Spread across a chain of thousands of islands between Asia and Australia, Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population and South East Asia’s biggest economy.
Ethnically it is highly diverse, with more than 300 local languages. The people range from rural hunter-gatherers to a modern urban elite.
Sophisticated kingdoms existed before the arrival of the Dutch, who colonised the archipelago but gave in to an independence struggle in 1949.
Indonesia has become one of the world’s major emerging economies, but faces demands for independence in some areas.
Capital: Jakarta
Area: 1,904,569 sq km
Population: 275.7 million
Languages: Indonesian, plus regional languages
Life expectancy: 68 years (men) 72 years (women)
President: Prabowo Subianto
[Getty Images]
Former military general Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as president in October 2024 after winning over 58% of the vote in February’s elections, against two rivals.
His election spelt the end of an era under former leader Joko Widodo, known locally as Jokowi, who presided over a decade of economic growth and infrastructure development.
Prabowo was sworn in with his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son.
He has announced Indonesia’s largest cabinet since the 1960s. Some observers believe Prabowo’s cabinet make-up – with 17 of the 48 ministers re-appointed from Jokowi’s cabinet – was a “political reward” to his predecessor, whose tacit support is said to have propelled Prabowo’s electoral victory.
Prabowo had promised during his campaign to continue Jokowi’s development and infrastructure-focussed policies.
In his inauguration speech, Prabowo vowed to eradicate corruption, poverty, and said he would be president for all Indonesians.
On the foreign policy front, he affirmed Indonesia’s longstanding policy of non alignment – where the country does not ally itself with major power blocs.
A former special forces commander under the dictator General Suharto and his son-in-law, he has been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses.
[Getty Images]
Television is the main medium, but online media are catching up.
Facebook is hugely popular, and Indonesians are among the world’s most active users of Twitter.
Reporters Without Borders says many journalists self censor because of legislation governing blasphemy and online content.
Sukarno led Indonesia’s independence struggle and was its first president [Getty Images]
Some key dates in Indonesia’s history:
1670-1900 – Dutch colonists bring the whole of Indonesia under one government as the Dutch East Indies.
1942 – Japan occupies Dutch East Indies.
1949 – The Dutch recognise Indonesian independence after four years of guerrilla warfare. Sukarno is president.
1950s – Maluku (Moluccas) declares independence from Indonesia and fights an unsuccessful separatist war
1962 – Western New Guinea, or West Papua, held by the Netherlands, is placed under UN administration and subsequently occupied by Indonesian forces. Separatists begin a low-intensity guerrilla war against Indonesia.
1963-66 – The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation or Konfrontasi; an armed conflict between UK and Commonwealth forces against Indonesian troops – mainly in Borneo – stemming from Indonesia’s opposition to the creation of the Federation of Malaysia. After Indonesian president Sukarno loses power in 1966, the dispute is resolved.
1965 – Failed coup: In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of suspected Communists are killed in a purge of leftists which descends into vigilantism.
1966 – Sukarno hands over emergency powers to General Suharto, who becomes president in March 1967.
1969 – West Papua formally incorporated into Indonesia.
1975 – Portugal grants East Timor independence. Indonesia invades the following year and annexes it as a province.
1997 – Asian economic crisis: Indonesian rupiah plummets in value. Protests and rioting topple Suharto the following year.
1999 – Free elections are held in Indonesia. East Timor votes for independence, and comes under UN administration.
2002 – Jihadist bomb attack on the Kuta Beach nightclub district on Bali kills 202 people, most of them tourists.
2004 – First-ever direct presidential elections, won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
2004 December – More than 220,000 people are dead or missing in Indonesia alone after a powerful undersea earthquake off Sumatra generates massive tidal waves. The waves devastate Indian Ocean communities as far afield as Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Somalia.
2005 – Government signs a peace accord with separatist rebels in Aceh, to end the 30-year conflict.
2006 – The Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java, leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
2019 – President Joko Widodo announces the country’s new capital city – Nusantara – will be in East Kalimantan on Borneo island. The new capital will replace Jakarta.
2019 August-September – Thousands take part in violent pro-separatist protests in Papua’s large cities, against the background of the long-running conflict in Western New Guinea (Papua) between Indonesia and Free Papua Movement separatists.
2022 – Construction work starts on Nusantara.
Indonesia is vulnerable to volcanic eruptions, such as this one on the island of Sumatra [Getty Images]