Indonesia history timeline

Tarumanagara

c. 358 to 669 CE. about 311 years. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

A Hindu kingdom of west Java known from the 5th-century stone inscriptions of King Purnawarman, which record a canal and carvings of his footprints. The Sunda kingdom followed it.

Srivijaya

c. 650 to 1377 CE. about 727 years. capital Palembang, later Jambi. Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Southeast Asia.

A Malay Buddhist empire based at Palembang that dominated much of western maritime Southeast Asia and was a centre of Buddhist learning. Chola raids in 1025 weakened it, power shifted to Jambi, and a Majapahit attack on Palembang in 1377 ended its last successor.

Medang Kingdom (Mataram)

c. 732 to 1016 CE. about 284 years. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

A Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom founded by Sanjaya in central Java, where it built Prambanan in the 9th century. It moved to east Java around 929 and collapsed after an attack in 1016; Airlangga rebuilt the state as Kahuripan.

Sailendra dynasty

c. 750 to 850 CE. about 100 years. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

A Buddhist dynasty that ruled central Java in the late 8th and early 9th centuries and began Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple. After its defeat in Java around 852, its prince Balaputra ruled Srivijaya.

Kediri Kingdom

1042 to 1222 CE. about 180 years. capital Daha. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Formed when Airlangga divided his realm in 1042, Kediri later controlled the spice trade routes to Maluku, and the reign of Jayabhaya was a golden age of Old Javanese literature. Ken Arok overthrew its last king in 1222.

Singhasari

1222 to 1292 CE. about 70 years. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Founded by Ken Arok, it expanded under Kertanegara, who sent the Pamalayu expedition to Sumatra and defied Kublai Khan. A Kediri rebel killed Kertanegara in 1292.

Samudera Pasai Sultanate

c. 1267 to 1521 CE. about 254 years. Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Southeast Asia.

One of the first Muslim states in the archipelago, on the north coast of Sumatra, visited by Marco Polo, who stayed five months, and by Ibn Battuta in 1345. The Portuguese took it in 1521, and Aceh annexed it in 1524.

Majapahit Empire

c. 1293 to 1527 CE. about 234 years. capital Trowulan. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Raden Wijaya used a Mongol invasion force to defeat his rivals and then drove it out in 1293. Under Hayam Wuruk and his minister Gajah Mada it claimed overlordship of most of the archipelago, before a civil war weakened it and Demak conquered it in 1527.

Sultanate of Cirebon

1445 to 1677 CE. about 232 years. capital Cirebon. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

An Islamic state on Java's north coast, where a settlement was established in 1445 and Sunan Gunungjati proclaimed independence from Pajajaran in 1482. It split among three princes in 1677, each with his own court and line of rulers.

Demak Sultanate

c. 1475 to 1568 CE. about 93 years. capital Demak. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

The first Muslim state on Java, on the north coast, which attacked Portuguese Malacca in 1513 and 1521 and conquered Majapahit's remnants. After succession wars its regalia and power passed inland to Pajang in 1568.

Aceh Sultanate

c. 1496 to 1903 CE. about 407 years. capital Banda Aceh. Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Southeast Asia.

Founded at the northern tip of Sumatra, Aceh peaked under Iskandar Muda (1607 to 1636), competing with Johor and Portuguese Malacca for the pepper and tin trade. It fought the Dutch in the Aceh War from 1873, and its sultan surrendered in 1903.

Banten Sultanate

1527 to 1813 CE. about 286 years. capital Banten. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Founded by Muslim forces from Cirebon and Demak at the western tip of Java, Banten grew rich on pepper sold to Portuguese, English, Dutch and Chinese traders. It became a VOC client state in 1683, and Raffles forced its last sultan to abdicate in 1813.

Mataram Sultanate

c. 1586 to 1755 CE. about 169 years. capital Kotagede, then Karta, Plered, Kartasura and Surakarta. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Under Sultan Agung (1613 to 1645) Mataram conquered most of Java and besieged Dutch Batavia in 1628 and 1629 without success. Wars of succession drew in the VOC, and the Treaty of Giyanti split it in 1755.

Dutch East India Company (VOC)

1605 to 1799 CE. about 194 years. capital Ambon, then Batavia (1619). Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

The VOC seized Ambon in 1605 and founded Batavia in 1619, monopolising nutmeg, cloves and mace by force, including the massacre of the Banda islanders in 1621. It went bankrupt and was dissolved in 1799.

Dutch East Indies

1800 to 1949 CE. about 149 years. capital Batavia. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

The Dutch state took over the VOC's possessions, imposed the Cultivation System of forced cash crops on Java from 1830 and conquered the outer islands by about 1910. Indonesia's war of independence forced a transfer of sovereignty in 1949.

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies

1942 to 1945 CE. about 3 years. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Japan took the islands by March 1942, interned about 100,000 European civilians and recruited 4 to 10 million Indonesians as forced labourers. It sponsored nationalists such as Sukarno, who declared independence two days after Japan's surrender.

Indonesia

1945 CE to the present. about 80 years so far. capital Jakarta. Java and Eastern Indonesia, Southeast Asia.

Sukarno proclaimed independence on 17 August 1945. Suharto's New Order rose amid killings of at least 500,000 people in 1965 to 1966 and lasted until 1998, after which reforms brought direct presidential elections.