), manufacturing, agriculture, and a fast-growing digital and services sector, with a large young workforce and a rising middle class alongside persistent rural poverty. Nickel for batteries has become a major strategic export.

Daily life ranges from the scooter-swarmed streets and malls of Jakarta to the rice terraces and temple ceremonies of Bali and the subsistence farming and fishing of the eastern islands, all punctuated by the call to prayer, the warung, and the communal rhythms of village and neighbourhood.

Indonesian food is regional and built on rice, with chilli, coconut, peanuts, and aromatic spice pastes. Nasi goreng (fried rice) and mie goreng (fried noodles) are the national quick meals; satay skewers with peanut sauce and gado-gado, a vegetable salad in peanut dressing, are everywhere.

Rendang, a slow-cooked dry beef curry from the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, often tops global "best dish" lists, and nasi Padang — a spread of many small dishes eaten with rice — is a national institution. Soto (a family of soups), bakso (meatball soup), nasi campur, and Balinese babi guling (suckling pig) and bebek betutu (slow-cooked duck) are regional favourites. Tempeh, fermented soybean cake, was invented in Java.

Sambal, the chilli condiment, comes in dozens of forms, and no meal is complete without it. Sweet iced tea, kopi (including the strong "kopi tubruk"), fresh juices, and es campur shaved-ice desserts are the drinks; alcohol is available in Bali and tourist areas but limited and taxed heavily elsewhere.

Bali is the best-known destination: Hindu temples such as Uluwatu and Tanah Lot, the rice terraces and arts town of Ubud, surf and beach life in the south, and easy add-ons to the Gili Islands and Lombok. Central Java pairs the Buddhist Borobudur and Hindu Prambanan temples with the sultan's city of Yogyakarta and its batik and wayang traditions.

Volcanoes draw hikers across the country: the sea-of-sand caldera of Mount Bromo at sunrise, the blue sulphur flames and crater lake of Ijen, and the tougher climbs of Rinjani on Lombok and Kerinci on Sumatra. Komodo National Park, reached from Labuan Bajo on Flores, has the giant monitor lizards, the pink beach, and the viewpoint island of Padar, plus superb diving.

For marine life, Raja Ampat off West Papua is often rated the most biodiverse reef system on Earth. Sumatra offers orangutan trekking at Bukit Lawang and the vast caldera of Lake Toba; Kalimantan (Borneo) has the orangutan reserves of Tanjung Puting; and Sulawesi has the Toraja highlands and the reefs of the Wakatobi and Bunaken.