Empire · since 1945 · Southeast Asia

Republic of Indonesia

Also known as Indonesia

Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared independence on 17 August 1945, two days after Japan surrendered and ended its wartime occupation of the Dutch East Indies. The Netherlands fought to return, but after four years of war and diplomacy, and American pressure, it transferred sovereignty in 1949; western New Guinea followed in 1963.

Sukarno led a turbulent young nation of thousands of islands and hundreds of ethnic groups, united by the Indonesian language and the state philosophy of Pancasila. After a failed coup in 1965, the army under Suharto oversaw the killing of hundreds of thousands of alleged communists and took power. Suharto's New Order brought economic growth but also corruption and the invasion of East Timor in 1975. The Asian financial crisis toppled him in 1998, opening the way to democracy.

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Years

since 1945

Capital

Jakarta (Yogyakarta during the independence war)

Greatest extent

1976, about 1.92 million km²

Region

Southeast Asia

c. 1.92M km²; including East Timor, annexed in 1976 and independent from 2002