The history of Indonesia has been influenced by other nations. The Indonesian archipelago became an important trade region since at least the 7th century, when the kingdom of Sriwijaya in Palembang, religion and trade relations with China and India. Hindu kingdoms and Buddhism has grown in the early centuries AD, followed by the traders who brought Islam, and various European powers fought each other to monopolize the spice trade in the Moluccas during the era of ocean exploration. Once under Dutch rule, Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies declared its independence at the end of World War II. Furthermore, Indonesia has received a variety of obstacles, threats and challenges of natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process and the period of rapid economic change.
From Sabang to Merauke, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic and religious differences. The Javanese are the largest ethnic group and most politically dominant. Indonesia's national motto, "Unity in Diversity" ("Different but one"), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. Besides having a dense population and vast territory, Indonesia has a natural area that supports the level of biodiversity in the world's second largest.
Indonesia is currently comprised of 33 provinces, five of which have different status. Provinces are divided into 399 districts and 98 cities divided into districts and again into villages, villages, village, village, villages, pekon, or other terms that were accommodated by the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 32 Year 2004 on Regional Government. Each province has a local parliament and provincial governors, while the district has a district legislature and the regents, then the town has a local parliament and mayor of the City, all directly elected by the people through elections and local elections. However there is no parliament in Jakarta District or the City, because the County Administration and the City Administration in Jakarta is not an autonomous region.
Province of Aceh, Yogyakarta, West Papua, and Papua has the privilege of the legislature a greater and higher levels of autonomy than other provinces . For example, Aceh has the right to form its own legal system; in 2003, Aceh began to establish Sharia law. Obtain the status of Special Region of Yogyakarta as a recognition of the important role in supporting Indonesia's Yogyakarta during the Revolution. Province of Papua, formerly called Irian Jaya, the special autonomy status granted in 2001. DKI Jakarta, the capital of the state is a special area.
Indonesia is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia which has 17,504 islands large and small, around 6,000 of them uninhabited, which spread around the equator, which gives a tropical weather. The position of Indonesia is located at coordinates 6 ° N - 11 ° 08'LS and from 95 ° 'W - 141 ° 45'BT and is located between two continents, Asia and Australia / Oceania.
Indonesia's territory extends along 3.977 mile between the Ocean Indian and Pacific Oceans. Indonesia's land area is 1,922,570 km ² and the area of waters 3,257,483 km ². The island is densely populated Java island, where half the population of Indonesia live. Indonesia consists of 5 major islands, namely: Java with an area of 132,107 km ², Sumatra, with an area of 473,606 km ², Borneo with an area of 539,460 sq km, Sulawesi, with an area of 189,216 sq km, and Papua with an area of 421,981 km ². Indonesia boundaries are measured from the islands by using the territorial sea: 12 nautical miles and an exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles, the direction of the wind directions
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