Indonesia

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Indonesia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇮🇳 Chola Empire1025

   Around 1025 the fleet of the south Indian king Rajendra Chola raids Srivijaya's ports on Sumatra and the Malay peninsula and captures its king, a blow from which Srivijaya never fully recovers.

2. Mongol Yuan1292 to 1293

   Kublai Khan sends a fleet to punish Java for mistreating his envoy. Prince Raden Wijaya first uses the Mongols to defeat his rival, then turns on them and drives them out, founding Majapahit.

3. 🇵🇹 Portuguese Empire1511 to 1575

   The Portuguese take Malacca in 1511 and build forts in the Moluccas to control cloves. Aceh attacks Malacca repeatedly, and Ternate rises after the Portuguese murder its sultan, expelling them in 1575.

4. 🇳🇱 Dutch East India Company1602 to 1799

   The Company fights Banda, Mataram, Makassar and Banten for the spice trade and for land on Java. Sultan Agung's sieges of Batavia fail in 1628 and 1629, and the Company gradually becomes the strongest power in the archipelago.

5. 🇬🇧 British Empire1811 to 1816

   During the Napoleonic Wars a British force conquers Java in 1811, and Stamford Raffles governs it, storming the Yogyakarta palace in 1812. Java is handed back to the Netherlands in 1816.

6. 🇳🇱 Dutch colonial state1821 to 1908

   The Netherlands fights its way across the islands: the Padri War on Sumatra, the Java War led by Prince Diponegoro from 1825 to 1830, the long Aceh War from 1873, and the conquest of Bali, where royal courts chose death in 1906 and 1908.

7. 🇯🇵 Empire of Japan1942 to 1945

   Japan conquers the Dutch East Indies in early 1942. Its occupation frees nationalist leaders but forces hundreds of thousands into labour, and on Java a famine kills many. It ends with Japan's surrender in August 1945.

8. 🇳🇱 Netherlands1945 to 1962

   The Dutch try to retake their colony, launching two large offensives in 1947 and 1948, before transferring sovereignty in 1949. They keep western New Guinea until Indonesian pressure and a UN deal hand it over in 1962 and 1963.

9. 🇲🇾 Malaysia1963 to 1966

   Sukarno opposes the creation of Malaysia, which joins British Borneo to Malaya, and sends troops across the border on Borneo in an undeclared war called Konfrontasi. It ends in 1966 after Suharto takes power.

10. 🇹🇱 East Timorese resistance1975 to 1999

    Indonesia invades the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in December 1975. Guerrillas of Fretilin and Falintil fight on for over two decades, and war and famine kill a large share of the population. East Timor votes for independence in 1999.

11. 🇨🇳 ChinaSince 2016Still open

    Indonesia is not a claimant in the South China Sea, but China's claimed line overlaps its exclusive economic zone off the Natuna Islands. Clashes over Chinese fishing boats in 2016 lead Jakarta to rename the area the North Natuna Sea.

Today

Indonesia now

The archipelago was once largely under the control of Buddhist and Hindu rulers. By around the 7th century, a Buddhist kingdom arose on Sumatra and expanded into Java and the Malay Peninsula until it was conquered in the late 13th century by the Hindu Majapahit Empire from Java. Majapahit (1290-1527) united most of modern-day Indonesia and Malaysia. Traders introduced Islam around the 11th century, and the religion gradually expanded over the next 500 years.

Capital

Jakarta

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Prabowo Subianto

Languages

Indonesian

Area

1,916,907 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population281 million2023 · 68.8 million in 1950
• Life expectancy71.1 years2023 · 40.2 years in 1950
• GDP per person$12,8012022 · $1,280 in 1950
• Living in cities59%2025 · 12% in 1950
• Literacy96%2020 · 18% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending1.0% of GDP2025
• War deaths0.0 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.