Timeline Of Indonesian History

(see also: Southeast Asia Timeline)

I. Overview

1,800,000 BC - 10,000 BCPleistocene Epoch
10,000 BC - 1,000 BCNeolithic Era
1,000 BC - 2d c. ADBronze Age
2d - 15th c.Hindu-Buddhist Period
15th - 18th c.Muslim Period
18th - 20th c.Colonial Period
20th c.Independence


II. Prehistoric

1,800,000 BPEarliest known Homo erectus fossil in Java.
40,000 BPHomo sapiens (modern human) fossils in Java.
2d millennium BCAustronesians migrate from Philippines to Indonesia.
1st millennium BCDong-Son bronze culture. Moon of Pejing (Bali). Wet-field rice cultivation. Ikat weaving. Small towns, villages, polities.


III. Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms

3d - 14th centurySrivijaya Dynasty (Sumatra)
358 - 669Tarumanagara Kingdom (Java, near Jakarka)
5th centuryKing Purnawarman (Tarumanagara): inscriptions, waterworks
8th - early 10th centuryCentral Javanese Period:
  • Sailendra Dynasty (Buddhist; Java, near Yogyakarta). Borobudur temple (760 - 830).
  • Sanjaya Dynasty (Hindu); ruled kingdom of Mataram in Java. Intermarried with Sailendra. Prambanan temples (c. 850).
    • c. 929 - 1500East Javanese Period: The sites of central Java are abandoned, and the political and cultural center of Java shifts to the eastern part of the island.
    991 - 1049Airlangga, founder and sole ruler of short-lived Kingdom of Kahuripan (Central Java and Bali). Patron of arts and literature.
    1222 - 1292Singosari Dynasty (E. Java); rules Bali, 1284 - 1292.
    1293 - 1343Pejeng Dynasty (Bali)
    1293 - 1500Majapahit (pronounced "ma'ja-p-eye-t;" E. Java). Successor kingdom to Singosari following Kublai Kahn's 1293 invasion; capital at Trowulan.
    1331 - 1364Gajah Mada is Prime Minister of Majapahit under two successive kings; Golden Age of Majapahit.
    1343 - 1500Majapahit rules Bali
    1350 - 1389King Hayam Wuruk, great king of Majapahit.


    IV. Muslim States in Java; Late Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms in Bali

    1402 - 1511Sultanate of Malacca (Malaysia and Sumatra)
    1475 - 1518Sultanate of Demak (Java); conquers Majapahit c.1500
    1496 – 1903Sultanate of Aceh (Aceh Province, Sumatra)
    1500 - 1700Gegel dynasty (Hindu-Buddhist) on Bali, populated by refugees from the fall of Majapahit.
    1526 - 1813Sultanate of Banten (Java)
    c.1575 - 1755Sultanate of Mataram (Java; pronounced "muh-TAR-um")
    1613 - 1646Sultan Agung (Mataram); sultanate at greatest extent


    V. Colonization and Independence

    1511Portugal conquers the Sultanate of Malacca
    1619Dutch East India Co. ("VOC") seizes Jayakarta (Dutch Batavia, modern Jakarta).
    1800VOC dissolved by Dutch government.
    1811-1816British interregnum; Thomas Stamford Raffles is Lieutenant-Governor of Java.
    1825 - 1830Java War, a failed rebellion against the Dutch; 200,000 Javanese dead.
    1830 - 1942Dutch Colonial Period on Java
    1849 - 1942Dutch Colonial Period on Bali
    1906Suicide charge by nobles of Denpasar (Bali) against an attacking Dutch army
    1942 - 1945Japanese occupation
    1945 - 1950Following Japanese surrender, the new Javanese Republic (Yogyakarta) fights Dutch re-occupiers; independence finally achieved in 1950 with U.N. support.