Common historical accounts trace the development of Indonesian nationalist historiography to pre-war anti-colonial, historical-literary works and speeches of early nationalists like Muhammad Yamin, Sanusi Pane, and Sukarno (Reid 1979; Sartono 1982; Abdullah and Surjomihardjo 1985). The history of Indonesia has been shaped by its geographic position, natural resources, a series of human migrations and contacts, wars and conquests, as well as by trade, economics and politics. Indonesia is an archipelagic country of 17,000 to 18,000 islands stretching along the equator in Southeast Asia. History of Indonesia Human history in Indonesia goes back at least 1.5-1.8 million years, as shown by the fossil "Java Man" - a Homo erectus individual discovered in 1891. Archaeological evidence suggests that Homo sapiens had walked across Pleistocene land bridges from the mainland by 45,000 years ago. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder 's Natural History suggests that, in the 1st century ce, Indonesian outriggers were engaged in trade with the east coast of Africa. Indonesian settlements may have existed at that time in Madagascar, an island with distinct Indonesian cultural traits. The first people in Indonesia arrived about 40,000 years ago when sea level was lower and it was joined to Asia by a land bridge. Then at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 BC, a new wave of people came. At first, they hunted animals, collected shellfish, and gathered plants for food. A full and detailed summary of the pre-independence history of Indonesia presented as a province by province timeline. The Spice Route End Independent Travel & Culture Guides to Indonesia .

historical events in indonesia