Indonesia

Abstract

The Indonesian archipelago was populated from the north from around 3000 BC. Indian scholars described the Dvipantera civilization of Java and Sumatra as early as 200 BC and Indian-influenced Hindu kingdoms began to appear in the west of the archipelago from the 1st century AD. Small maritime trading settlements evolved into Srivijaya, a Buddhist Malay kingdom centred on southeast Sumatra. The Srivijaya empire controlled trade between India and China through the Melaka strait and by the late 7th century it had expanded to encompass much of Sumatra, the Malay peninsula and western Java. Other Indianized kingdoms developed in central Java, including Mataram (8th-10th centuries) and Mahayana (9th century).