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Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation
Sultans, Spices, and The Incredible Story of the World's Largest Archipelago
Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the Island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching back a thousand years and more.
Indonesia is the fabled Spice Islands of every school child's dreams--one of the most colorful and fascinating countries in history. These are the islands that Europeans set out on countless voyages of discovery to find and later fought bitterly over in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. This was the land that Christopher Columbus sought, and Magellan actually reached and explored. One tiny Indonesian island was even exchanged for the island of Manhattan in 1667!
This fascinating history book tells the story of Indonesia as a narrative of kings, traders, missionaries, soldiers and revolutionaries, featuring stormy sea crossings, fiery volcanoes, and the occasional tiger. It recounts the colorful visits of foreign travelers who have passed through these shores for many centuries--from Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and Dutch adventurers to English sea captains and American movie stars. For readers who want an entertaining introduction to Asia's most fascinating country, this is delightful reading.
Indonesia is by far the largest nation in Southeast Asia and has the fourth largest population in the world after the United States. Indonesian history and culture are especially relevant today as the Island nation is an emerging power in the region with a dynamic new leader. It is a land of incredible diversity and unending paradoxes that has a long and rich history stretching back a thousand years and more.
Indonesia is the fabled Spice Islands of every school child's dreams--one of the most colorful and fascinating countries in history. These are the islands that Europeans set out on countless voyages of discovery to find and later fought bitterly over in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. This was the land that Christopher Columbus sought, and Magellan actually reached and explored. One tiny Indonesian island was even exchanged for the island of Manhattan in 1667!
This fascinating history book tells the story of Indonesia as a narrative of kings, traders, missionaries, soldiers and revolutionaries, featuring stormy sea crossings, fiery volcanoes, and the occasional tiger. It recounts the colorful visits of foreign travelers who have passed through these shores for many centuries--from Chinese Buddhist pilgrims and Dutch adventurers to English sea captains and American movie stars. For readers who want an entertaining introduction to Asia's most fascinating country, this is delightful reading.
355 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2015
360 people are currently reading
2104 people want to read
About the author
Tim Hannigan
23 books57 followersTim Hannigan was born in Penzance in Cornwall in the far west of the United Kingdom. Before becoming a full-time writer, he worked as a chef and an English teacher. He started his writing career as a travel journalist based in Indonesia. His first book, Murder in the Hindu Kush (The History Press, 2011), was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize. His second book, Raffles and the British Invasion of Java (Monsoon Books, 2012), won the 2013 John Brooks Award. He also wrote A Brief History of Indonesia (Tuttle, 2015), and edited and wrote new chapters for Willard Hanna's classic narrative history of Bali, now republished as A Brief History of Bali (Tuttle, 2016). His more recent books include The Travel Writing Tribe (2021) and The Granite Kingdom (2023). He has worked on guidebooks to many destinations including Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bali and Cornwall.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
December 27, 2017
My review was based on what it says on the cover, as a book covering 'brief history' - and it did a pretty good job at that.
It is an intentionally 'brief' history, but even for Indonesians there are definitely stuff not covered in our 'standard version' of history lessons in middle / high school. This is a pretty light read overall.
However, the more books on Indonesia you've read (e.g. History of Modern Indonesia by Vickers or the one by Ricklefs), the less new things you'll learn. That said, no one as far as I know has covered the ancient history part in a separate book.
The book definitely could've dealt a bit more on the prehistoric era. From the Flores hobbit to the Indianised kingdom was just about a chapter, even though there is definitely a lot to write about ancient trader routes, cultural exchange with present day Taiwan & Vietnam etc.
Throughout the book it is acknowledged that Indonesia itself was a new concoction, therefore Indonesia in pre-colonial times was covered appropriately as 'the archipelago' i.e. including the surrounding areas of Malaya & Brunei.
Based on Hannigan's previous books on the Raffles era in Indonesia, you can say that the colonial and modern era was covered much better, which is kind of expected given the author's specialised interest in the British interregnum period.
For Indonesians, some points you will not find in our 'standardized history lessons' are:
- How the Dutch engaged with local kings and polities and the transition from trade mode to colonisation mode
- The complicity of local aristocrats in 'colonising' their own countrymen (sounds familiar?)
- The forgotten Sjahrir
- Budi Utomo and why it wasn't a really appropriate poster boy for 'national awakening'
- The transition from Hindu-Buddhist to Islamic kingdoms (I remember learning them as two separate entities in separate, abrupt chapters without any narration of coexistence despite overlapping periods)
- and more...
Some of these are covered briefly, others are more in-depth. Above all, I think it's a book needing translation into Indonesian just like Hannigan's Raffles book.
It is an intentionally 'brief' history, but even for Indonesians there are definitely stuff not covered in our 'standard version' of history lessons in middle / high school. This is a pretty light read overall.
However, the more books on Indonesia you've read (e.g. History of Modern Indonesia by Vickers or the one by Ricklefs), the less new things you'll learn. That said, no one as far as I know has covered the ancient history part in a separate book.
The book definitely could've dealt a bit more on the prehistoric era. From the Flores hobbit to the Indianised kingdom was just about a chapter, even though there is definitely a lot to write about ancient trader routes, cultural exchange with present day Taiwan & Vietnam etc.
Throughout the book it is acknowledged that Indonesia itself was a new concoction, therefore Indonesia in pre-colonial times was covered appropriately as 'the archipelago' i.e. including the surrounding areas of Malaya & Brunei.
Based on Hannigan's previous books on the Raffles era in Indonesia, you can say that the colonial and modern era was covered much better, which is kind of expected given the author's specialised interest in the British interregnum period.
For Indonesians, some points you will not find in our 'standardized history lessons' are:
- How the Dutch engaged with local kings and polities and the transition from trade mode to colonisation mode
- The complicity of local aristocrats in 'colonising' their own countrymen (sounds familiar?)
- The forgotten Sjahrir
- Budi Utomo and why it wasn't a really appropriate poster boy for 'national awakening'
- The transition from Hindu-Buddhist to Islamic kingdoms (I remember learning them as two separate entities in separate, abrupt chapters without any narration of coexistence despite overlapping periods)
- and more...
Some of these are covered briefly, others are more in-depth. Above all, I think it's a book needing translation into Indonesian just like Hannigan's Raffles book.
November 6, 2016
The Rakai Pikatans of Indonesian history
There once lived a man named Rakai Pikatan. He was the man who puts an end to the mighty Sailendra dynasty in Java, and in the year 856 he ordered his men to build a temple that match Sailendra's masterpiece, the Borobudur. The temple has since been known as the Prambanan.
Few centuries later in 1357, Majapahit's king Hayam Wuruk appeared to attempt to forge an alliance with the Pajajaran kingdom in West Java, by promising to marry princess Pitaloka, the daughter of the Pajajaran king. But when the Pajajaran wedding party arrived in Majapahit's capital, prime minister Gajah Mada informed them that the princess would merely becomes a concubine and that they should surrender to their East Java overlord. Surrounded by hostile Majapahit forces, the Pajajaran men bravely refused and put up a fight, but they were all eventually slaughtered, including the princess.
Meanwhile, in 1811 the archipelago almost had its independence from the colonial Dutch. Following Napoleon's attack on the Netherlands, the British decided to consficate and disband Napoleon Dutch's colonial grab in the East Indies. The British originally gave the order to British governor-general in Calcutta, Lord Minto, to "overwhelm the Dutch forces, destroy their fortifications, dish out their guns and ammunition to the locals, and hand the island over to the Javanese." But what prevent the independence was one act of disobedience by Lord Minto. He dismantled the Dutch forces within a few weeks, but then installed Raffles as his lieutenant-governor in the archipelago with free rein to rule the colony as he pleased. And the rest, as they say, is history.
History is messy, brutal, and oftentimes blurry. For many centuries to come the temples of Prambanan were buried and the locals only know the folktale version of its history - where a man built a thousand temples overnight as a condition to marry princess Roro Jonggrang - and they do not even know who Rakai Pikatan is.
Students of history in Indonesia would also likely to learn Majapahit as the peaceful empire that unite the whole archipelago. While in reality, they obtain the majority of their territories by force and in some instances even only claim them without ever setting foot on the land. And just like Srivijaya before them, Majapahit was more of a powerful kingdom claiming control to a small population of traders and port cities beyond their stronghold capital, rather than an empire.
And these misconceptions of history sums up how historical accounts are being perceived in Indonesia.
This book is about the Rakai Pikatans of Indonesian history, and not the Roro Jonggrangs. About the likes of kingdom of Majapahit (not the empire) and its day to day struggles and ugly realities. It is about the intriguing origins of many historic names, the lost opportunities and the very human decision made by the likes of Lord Minto that changed the course of history. It is in short an attempt to straightening up the facts of Indonesia's past.
The book is also about the forgotten truth. About the equally important role Sutan Sjahrir played beside Soekarno and Hatta in the independence movement for Indonesia. About Budi Utomo that began as an organisation to lobby for more education for Indonesia's elite class in a Dutch-controlled government, and not an anti-colonial revolutionary organisation as they usually perceived. It is about how the Japanese was sympathetic with Indonesian independence movement and was actually administering towards an independence for Java in September 1945 (with the rest of Indonesia follow suit shortly), before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed a month before that and Indonesian revolutionaries had to take matters into their own hands for independence.
But most of all, it is a book that explains every sequences that lead to many different realities in Indonesia today. For instance, contrary to popular believe, the Dutch were actually respectful to the local royal kingdoms during their occupation, they even forged useful alliances with some of them that mutually benefit everyone. And it was exactly these alliances that caused these kingdoms' eventual demise, with the simple fact that since almost all of them were allies with the Dutch they resisted the national independence cause that was centered in Jakarta, that is, apart from Yogyakarta. Which is why after the independence only Yogyakarta's sultanate survived and go down in Indonesian history as one of the heroes.
All in all, it is a well-crafted and very well-researched book, written in a careful ways so that the facts, the speculations and the myths are clearly distinguished. It is the most complete historical account on Indonesia that I have read so far, and it is the number one book I would recommend to anyone who wants to know about Indonesia.
There once lived a man named Rakai Pikatan. He was the man who puts an end to the mighty Sailendra dynasty in Java, and in the year 856 he ordered his men to build a temple that match Sailendra's masterpiece, the Borobudur. The temple has since been known as the Prambanan.
Few centuries later in 1357, Majapahit's king Hayam Wuruk appeared to attempt to forge an alliance with the Pajajaran kingdom in West Java, by promising to marry princess Pitaloka, the daughter of the Pajajaran king. But when the Pajajaran wedding party arrived in Majapahit's capital, prime minister Gajah Mada informed them that the princess would merely becomes a concubine and that they should surrender to their East Java overlord. Surrounded by hostile Majapahit forces, the Pajajaran men bravely refused and put up a fight, but they were all eventually slaughtered, including the princess.
Meanwhile, in 1811 the archipelago almost had its independence from the colonial Dutch. Following Napoleon's attack on the Netherlands, the British decided to consficate and disband Napoleon Dutch's colonial grab in the East Indies. The British originally gave the order to British governor-general in Calcutta, Lord Minto, to "overwhelm the Dutch forces, destroy their fortifications, dish out their guns and ammunition to the locals, and hand the island over to the Javanese." But what prevent the independence was one act of disobedience by Lord Minto. He dismantled the Dutch forces within a few weeks, but then installed Raffles as his lieutenant-governor in the archipelago with free rein to rule the colony as he pleased. And the rest, as they say, is history.
History is messy, brutal, and oftentimes blurry. For many centuries to come the temples of Prambanan were buried and the locals only know the folktale version of its history - where a man built a thousand temples overnight as a condition to marry princess Roro Jonggrang - and they do not even know who Rakai Pikatan is.
Students of history in Indonesia would also likely to learn Majapahit as the peaceful empire that unite the whole archipelago. While in reality, they obtain the majority of their territories by force and in some instances even only claim them without ever setting foot on the land. And just like Srivijaya before them, Majapahit was more of a powerful kingdom claiming control to a small population of traders and port cities beyond their stronghold capital, rather than an empire.
And these misconceptions of history sums up how historical accounts are being perceived in Indonesia.
This book is about the Rakai Pikatans of Indonesian history, and not the Roro Jonggrangs. About the likes of kingdom of Majapahit (not the empire) and its day to day struggles and ugly realities. It is about the intriguing origins of many historic names, the lost opportunities and the very human decision made by the likes of Lord Minto that changed the course of history. It is in short an attempt to straightening up the facts of Indonesia's past.
The book is also about the forgotten truth. About the equally important role Sutan Sjahrir played beside Soekarno and Hatta in the independence movement for Indonesia. About Budi Utomo that began as an organisation to lobby for more education for Indonesia's elite class in a Dutch-controlled government, and not an anti-colonial revolutionary organisation as they usually perceived. It is about how the Japanese was sympathetic with Indonesian independence movement and was actually administering towards an independence for Java in September 1945 (with the rest of Indonesia follow suit shortly), before Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed a month before that and Indonesian revolutionaries had to take matters into their own hands for independence.
But most of all, it is a book that explains every sequences that lead to many different realities in Indonesia today. For instance, contrary to popular believe, the Dutch were actually respectful to the local royal kingdoms during their occupation, they even forged useful alliances with some of them that mutually benefit everyone. And it was exactly these alliances that caused these kingdoms' eventual demise, with the simple fact that since almost all of them were allies with the Dutch they resisted the national independence cause that was centered in Jakarta, that is, apart from Yogyakarta. Which is why after the independence only Yogyakarta's sultanate survived and go down in Indonesian history as one of the heroes.
All in all, it is a well-crafted and very well-researched book, written in a careful ways so that the facts, the speculations and the myths are clearly distinguished. It is the most complete historical account on Indonesia that I have read so far, and it is the number one book I would recommend to anyone who wants to know about Indonesia.
abandoned
December 11, 2023Kind of embarrassing to introduce your book by talking about how you wanted to write a history that reads like an airport thriller when yours in fact reads like a textbook.
Also like a textbook, it feels very... traditional, in all the worst ways. Oral histories are dismissed even after being vindicated by archaeology. When the author exercises his imagination by envisioning the first group of Melanesians to arrive on Flores Island, that imagination turns out to be populated exclusively by men.
My plan was to read this and follow it up with Indonesia, Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation, but I barely managed to drag myself through 42 pages of this before deciding to just read that one instead.
Also like a textbook, it feels very... traditional, in all the worst ways. Oral histories are dismissed even after being vindicated by archaeology. When the author exercises his imagination by envisioning the first group of Melanesians to arrive on Flores Island, that imagination turns out to be populated exclusively by men.
My plan was to read this and follow it up with Indonesia, Etc: Exploring the Improbable Nation, but I barely managed to drag myself through 42 pages of this before deciding to just read that one instead.
February 4, 2018
Starts off strong and ends with a curious indifference of omission.
Indonesia has a long and complex history. It's one of those places, with a myriad histories that make it very difficult to approach in a single volume. Hannigan manages fine, focusing mostly on the core of Java and less so on the western Archipelago. Sure, Sulawesi, Borneo and the outlying islands get short thrift, but there just isn't time or space and where they become relevant to the nation as a whole, he goes out of his way to include them.
The distant past, the early modern stuff, Dutch and British colonialism--all these parts are great. The WWII section is sadly brief and Hannigan even avoids that pitfall of most histories: they get shittily thick when you get past, say, 1960, becoming way too heavy on politics and economics.
What keeps me from rating this higher and recommending it as a fine single-source on Indonesia is his passing over of the 1960s atrocities, not to speak of his almost complete lack of mention of Western involvement. East Timor gets some obligatory pages, but it is obviously obligatory. Suharto comes across as less nefarious than he has any right to appear and that is not a little troubling.
But if you can get past that, it's a fine book.
Indonesia has a long and complex history. It's one of those places, with a myriad histories that make it very difficult to approach in a single volume. Hannigan manages fine, focusing mostly on the core of Java and less so on the western Archipelago. Sure, Sulawesi, Borneo and the outlying islands get short thrift, but there just isn't time or space and where they become relevant to the nation as a whole, he goes out of his way to include them.
The distant past, the early modern stuff, Dutch and British colonialism--all these parts are great. The WWII section is sadly brief and Hannigan even avoids that pitfall of most histories: they get shittily thick when you get past, say, 1960, becoming way too heavy on politics and economics.
What keeps me from rating this higher and recommending it as a fine single-source on Indonesia is his passing over of the 1960s atrocities, not to speak of his almost complete lack of mention of Western involvement. East Timor gets some obligatory pages, but it is obviously obligatory. Suharto comes across as less nefarious than he has any right to appear and that is not a little troubling.
But if you can get past that, it's a fine book.
October 16, 2021
This history is indeed brief, but otherwise the title feels like a misnomer. There is little discussion of spices, sultans, or tsunamis, and the author displays an ethnocentric view of the archipelago, as he refers to Indonesia. Repeatedly, Dutch figures and sources are highlighted and explored with more depth than any indigenous people are. He also describes how Indonesians remember certain events as being horrendous but then posits that it couldn’t have been as bad as they claim or they would have done something about it.
Read
September 10, 2022This was very useful ahead of my work trip to Indonesia and it does what it says on the tin - gives you a short overview of the history of the archipelago. It must have been a challenging book to write, considering the complexity and scale of the ground to cover. I especially appreciate how the author handled the temporal and geographical dimensions of the material, not an easy feat in a country made up of 17 000 islands with different stories. I do not dare to rate it, as it's the only book about Indonesian history that I've read, but I would go with four stars, if I dared.
June 30, 2020
Indonesian History for Dummies. Some parts are typical of western writers' condescending attitude towards Indonesia. Calling Gus Dur "half blind bumbling..." is rude. For a re- edited version of this book, the writer should check on books by indigenous writers such as Atlas Wali Songo by Professor Agus Sunyoto. In fact I got annoyed by the casual dismissive tone of the book, I chucked it away. For getting under the skin of Indonesia, I suggest reading Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation by Elizabeth Pisan.
October 19, 2024
⭐ 2.25
A Brief History of Indonesia was a disappointing listen. the title contains words like sultans, spices, and tsunamis, but there's basically no information on any of that. there's no discussion of culture besides religion, sultans are mentioned very briefly and only as puppets of the capitalist and imperialist forces. spice is also only mentioned in terms of how well the colonialist nations (Great Britain, The Netherlands) were able to get the trades running. the only tsunami mentioned is the 2004 Indian Ocean one, so right at the end of the book. basically, a good two thirds of this historical account concern themselves with how well the colonialist nations mentioned (mis)managed Indonesia, and then the rest is Indonesia trying to reclaim its independence and the hurdles associated with it. it's not really a history of Indonesia. it's a history of political forces pulling at Indonesia, with extensive descriptions of what was happening in The Netherlands at that time, etc. which is disappointing. and it's disappointing because the title is misleading.
I think that had I gone in with the right expectations, this would've been a nice audiobook to listen to (though I probably wouldn't have started it since I'm more of a sucker for explorations of culture and flora and fauna and whatever else).
A Brief History of Indonesia was a disappointing listen. the title contains words like sultans, spices, and tsunamis, but there's basically no information on any of that. there's no discussion of culture besides religion, sultans are mentioned very briefly and only as puppets of the capitalist and imperialist forces. spice is also only mentioned in terms of how well the colonialist nations (Great Britain, The Netherlands) were able to get the trades running. the only tsunami mentioned is the 2004 Indian Ocean one, so right at the end of the book. basically, a good two thirds of this historical account concern themselves with how well the colonialist nations mentioned (mis)managed Indonesia, and then the rest is Indonesia trying to reclaim its independence and the hurdles associated with it. it's not really a history of Indonesia. it's a history of political forces pulling at Indonesia, with extensive descriptions of what was happening in The Netherlands at that time, etc. which is disappointing. and it's disappointing because the title is misleading.
I think that had I gone in with the right expectations, this would've been a nice audiobook to listen to (though I probably wouldn't have started it since I'm more of a sucker for explorations of culture and flora and fauna and whatever else).
April 2, 2021
A model introductory history, which gives a very bird's-eye view, without talking down to you at all. No doubt if I knew anything about Indonesia before reading it, I would be grumpy about omissions, but luckily for Hannigan, I knew almost nothing, except what I learned from reading the recently released 'Jakarta Method.' That book went into some depth on the horrors of US involvement in Indonesia; this book did not. I can't get that worked up about it, given all that I did learn, and given that 'The Jakarta Method' was borderline unreadable, and this would go down very smoothly even on a plane ride from Washington DC to Sumatra.
October 29, 2021
I'm glad I finally read something about Indonesia. But this was an outsider account focused on foreign occupation and the ruthless men who carried it out. No quotes from locals, no exploration of culture, architecture, food or even terrain.
Will get you up to speed on the governance of Indonesia and some of its influences without too much slogging. I don't regret my time on such a project.
Will get you up to speed on the governance of Indonesia and some of its influences without too much slogging. I don't regret my time on such a project.
December 16, 2016
This was a great overview of the history of Indonesia. I read this before (and during) my travels to Indonesia and I felt it added a lot to my knowledge of where I was. I can't speak to whether it is biased or not since I have only read a little about the history outside this book, but it seemed very balanced. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about one of the most populous and diverse countries in the world.
March 18, 2020
In the preface, Hannigan said his idea for the book came about when he first visited Indonesia and found a dearth of “pithy pop history page-turners and lightweight travelogues”. A Brief History of Indonesia certainly helps fill that gap in the market. It's a highly recommended starting point for anyone interested in Indonesia.
The book starts in prehistoric times, with the arrival of Melanesian hunter-gatherers – the ancestors of the dark skinned and curly-haired Melanesians living in East Nusa Tenggara and New Guinea today – in the Archipelago at least 95,000 years ago. Millennia later (some 7000 years ago), the Austronesian ancestors of the inhabitants of modern Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra crossed the seas from what is Taiwan today. Skip to the middle of the first millennium and Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula are heavily influenced by Buddhism from India. The Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom – “not a nation in the modern sense, with defined geographical frontiers…[but] the hub of a web of interconnected vassal ports that stretched up and down the Straits of Melaka and out into the Archipelago…more a brand than a bona fide nation state – is at its peak. It is the Srivijaya kingdom that establishes Malay as the lingua franca of the Archipelago. We’re at page 34 in the book at this point. A whirlwind tour indeed.
The nice thing about whirlwind tours is that they are a collection of the main highlights and greatest hits. A trade-off is made in terms of complexity, depth and nuance but that’s a small price to pay for a 101-level introduction, so long as you don’t mistake the highly simplified and summarized treatment of events as a definitive history. Embarking on this whirlwind tour of Indonesia, we learn the history and significance of terms like:
Mataram – an area in Java claimed by a raja in the early 8th century (i.e. when the Srivijaya kingdom was at its peak in Sumatra). Unlike the Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom, which was based on maritime trade, Mataram was Hindu and based on agriculture. Its name is resuscitated in the 1500s by a Muslim-ruled state near the temple complex of Prambanan, which tries and fails to push the Dutch out of Java in the 1600s.
Sailendra dynasty – an enigmatic dynasty responsible for the construction of the Buddhist monument Borobudur starting from around 760. This is especially unusual since Java is predominantly Hindu at this juncture.
Majapahit empire – an East Javanese empire that rose to its peak in the 1300s. One of its prime ministers was a Machiavellian figure named Gajah Mada, the “elephant general”. One of Gajah Mada’s aims was to bring what he called “nusantara” (translated as “the islands in between”) under the control of the Majapahit empire; when a marriage was arranged between the Majapahit side and a princess from a Sundanese royal house, Gajah Mada had the entire Sundanese wedding party slaughtered after they refused to submit and acquiesce to their princess becoming a concubine, rather than a queen upon her marriage. Hannigan notes that “even today, the ethnic Sundanese country of West Java, centred on Bandung, is the one part of Indonesia where ‘Majapahit’ is something of a dirty word”.
Diponegoro – a prince from Yogyakarta in the 1800s who led a rebellion against the Dutch and what he saw as a “decayed and debauched Yogyakarta court” that was little more than a Dutch puppet. He was eventually arrested and sent into exile in Sulawesi.
We learn how Indonesia gradually shifts away from the Hindu-Buddhism to become home to the world’s largest Muslim population. Hindu-Buddhism falls out of fashion in India, with more and more states being headed by Muslim kings. Indonesia, which has long been influenced by Indian traditions, follows suit. By the 1500s, the Majapahit empire and hence the Hindu-Buddhist chapter of Java effectively comes to a close.
We learn about the deep roots of Indonesia’s fraught relationship with its Chinese population. The Dutch, who first arrived in Indonesia in 1596, valued Chinese industry and economic expertise and encouraged the Chinese to come to Batavia. But their relative wealth attracted jealousy and bitterness and it didn’t take much to spark violence against the population; in 1740, the entire Chinese population in Batavia – some ten thousand people – was slaughtered after some rumours that Chinese freebooters were plotting to rebel and had killed some Dutchmen in an altercation. That the Chinese collected tolls on the great toll road the Dutch built traversing Java probably didn’t help either.
We learn how the Dutch colonization of Indonesia left deep scars in the country – the rapacious corruption of VOC officials, the exploitative Dutch efforts to extract as much money from their colony as possible with the 1830 introduction of the Cultivation System (where peasants had to give a fifth of their lands to the growing of cash crops prescribed by the government).
And finally we learn about the gradual emergence of the concept of “Indonesia” and political developments in the 60 odd years since Indonesian independence. Organisations like Budi Utomo (founded in 1908 to push for more educational opportunities for the Javanese elite), Muhammadiyah (1912), Nahdlatul Ulama, Sarekat Islam represented efforts to create a sense of belonging to something, to push for the interests of Archipelago natives. The 1920s saw the emergence of native intellectuals – people like Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir and Ali Sastroamijoyo who were educated in the Netherlands or closer to home in Bandung. It was this group that articulated the concept of an entity called “Indonesia”, that its diverse people – from Javanese and Sundanese, to Dayaks and Acehnese – would be known as “Indonesians” speaking a Malay lingua franca known as Bahasa Indonesia.
But a truly independent Indonesia would only come some three decades later after many plot twists; the Japanese occupation in WWII, the (re)arrival of the British who found themselves fighting against indignant Indonesian nationalists, the Dutch efforts to reassert control over their colony. It was only in 1949 that the Netherlands finally ceded sovereignty to Indonesia and in August 1950 that the unitary Republic of Indonesia came into being. The transition from Sukarno to Suharto, then BJ Habibie, Gus Dur, Megawati, SBY, Timor-Leste’s independence and the 2004 tsunami are swiftly summarized in the last 60 pages.
The book starts in prehistoric times, with the arrival of Melanesian hunter-gatherers – the ancestors of the dark skinned and curly-haired Melanesians living in East Nusa Tenggara and New Guinea today – in the Archipelago at least 95,000 years ago. Millennia later (some 7000 years ago), the Austronesian ancestors of the inhabitants of modern Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra crossed the seas from what is Taiwan today. Skip to the middle of the first millennium and Java, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula are heavily influenced by Buddhism from India. The Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom – “not a nation in the modern sense, with defined geographical frontiers…[but] the hub of a web of interconnected vassal ports that stretched up and down the Straits of Melaka and out into the Archipelago…more a brand than a bona fide nation state – is at its peak. It is the Srivijaya kingdom that establishes Malay as the lingua franca of the Archipelago. We’re at page 34 in the book at this point. A whirlwind tour indeed.
The nice thing about whirlwind tours is that they are a collection of the main highlights and greatest hits. A trade-off is made in terms of complexity, depth and nuance but that’s a small price to pay for a 101-level introduction, so long as you don’t mistake the highly simplified and summarized treatment of events as a definitive history. Embarking on this whirlwind tour of Indonesia, we learn the history and significance of terms like:
Mataram – an area in Java claimed by a raja in the early 8th century (i.e. when the Srivijaya kingdom was at its peak in Sumatra). Unlike the Buddhist Srivijaya kingdom, which was based on maritime trade, Mataram was Hindu and based on agriculture. Its name is resuscitated in the 1500s by a Muslim-ruled state near the temple complex of Prambanan, which tries and fails to push the Dutch out of Java in the 1600s.
Sailendra dynasty – an enigmatic dynasty responsible for the construction of the Buddhist monument Borobudur starting from around 760. This is especially unusual since Java is predominantly Hindu at this juncture.
Majapahit empire – an East Javanese empire that rose to its peak in the 1300s. One of its prime ministers was a Machiavellian figure named Gajah Mada, the “elephant general”. One of Gajah Mada’s aims was to bring what he called “nusantara” (translated as “the islands in between”) under the control of the Majapahit empire; when a marriage was arranged between the Majapahit side and a princess from a Sundanese royal house, Gajah Mada had the entire Sundanese wedding party slaughtered after they refused to submit and acquiesce to their princess becoming a concubine, rather than a queen upon her marriage. Hannigan notes that “even today, the ethnic Sundanese country of West Java, centred on Bandung, is the one part of Indonesia where ‘Majapahit’ is something of a dirty word”.
Diponegoro – a prince from Yogyakarta in the 1800s who led a rebellion against the Dutch and what he saw as a “decayed and debauched Yogyakarta court” that was little more than a Dutch puppet. He was eventually arrested and sent into exile in Sulawesi.
We learn how Indonesia gradually shifts away from the Hindu-Buddhism to become home to the world’s largest Muslim population. Hindu-Buddhism falls out of fashion in India, with more and more states being headed by Muslim kings. Indonesia, which has long been influenced by Indian traditions, follows suit. By the 1500s, the Majapahit empire and hence the Hindu-Buddhist chapter of Java effectively comes to a close.
We learn about the deep roots of Indonesia’s fraught relationship with its Chinese population. The Dutch, who first arrived in Indonesia in 1596, valued Chinese industry and economic expertise and encouraged the Chinese to come to Batavia. But their relative wealth attracted jealousy and bitterness and it didn’t take much to spark violence against the population; in 1740, the entire Chinese population in Batavia – some ten thousand people – was slaughtered after some rumours that Chinese freebooters were plotting to rebel and had killed some Dutchmen in an altercation. That the Chinese collected tolls on the great toll road the Dutch built traversing Java probably didn’t help either.
We learn how the Dutch colonization of Indonesia left deep scars in the country – the rapacious corruption of VOC officials, the exploitative Dutch efforts to extract as much money from their colony as possible with the 1830 introduction of the Cultivation System (where peasants had to give a fifth of their lands to the growing of cash crops prescribed by the government).
And finally we learn about the gradual emergence of the concept of “Indonesia” and political developments in the 60 odd years since Indonesian independence. Organisations like Budi Utomo (founded in 1908 to push for more educational opportunities for the Javanese elite), Muhammadiyah (1912), Nahdlatul Ulama, Sarekat Islam represented efforts to create a sense of belonging to something, to push for the interests of Archipelago natives. The 1920s saw the emergence of native intellectuals – people like Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, Sutan Sjahrir and Ali Sastroamijoyo who were educated in the Netherlands or closer to home in Bandung. It was this group that articulated the concept of an entity called “Indonesia”, that its diverse people – from Javanese and Sundanese, to Dayaks and Acehnese – would be known as “Indonesians” speaking a Malay lingua franca known as Bahasa Indonesia.
But a truly independent Indonesia would only come some three decades later after many plot twists; the Japanese occupation in WWII, the (re)arrival of the British who found themselves fighting against indignant Indonesian nationalists, the Dutch efforts to reassert control over their colony. It was only in 1949 that the Netherlands finally ceded sovereignty to Indonesia and in August 1950 that the unitary Republic of Indonesia came into being. The transition from Sukarno to Suharto, then BJ Habibie, Gus Dur, Megawati, SBY, Timor-Leste’s independence and the 2004 tsunami are swiftly summarized in the last 60 pages.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2021
The book does justice to its title - a brief on the history and culture of Indonesia. With lots of facts and figures, it takes the reader from the late medieval periods to recent times. From the times when life was slow to the times when the velocity of change is large.
The author reaches out to various corners of the Indonesian archipelago detailing what the times meant for them. How most stayed with the Indonesian nation while some had a bloody departure (eg. East Timor). Starting from the times of Hindu kings to the prevalence of Islam. From Portuguese to Dutch occupancy, from brief British campaigns on the mainland to the times when the Japanese quickly took over during the second world war.
There are religious and cultural journies as well. How a minority Chinese population has almost always faced the brunt of the non-minority despite being present in the region for centuries.
The descriptions of the most recent times (post-second world war) quite vividly portray the hardships faced by the Indonesians. From Sukarno's era to Suharto's regime. From incidents of grave violence to student lead revolutions to natural calamities - the book finds a place for everything that shaped Indonesia and how their society exists today.
The book is a good read overall for getting a nearly detailed account of the history of Indonesia.
The author reaches out to various corners of the Indonesian archipelago detailing what the times meant for them. How most stayed with the Indonesian nation while some had a bloody departure (eg. East Timor). Starting from the times of Hindu kings to the prevalence of Islam. From Portuguese to Dutch occupancy, from brief British campaigns on the mainland to the times when the Japanese quickly took over during the second world war.
There are religious and cultural journies as well. How a minority Chinese population has almost always faced the brunt of the non-minority despite being present in the region for centuries.
The descriptions of the most recent times (post-second world war) quite vividly portray the hardships faced by the Indonesians. From Sukarno's era to Suharto's regime. From incidents of grave violence to student lead revolutions to natural calamities - the book finds a place for everything that shaped Indonesia and how their society exists today.
The book is a good read overall for getting a nearly detailed account of the history of Indonesia.
January 8, 2026
Gewoonweg een goede introductie in de geschiedenis van deze uitgestrekte archipel. De focus ligt daarbij op Sumatra, Bali en vooral het dichtbevolkte Java.
Het boek leest lekker weg en biedt een mooie kapstok voor verdere verdieping door middel van meer boeken, films, documentaires en uiteraard: een reis naar een of meer eilanden van dit prachtige land!
Het boek leest lekker weg en biedt een mooie kapstok voor verdere verdieping door middel van meer boeken, films, documentaires en uiteraard: een reis naar een of meer eilanden van dit prachtige land!
October 30, 2025
Very readable and concise history of the archipelago - the author’s style keeps the reader engaged. A bit more detail for the pre-colonial period would have been nice, perhaps an entire chapter dedicated to Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms rather than sharing space with prehistory. However, given how readable the text is, it simply served to wet the appetite for more research into this period.
Read
May 29, 2024Abandoned after 40 pages. Very dry and reads like a text book.
October 2, 2024
Erhellend
April 5, 2024
The first half of this book is interesting but impressively dense, and at points I felt as if I was having to drag myself through a mire of place names, personages and dates.
From the arrival of the Dutch the narrative picks up steam and it is an enjoyable and engaging read. Although described by the author as written in the style of travel literature it reads more like a conventional history.
From the arrival of the Dutch the narrative picks up steam and it is an enjoyable and engaging read. Although described by the author as written in the style of travel literature it reads more like a conventional history.
August 12, 2023
This is the perfect introduction to Indonesian history to anyone who, like me, goes into the subject matter completely blind. This book is the sample platter of Indonesian history. There's a little something for everyone.
January 3, 2022
An indeed brief yet flawed look at Indonesian history.
There is plenty of decent information in this book - which includes a reasonable map, a section of photographs, a recommended reading list, and a 3 page bibliography.
There are also distortions. Suharto comes off as a well-meaning uncle; Megawati comes off as an intellectually lacking housewife; the events of Sept 30, 1965 seem curiously sanitized - especially in light of the author's at times overwrought descriptions. There is also this:
"Today, the Cultivation System [a system described as involving forced production and labour] is popularly remembered as an unmitigated evil of exploitation...Nothing is ever black and white, and had a system which involved half the entire Javanese population...been so unremittingly appalling it surely wouldn't have survived for three decades without prompting either mass mortality or mass rebellion." [p.137]
It would be very interesting to hear an Indonesian's take on this, as well as on many of the other events in the book. Unfortunately there aren't many, which, to me, is problematic.
The author also tends to go out of his way to make fun of people's appearances, particularly Westerners (although Gus Dur is described as "bumbling, half-blind" twice). While not as prevalent as in his Raffles book, this is unnecessary and adds nothing to the text. Maybe it's supposed to make us smile at our own warts. I dunno.
Last gripe: the author ridicules the overuse of ellipses in "Max Havelaar" while pointlessly using ellipses throughout his book. Whoops!
2.5 stars rounded down to 2
There is plenty of decent information in this book - which includes a reasonable map, a section of photographs, a recommended reading list, and a 3 page bibliography.
There are also distortions. Suharto comes off as a well-meaning uncle; Megawati comes off as an intellectually lacking housewife; the events of Sept 30, 1965 seem curiously sanitized - especially in light of the author's at times overwrought descriptions. There is also this:
"Today, the Cultivation System [a system described as involving forced production and labour] is popularly remembered as an unmitigated evil of exploitation...Nothing is ever black and white, and had a system which involved half the entire Javanese population...been so unremittingly appalling it surely wouldn't have survived for three decades without prompting either mass mortality or mass rebellion." [p.137]
It would be very interesting to hear an Indonesian's take on this, as well as on many of the other events in the book. Unfortunately there aren't many, which, to me, is problematic.
The author also tends to go out of his way to make fun of people's appearances, particularly Westerners (although Gus Dur is described as "bumbling, half-blind" twice). While not as prevalent as in his Raffles book, this is unnecessary and adds nothing to the text. Maybe it's supposed to make us smile at our own warts. I dunno.
Last gripe: the author ridicules the overuse of ellipses in "Max Havelaar" while pointlessly using ellipses throughout his book. Whoops!
2.5 stars rounded down to 2
December 17, 2022
The book is a fast paced read at many a places, but also drags a bit in the middle sections (a common folly for most of the history genre that I’ve read). Nevertheless, it presents the reader with a rich history of Indonesia, from creation to contemporary life. Anyone interested in history shall definitely give it a try.
(Only for the interested folks) A Summary of Indonesia’s history:
Indonesia is the Biggest archipelago nation on earth in terms of islands – some 13400 to 18000 islands. It’s a landmass which is still moving quite a lot vs other continents, hence the commonality of earthquakes. It’s a country where a specie of humans existed over a million years ago also, and also the one which has seen 3 decades of dictatorship in the modern era. Although it’s the biggest Muslim nation in the world, there are still places like Sumba where no major religions have found roots. Indigenous people still follow their ancestral rules and traditions. The archipelago people got introduced to religion when the first Indians and Chinese traders chose to settle down in the archipelago, married native girls and built communities there. In fact, literacy first came to Indonesia in the form of Sanskrit. Then there was an era of Buddhism, post which Islam took roots especially with the dawn of spice trade.
Majority of Indonesian recent history is because of spice trade. In 1600s, Dutch got interested in the wealth via spice trade from Indonesia. A company called East Indies company of the Dutch (VOC) was also set up, pretty much like what the Britishers did in India. By 1750s, they also controlled the entire Java ports and the northern ports. They gained control of politics also. Their presence and control on Indonesia was going to last for almost 350 years. Early 1800s, atleast 5 to 6 sultanets were changed and usurped, every one of them having a hand of Dutch or other Europeans. By 1850s, remittances from east indies, behind agricultural production, were 33% of the Dutch state revenue. This led to exploitation of the locals but also led to construction of infrastructure in rural areas and skills in rural people. The rural economy grew.
By 1920s, there were hotels and music in the street. Modernization had started. Elsewhere also world was changing. World War happened. Gandhi was pushing back in India. Ming dynasty changed. Ottoman empire collapsed. Bolsheviks were usurped in Russia. Around this time, Indonesian identity and freedom struggle also started. Indonesia as a term found a potent form around 1920, when they changed the Dutch indies (popular term till then) to Indonesia and started calling their people as Indonesians. The term was formed long ago in the mid 1800s but got famous now. Sukano was the name of the guy who led this. Later, he also became a very prominent political leader.
The wall street collapse of 1920s reached the shores of Indonesia by 1930s. Sugarcane and other crop prices dropped drastically. Wages of labors got halved. People got busy earning daily wages and the politics and national movements took a back seat. In 1940s, the Japanese were on expansion spree and by 1942, they had conquered large parts of South East Asia including Singapore and landed in Bintan and Indonesia. March 1942, the Japanese defeated the Dutch in Java and that was the end of Dutch rule in Indonesia. It took them 300 years to establish the rule and less than 2 months to relinquish the control. However, the 3.5 years of Japanese occupation were far more oppressive than the 350 years of Dutch presence in the archipelago. Talking Dutch language was banned, even in private homes. Indonesian became the official and formal language of the archipelago. 1942 was when the name of Jayakarta city was changed to Jakarta. As expected, the Japanese occupation of Indonesia got over in Aug 1945 post the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on 6th/9th Aug.
However, post WW-II the Dutch released from prisons were back and were eager to set their own control once again. The English also were reluctant in seizing control. By mid 1947, there were technically 2 states working in the archipelago. The Dutch which had most of the cities under their control and the republican Government in Yogyakarta which claimed control of the hinterland. In mid Nov 1946, they signed a treaty of independence by Jan 1949. By 1948 however, the global emotions regarding any such occupations were changing. On 27 Dec 1949, the Dutch finally ceded sovereignty to the federation of Indonesia. On 17th Aug 1950, the federation ceased to exist and the republic of Indonesia was officially established.
This was followed by many experiments that usually a young nation goes through. There were elected officials as dictators, there was emergency in between, there were elections which were “influenced” and the ones which were free of any influence, there were communal riots – against communists, between Christians and Muslims, but, the country was bound to find its feet.
1975 Indonesia invaded east Timor and won the war within a year. East Timor became the 27th province of Indonesia. By 1980s, the annual per capita income was 600 USD from 50 USD and in Feb 1991, first McDonald's opened in Jakarta. By 1995, with the rise of Chinese disciplined manufacturing, the Indonesian manufacturing sector started weakening. By 1997, Thailand was also in a similar shape. To keep exports higher, they were supporting their currency in the market and had used 2/3rds of their currency reserves for the same in the international market. And then, in mid 1997, they couldn't continue that. That led to the fall of their currency and the effects spread to other similar economies too. Rupiah dropped from 2k per dollar to 4k per dollar to 8k per dollar in subsequent months. Indonesia had to take 43Bn $ debt from IMF. By 1998, Rupiah touched 18K per dollar. Riots happened when government cut fuel subsidies as part of deal with IMF.
On 30th Aug 1999 people of East Timor voted to have an independent East Timor country. 26 December 2004, 9.0 Richter scale earthquake hit Indonesia. One of the most enormous to hit earth ever, with waves of 100ft or 30 mts noticed at many places. More than 100K people were killed.
There were many other developments and it’s a nation which continues to mature with years. Even today, the colloquial daily Indonesian language comprises words from Sanskrit, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese and obviously Indonesian languages. These are the souvenirs of the rich and multicultural history of Indonesia.
(Only for the interested folks) A Summary of Indonesia’s history:
Indonesia is the Biggest archipelago nation on earth in terms of islands – some 13400 to 18000 islands. It’s a landmass which is still moving quite a lot vs other continents, hence the commonality of earthquakes. It’s a country where a specie of humans existed over a million years ago also, and also the one which has seen 3 decades of dictatorship in the modern era. Although it’s the biggest Muslim nation in the world, there are still places like Sumba where no major religions have found roots. Indigenous people still follow their ancestral rules and traditions. The archipelago people got introduced to religion when the first Indians and Chinese traders chose to settle down in the archipelago, married native girls and built communities there. In fact, literacy first came to Indonesia in the form of Sanskrit. Then there was an era of Buddhism, post which Islam took roots especially with the dawn of spice trade.
Majority of Indonesian recent history is because of spice trade. In 1600s, Dutch got interested in the wealth via spice trade from Indonesia. A company called East Indies company of the Dutch (VOC) was also set up, pretty much like what the Britishers did in India. By 1750s, they also controlled the entire Java ports and the northern ports. They gained control of politics also. Their presence and control on Indonesia was going to last for almost 350 years. Early 1800s, atleast 5 to 6 sultanets were changed and usurped, every one of them having a hand of Dutch or other Europeans. By 1850s, remittances from east indies, behind agricultural production, were 33% of the Dutch state revenue. This led to exploitation of the locals but also led to construction of infrastructure in rural areas and skills in rural people. The rural economy grew.
By 1920s, there were hotels and music in the street. Modernization had started. Elsewhere also world was changing. World War happened. Gandhi was pushing back in India. Ming dynasty changed. Ottoman empire collapsed. Bolsheviks were usurped in Russia. Around this time, Indonesian identity and freedom struggle also started. Indonesia as a term found a potent form around 1920, when they changed the Dutch indies (popular term till then) to Indonesia and started calling their people as Indonesians. The term was formed long ago in the mid 1800s but got famous now. Sukano was the name of the guy who led this. Later, he also became a very prominent political leader.
The wall street collapse of 1920s reached the shores of Indonesia by 1930s. Sugarcane and other crop prices dropped drastically. Wages of labors got halved. People got busy earning daily wages and the politics and national movements took a back seat. In 1940s, the Japanese were on expansion spree and by 1942, they had conquered large parts of South East Asia including Singapore and landed in Bintan and Indonesia. March 1942, the Japanese defeated the Dutch in Java and that was the end of Dutch rule in Indonesia. It took them 300 years to establish the rule and less than 2 months to relinquish the control. However, the 3.5 years of Japanese occupation were far more oppressive than the 350 years of Dutch presence in the archipelago. Talking Dutch language was banned, even in private homes. Indonesian became the official and formal language of the archipelago. 1942 was when the name of Jayakarta city was changed to Jakarta. As expected, the Japanese occupation of Indonesia got over in Aug 1945 post the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on 6th/9th Aug.
However, post WW-II the Dutch released from prisons were back and were eager to set their own control once again. The English also were reluctant in seizing control. By mid 1947, there were technically 2 states working in the archipelago. The Dutch which had most of the cities under their control and the republican Government in Yogyakarta which claimed control of the hinterland. In mid Nov 1946, they signed a treaty of independence by Jan 1949. By 1948 however, the global emotions regarding any such occupations were changing. On 27 Dec 1949, the Dutch finally ceded sovereignty to the federation of Indonesia. On 17th Aug 1950, the federation ceased to exist and the republic of Indonesia was officially established.
This was followed by many experiments that usually a young nation goes through. There were elected officials as dictators, there was emergency in between, there were elections which were “influenced” and the ones which were free of any influence, there were communal riots – against communists, between Christians and Muslims, but, the country was bound to find its feet.
1975 Indonesia invaded east Timor and won the war within a year. East Timor became the 27th province of Indonesia. By 1980s, the annual per capita income was 600 USD from 50 USD and in Feb 1991, first McDonald's opened in Jakarta. By 1995, with the rise of Chinese disciplined manufacturing, the Indonesian manufacturing sector started weakening. By 1997, Thailand was also in a similar shape. To keep exports higher, they were supporting their currency in the market and had used 2/3rds of their currency reserves for the same in the international market. And then, in mid 1997, they couldn't continue that. That led to the fall of their currency and the effects spread to other similar economies too. Rupiah dropped from 2k per dollar to 4k per dollar to 8k per dollar in subsequent months. Indonesia had to take 43Bn $ debt from IMF. By 1998, Rupiah touched 18K per dollar. Riots happened when government cut fuel subsidies as part of deal with IMF.
On 30th Aug 1999 people of East Timor voted to have an independent East Timor country. 26 December 2004, 9.0 Richter scale earthquake hit Indonesia. One of the most enormous to hit earth ever, with waves of 100ft or 30 mts noticed at many places. More than 100K people were killed.
There were many other developments and it’s a nation which continues to mature with years. Even today, the colloquial daily Indonesian language comprises words from Sanskrit, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese and obviously Indonesian languages. These are the souvenirs of the rich and multicultural history of Indonesia.
January 25, 2016
Indonesia, population 255 million, is the world's fourth largest country, and has the largest Muslim population of any nation. Partway through 2015, I realized I knew next to nothing about Indonesia; this book was a great way to pick up a sense of the archipelago's rich history and layers of external influences: from India, China, Portugal, Britain, the Netherlands; and, from the beginning and again in the post-colonial era, the native peoples of these many islands. The style is lucid, engaging, and blunt about the brutality and corruption of various leaders in the imperial and post-colonial eras. Hannigan's history should complement rather than substitute for a discussion focused on Indonesia's present and near-future. There's not a lot here about the cultural diversity across Indonesia today, or the structure of the economy, or the country's role in the region. But I suspect the historical foundation in this book will go a long way to making sense of current analyses of those topics when I get to them.
June 2, 2016
Indonesia, a vast archipelago in Southeast Asia, spanning from Sabang to Merauke, has a lot of stories to tell. Starting from its earliest days of Hindu-Buddhist influences, to the arrival of Islam, to 350 years of Dutch occupation, and then 35 years of Japanese occupation, Indonesia really has a lot of stories to tell.
Tim Hannigan managed to weave through the history, connecting one dot to another, presenting a perfect introduction to Indonesia.
Tim Hannigan managed to weave through the history, connecting one dot to another, presenting a perfect introduction to Indonesia.
October 24, 2016
A really interesting survey of a really interesting country.
June 4, 2021
The map of Indonesia at the front of this book is like something out of Ursula K. LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea -- and no doubt she based the Earthsea archipelago on what Hannigan throughout his book calls the Archipelago. The names themselves conjure up a dream world: Kalimantan, Tifu, Ambon, Labuhan Haji, Sumbawa, Adonara, Kotawaringin, Belitung. And then there are the names of Javanese towns that resonate with my childhood in Jakarta; these seemed magical places when I was little and drew my own maps, and I remember visiting them: Semarang, Magelang, the Dieng Plateau, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Bogor, Salatiga - and of course, Pelabuhan Ratu, unforgettable place of multiple childhood seaside visits.
I lived there between 1968 and 1974, and yet I knew (until this book) very little about Indonesia's history. Tim Hannigan's marvellous book is a tour de force, an astonishing journey through thousands of years of history and prehistory, up until 2015 (the date of publication), all condensed into 277 pages of beautiful prose, exciting story-telling, evocative descriptions, tight focus and a compelling sense of place. This is a non-academic book for the armchair historical traveller, but it's based on extensive reading and research.
The early parts, pre-colonialism, read like mythical tales of marvel -- or maybe they just seem like that to me, because the names and places (again) resonate so strongly with me: Borobudur, Prambanan, Majapahit, the goddess of the ocean Ratu Kidul (I remember her as Roro Kidul). We roam across the archipelago, across language groups, across religions, across affiliations; we meet migrants and minorities, traders and princes.
Then came the Portuguese, and then came the Dutch, and the British also did some horsetrading round and about. The most astonishing swap dates from the Treaty of Breda of 1667 (which I know from the Velázquez painting of the same title) between England and the Netherlands (or rather, as far as I recall, the Habsburg Empire). The British gave up the tiny island of Run in the archipelago, and in return the Dutch gave them New Amsterdam (these days better known as New York).
And then comes the post-independence era, post 17 August 1945, with its first presidents Sukarno and Suharto, with the anti-communist massacres of 1965 (still a vivid memory when I arrived in Jakarta three years later that I vaguely knew about as a child but never understood), with corruption and the New Order. The most moving passage (for me) comes from this era -- I am always moved by the workings of democracy:
"On 29 September 1955, Indonesia went to the polls for the first time. ... Yogyakarta seemed to be deserted. Baffled, he [a visiting English teacher] dressed and went for a walk. It was only when Forster reached the first polling statioin that he realised why things were so quiet elsewhere: 'The people were not visible on the streets because they were packed in the school yards in enormous sinuous queues, patiently waiting for their turn to vote.' ... From hill towns in the Bukit Barisan mountains of Sumatra to tiny islands in Maluku, they turned out: some 39 milliion people, more than 91 percent of the registered electorate. ... The election was run on the principle of proportional representation, so voters had only to choose a party, rather than an individual. And with such high levels of illiteracy, symbols counted for everything. Everyone entering the polling booths was presented with an enormous ballot card, speckled with dozens of cartoon-like party signs. They had to puncture their preferred picture, fold the sheet into a chunky wadd, and cram it into the ballot bosx. The whole process went off in an air of almost surreal calm." (pp.213-14)
Why did I not give this magnificent and eminently readable history five stars? Two reasons: Firstly, the story suffers from confirmation bias; it is almost totally told from the viewpoint of men. Only two women feature as active agents: early 21st-century president Megawati and turn-from-19th-to-20th-century educational reformer Kartini (and the latter only appears in an illustration inset). Women now and again appear as wives, concubines, prostitutes, the usual. Secondly, the sources are all Anglophone. The author says he used more sources than the ones listed but all quotes and citations are by European writers. I would have wished for more ownvoices. I also would have liked a more condemnatory attitude towards slavery (casually mentioned several times), and I would have liked some of the groups labelled 'rebels' to be called 'freedom fighters'.
This is the only accessible, entertaining, non-academic, reliable and comprehensive history of Indonesia that I am aware of (and I did quite a bit of sleuthing). I loved it.
I lived there between 1968 and 1974, and yet I knew (until this book) very little about Indonesia's history. Tim Hannigan's marvellous book is a tour de force, an astonishing journey through thousands of years of history and prehistory, up until 2015 (the date of publication), all condensed into 277 pages of beautiful prose, exciting story-telling, evocative descriptions, tight focus and a compelling sense of place. This is a non-academic book for the armchair historical traveller, but it's based on extensive reading and research.
The early parts, pre-colonialism, read like mythical tales of marvel -- or maybe they just seem like that to me, because the names and places (again) resonate so strongly with me: Borobudur, Prambanan, Majapahit, the goddess of the ocean Ratu Kidul (I remember her as Roro Kidul). We roam across the archipelago, across language groups, across religions, across affiliations; we meet migrants and minorities, traders and princes.
Then came the Portuguese, and then came the Dutch, and the British also did some horsetrading round and about. The most astonishing swap dates from the Treaty of Breda of 1667 (which I know from the Velázquez painting of the same title) between England and the Netherlands (or rather, as far as I recall, the Habsburg Empire). The British gave up the tiny island of Run in the archipelago, and in return the Dutch gave them New Amsterdam (these days better known as New York).
And then comes the post-independence era, post 17 August 1945, with its first presidents Sukarno and Suharto, with the anti-communist massacres of 1965 (still a vivid memory when I arrived in Jakarta three years later that I vaguely knew about as a child but never understood), with corruption and the New Order. The most moving passage (for me) comes from this era -- I am always moved by the workings of democracy:
"On 29 September 1955, Indonesia went to the polls for the first time. ... Yogyakarta seemed to be deserted. Baffled, he [a visiting English teacher] dressed and went for a walk. It was only when Forster reached the first polling statioin that he realised why things were so quiet elsewhere: 'The people were not visible on the streets because they were packed in the school yards in enormous sinuous queues, patiently waiting for their turn to vote.' ... From hill towns in the Bukit Barisan mountains of Sumatra to tiny islands in Maluku, they turned out: some 39 milliion people, more than 91 percent of the registered electorate. ... The election was run on the principle of proportional representation, so voters had only to choose a party, rather than an individual. And with such high levels of illiteracy, symbols counted for everything. Everyone entering the polling booths was presented with an enormous ballot card, speckled with dozens of cartoon-like party signs. They had to puncture their preferred picture, fold the sheet into a chunky wadd, and cram it into the ballot bosx. The whole process went off in an air of almost surreal calm." (pp.213-14)
Why did I not give this magnificent and eminently readable history five stars? Two reasons: Firstly, the story suffers from confirmation bias; it is almost totally told from the viewpoint of men. Only two women feature as active agents: early 21st-century president Megawati and turn-from-19th-to-20th-century educational reformer Kartini (and the latter only appears in an illustration inset). Women now and again appear as wives, concubines, prostitutes, the usual. Secondly, the sources are all Anglophone. The author says he used more sources than the ones listed but all quotes and citations are by European writers. I would have wished for more ownvoices. I also would have liked a more condemnatory attitude towards slavery (casually mentioned several times), and I would have liked some of the groups labelled 'rebels' to be called 'freedom fighters'.
This is the only accessible, entertaining, non-academic, reliable and comprehensive history of Indonesia that I am aware of (and I did quite a bit of sleuthing). I loved it.
June 21, 2020
“But there is another kind of tangible history, one that cannot easily be corralled to meet the needs of authority. It is there when Indonesians speak of churches or flags or windows and unknowingly use a Portuguese word to do so. It is there when they talk of the exhaust pipe of their car or the washbasin in their bathroom, and use a Dutch term for the purpose; or when they speak of thoughts and breaths and books and schedules and use Arabic words, but then use Sanskrit terms when they describe stories and colour and language, and even simple things like bread and hats. It is there in the words for ‘you’ and ‘me’ in Jakarta patois, lu and gue, which come from the Chinese Hokkien dialect. It is there in the food carts selling Chinese-style noodles and meatballs at every street corner in every town on every island in the country.”
For the first three chapters of Tim Hannigan’s A Brief History of Indonesia, I wanted to fling my Kindle across the room. I found my mind wandering on every sentence. Could this history be any more boring? Could this writing be any more unclear? I was NOT enjoying the early history of Indonesia. At first, I just thought Hannigan was a poor writer. No. I find out later that it was really due to my own failings at not having enough context to make sense of all the names of people and places.
It wasn’t until the Europeans came in Chapter 4 that the book took off for me and I became engrossed in the story of Indonesia. I finally had a historical context to make sense of what was going on and to hold my attention. I know this sounds ethnocentric to you, but I think it’s a fact for anyone reading any kind of foreign history. I don’t feel that way about Chinese history that has no western characters. It’s because I lived in the country and I’ve read enough about it already to have some context.
I loved Hannigan’s writing style. He has this way of ending every paragraph with a cliff hanger. It’s cute.
Indonesia’s colonial and post-colonial history is fascinating. Who could come up with a more messed up colonial power than the Dutch? Who could come up with two more colorful characters than Indonesia’s two presidents, the demagogue Sukarno and the corrupt Suharto? Who knew that 5% of the population of Bali killed each other in 1965?
One criterion I have for distinguishing between a great book and a merely good book is that the great book gives me an “aha” moment—it sparks an idea I have that I can use to understand the broader world or humanity in general. There was a moment in Hannigan’s book that got my mind rolling. It was the description of the Dutch prisoners in a Japanese prison camp. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II, the Japanese had put ALL Dutch civilians in a POW camp. Hannigan describes these Dutch prisoners in their POW camps waiting for the war to be over and for the Japanese to be defeated so that they could go back to their colonial villas, their spice farms, and their colonial lives of being masters and having servants. Little did these people know that this was the end for them. Once the war was over in 1945, after a few years, Indonesia would be independent and they would lose and life as they once knew it would be over. All of this got me thinking of the Buddhist concept of impermanence and how nothing lasts forever. Everything must come to an end. Life is temporary. And then I began to think about the situation in the world now and how we’re all sort of in these quarantine prisons. Economies and countries are shut down. We’re all waiting for this virus and pandemic to be over so that we can go back to our lives. For those who are in the tourism industry like myself, who make their living off of writing travel blogs or shuttling tourists around between sights, we’re waiting for our livelihoods to go back to the way it was. For those who look outward and travel the world, we’re looking for a chance to go back overseas. Yet maybe, just maybe this is it. The world as we know it is over. The digital nomad world is over. That’s it. The world of international travel and cheap airfares and cheap vacations to Thailand and Vietnam is no more. Are we like those Dutch prisoners, just waiting for something that is never going to happen?
I highly recommend this book for anyone traveling to Indonesia or interested in the history of faraway places. Just be patient and try hard to plow through the first three chapters.
For the first three chapters of Tim Hannigan’s A Brief History of Indonesia, I wanted to fling my Kindle across the room. I found my mind wandering on every sentence. Could this history be any more boring? Could this writing be any more unclear? I was NOT enjoying the early history of Indonesia. At first, I just thought Hannigan was a poor writer. No. I find out later that it was really due to my own failings at not having enough context to make sense of all the names of people and places.
It wasn’t until the Europeans came in Chapter 4 that the book took off for me and I became engrossed in the story of Indonesia. I finally had a historical context to make sense of what was going on and to hold my attention. I know this sounds ethnocentric to you, but I think it’s a fact for anyone reading any kind of foreign history. I don’t feel that way about Chinese history that has no western characters. It’s because I lived in the country and I’ve read enough about it already to have some context.
I loved Hannigan’s writing style. He has this way of ending every paragraph with a cliff hanger. It’s cute.
Indonesia’s colonial and post-colonial history is fascinating. Who could come up with a more messed up colonial power than the Dutch? Who could come up with two more colorful characters than Indonesia’s two presidents, the demagogue Sukarno and the corrupt Suharto? Who knew that 5% of the population of Bali killed each other in 1965?
One criterion I have for distinguishing between a great book and a merely good book is that the great book gives me an “aha” moment—it sparks an idea I have that I can use to understand the broader world or humanity in general. There was a moment in Hannigan’s book that got my mind rolling. It was the description of the Dutch prisoners in a Japanese prison camp. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War II, the Japanese had put ALL Dutch civilians in a POW camp. Hannigan describes these Dutch prisoners in their POW camps waiting for the war to be over and for the Japanese to be defeated so that they could go back to their colonial villas, their spice farms, and their colonial lives of being masters and having servants. Little did these people know that this was the end for them. Once the war was over in 1945, after a few years, Indonesia would be independent and they would lose and life as they once knew it would be over. All of this got me thinking of the Buddhist concept of impermanence and how nothing lasts forever. Everything must come to an end. Life is temporary. And then I began to think about the situation in the world now and how we’re all sort of in these quarantine prisons. Economies and countries are shut down. We’re all waiting for this virus and pandemic to be over so that we can go back to our lives. For those who are in the tourism industry like myself, who make their living off of writing travel blogs or shuttling tourists around between sights, we’re waiting for our livelihoods to go back to the way it was. For those who look outward and travel the world, we’re looking for a chance to go back overseas. Yet maybe, just maybe this is it. The world as we know it is over. The digital nomad world is over. That’s it. The world of international travel and cheap airfares and cheap vacations to Thailand and Vietnam is no more. Are we like those Dutch prisoners, just waiting for something that is never going to happen?
I highly recommend this book for anyone traveling to Indonesia or interested in the history of faraway places. Just be patient and try hard to plow through the first three chapters.
September 11, 2018
In 2013, I made a trek out to Indonesia. From my experiences there, I have been fascinated with the largest nation in Southeast Asia ever since. A couple of factors make it a really unique nation: 1) it’s an archipelago, which means it’s made up of a multitude of islands. There aren’t even accurate counts of how many islands there are so that plays in a huge factor. 2) it is the world’s largest Muslim nation, which is interesting because it’s outside of the Middle East which was the genesis of Islam (you’d just think that the largest Muslim nation would be in that area). 3) the climate grows luxury items, such as different spices and coffee, which attracted the colonizing Western European nations. This brought them under the rule of the Dutch very early in their history.
All of this makes for a really interesting read. Early on, I was attracted to the religious history of Indonesia. Obviously, Islam came about around 700 A.D., but Indonesia was actually Buddhist/Hindu for the greater part of their earliest history. When missionary-type Muslims came to Indonesia in the early 7-800’s, Islam spread like wildfire. Except to certain outlying islands, such as Bali (which continues to be Hindu dominant even today). This created a Sultan, who would rule cities or areas, or even islands. That is, until the Dutch came and colonized the island chain. The Dutch sent an expedition to Indonesia and came back with spices like cloves and coffee which they sold for a small fortune in the Netherlands. With interest piqued, hoards of expedition started to set off towards the archipelago with money signs for eyes. What happened after was a colonization of Indonesia. The Dutch set up the East India Company to regulate and rule over the native peoples. Further, a group of men ruled the VOC (it’s the initials for the East India Company in Dutch) and in turn, the island chain.
Rebellion often played a part in Indonesia’s history, as is the case with any subordinate peoples. The VOC crumbled in 1800 and for 20 years, the British ruled Indonesia before relegating it back to the Dutch. From 1825-1830, there was a civil war on the island of Java. The fall out of this was an economic platitude called the “cultivation system”, whereby peasants were forced to work on government regulated farms. All of this was the beginning of a nationalization movement in the early 20th century and eventually autonomy from the Dutch Hegemony.
The 20th century was turbulent for Indonesia. The 1920’s produced massive wealth as seen in other areas of the world. Of course, the global depression and stock market crashed affected Indonesia in a negative way. Infrastructure had been built in those full years, and after the depression many skyscrapers in Jakarta remained empty and uncompleted. Indonesia did not come out of World War II unscathed either. The Japanese took control of Java and therefore the entire country in about 20 hours. The Japanese sent millions to camps. After their eventual surrender, certain nationalists saw this as an opportunity to declare their freedom from the Dutch. In 1945, Indonesia became it’s own nation for the first time since pre-colonial days.
The beginnings of democracy where not as smooth as everyone might have hoped for the up and coming nation. But, as the nation came into the 21st century, there is a lot to be positive for. The economy is flourishing and corruption is being weeded out (although slower than most people would like). It will be interesting to see what a powerhouse this nation will become in the coming years.
All of this makes for a really interesting read. Early on, I was attracted to the religious history of Indonesia. Obviously, Islam came about around 700 A.D., but Indonesia was actually Buddhist/Hindu for the greater part of their earliest history. When missionary-type Muslims came to Indonesia in the early 7-800’s, Islam spread like wildfire. Except to certain outlying islands, such as Bali (which continues to be Hindu dominant even today). This created a Sultan, who would rule cities or areas, or even islands. That is, until the Dutch came and colonized the island chain. The Dutch sent an expedition to Indonesia and came back with spices like cloves and coffee which they sold for a small fortune in the Netherlands. With interest piqued, hoards of expedition started to set off towards the archipelago with money signs for eyes. What happened after was a colonization of Indonesia. The Dutch set up the East India Company to regulate and rule over the native peoples. Further, a group of men ruled the VOC (it’s the initials for the East India Company in Dutch) and in turn, the island chain.
Rebellion often played a part in Indonesia’s history, as is the case with any subordinate peoples. The VOC crumbled in 1800 and for 20 years, the British ruled Indonesia before relegating it back to the Dutch. From 1825-1830, there was a civil war on the island of Java. The fall out of this was an economic platitude called the “cultivation system”, whereby peasants were forced to work on government regulated farms. All of this was the beginning of a nationalization movement in the early 20th century and eventually autonomy from the Dutch Hegemony.
The 20th century was turbulent for Indonesia. The 1920’s produced massive wealth as seen in other areas of the world. Of course, the global depression and stock market crashed affected Indonesia in a negative way. Infrastructure had been built in those full years, and after the depression many skyscrapers in Jakarta remained empty and uncompleted. Indonesia did not come out of World War II unscathed either. The Japanese took control of Java and therefore the entire country in about 20 hours. The Japanese sent millions to camps. After their eventual surrender, certain nationalists saw this as an opportunity to declare their freedom from the Dutch. In 1945, Indonesia became it’s own nation for the first time since pre-colonial days.
The beginnings of democracy where not as smooth as everyone might have hoped for the up and coming nation. But, as the nation came into the 21st century, there is a lot to be positive for. The economy is flourishing and corruption is being weeded out (although slower than most people would like). It will be interesting to see what a powerhouse this nation will become in the coming years.
October 24, 2025
This was great. I loved how the introduction described exactly what the author intended to do. When Hannigan took his first trip to Indonesia, he was surprised to find that there were few general interest history books on the country. Everything was dense and academic, and he couldn't find an easy-reading summary of Indonesian history to put in his backpack.
So eventually, he wrote it. Indonesia's history is surprisingly neglected in the English language. The British didn't colonize the territory, the Dutch did. And unlike the Vietnamese or the Algerian independence struggles, the Indonesian one was mercifully brief enough that it barely came to the wider world's attention. Indonesia has done a pretty good job of flying under the radar. So much so, that I was delighted to find this audio book, the first one I believe I've ever listened to.
I had a sense of the broad framework, but Hannigan has put a lot more meat on that framework. It's always difficult to do a history of a territory consolidated by European empire. Perhaps that's another reason why there are so few Indonesian histories. The author has to pick and choose among a number of stories pre colonization, from different kingdoms that may or may not have anything to do with each other. Hannigan does a good job of giving highlights, and not dwelling too long on this vexed problem, moving on through colonization, independence, and modern politics.
Hannigan has an eye for the telling detail, and lingers where it's appropriate. I had always known that they Dutch were savage, but his darkly comic description of their first representatives in the region really gets their idiot brutality across. I really appreciated the fleshing out of the personality differences between Sukarno and Suharto, the two strongmen who successively ruled the country for half a century after independence. Very worthwhile.
My one quibble was his continued reliance on outside, usually European travelers as framing devices. His experience as a traveler and writer may have made this make sense. In the earlier periods, where these records of travelers may be the best resources available, this approach is sensible. But I felt like he kept dropping out of the story to tell us the perspective of some random gringo, long in to the modern period when that was no longer necessary. A minor quibble, perhaps some will find that approach useful.
Otherwise, a very satisfying introduction to Indonesia's history and its main characters.
So eventually, he wrote it. Indonesia's history is surprisingly neglected in the English language. The British didn't colonize the territory, the Dutch did. And unlike the Vietnamese or the Algerian independence struggles, the Indonesian one was mercifully brief enough that it barely came to the wider world's attention. Indonesia has done a pretty good job of flying under the radar. So much so, that I was delighted to find this audio book, the first one I believe I've ever listened to.
I had a sense of the broad framework, but Hannigan has put a lot more meat on that framework. It's always difficult to do a history of a territory consolidated by European empire. Perhaps that's another reason why there are so few Indonesian histories. The author has to pick and choose among a number of stories pre colonization, from different kingdoms that may or may not have anything to do with each other. Hannigan does a good job of giving highlights, and not dwelling too long on this vexed problem, moving on through colonization, independence, and modern politics.
Hannigan has an eye for the telling detail, and lingers where it's appropriate. I had always known that they Dutch were savage, but his darkly comic description of their first representatives in the region really gets their idiot brutality across. I really appreciated the fleshing out of the personality differences between Sukarno and Suharto, the two strongmen who successively ruled the country for half a century after independence. Very worthwhile.
My one quibble was his continued reliance on outside, usually European travelers as framing devices. His experience as a traveler and writer may have made this make sense. In the earlier periods, where these records of travelers may be the best resources available, this approach is sensible. But I felt like he kept dropping out of the story to tell us the perspective of some random gringo, long in to the modern period when that was no longer necessary. A minor quibble, perhaps some will find that approach useful.
Otherwise, a very satisfying introduction to Indonesia's history and its main characters.
June 25, 2018
I figured out what I didn't like about this book near the end when the author said something like "Indonesia invaded East Timur. America and Australia were not very supportive..." it's a snooze-inducing synecdoche that serves as a good emblem for the crucial failing of what would have otherwise been a very enjoyable book.
Brevity is the main issue here. In fewer than 300 pages this book purports to tell the entire story of the archipelago from pre-civilization all the way to "Epilogue," or "Anything post-2000," which is its own issue. It's an impressive undertaking but one ultimately doomed to fail. It ends up being a boring mishmash of "Famous Person went to Famous Place and did Famous Thing, moving on to the next century we find Famous Person 2..." and many times you find the author summarizing wide swaths of contentious historical debate with a "why not believe the obvious one?" or "either way, this is what happened next..." Which is in its own way sort of forgivable, because how else can you fit such a dense and variegated historical timeline into such a tiny book? But as longitudinally comprehensive as the final product is, I can't over-emphasize how boring and lifeless it becomes as a result. Certain phrased are over-used almost to the point of hilarity (cities "succumb to carnage" every few pages, it seems) and every chapter begins with a feeble and misguided attempt at scene-crafting: "The road unspooled ahead across soft, green countryside...Skeins of cloud hung over the landscape" is actually how one of the chapters begins. Every chapter begins with a single paragraph of regular roads and hills and clouds described with a palpable attempt at "artsyness" before falling back into something more resembling regular narration. It draws so much attention to itself and sponsors many an exhausted eye-roll.
Native voices are surprisingly absent. It's maybe a little easier to forgive when dealing with 16th-century history but it's significantly less forgivable in the late 20th.
I suppose in the end you get what's on the cover. The history certainly was brief, if ultimately drained of human interest, and it was about Indonesia. So there's that.
Brevity is the main issue here. In fewer than 300 pages this book purports to tell the entire story of the archipelago from pre-civilization all the way to "Epilogue," or "Anything post-2000," which is its own issue. It's an impressive undertaking but one ultimately doomed to fail. It ends up being a boring mishmash of "Famous Person went to Famous Place and did Famous Thing, moving on to the next century we find Famous Person 2..." and many times you find the author summarizing wide swaths of contentious historical debate with a "why not believe the obvious one?" or "either way, this is what happened next..." Which is in its own way sort of forgivable, because how else can you fit such a dense and variegated historical timeline into such a tiny book? But as longitudinally comprehensive as the final product is, I can't over-emphasize how boring and lifeless it becomes as a result. Certain phrased are over-used almost to the point of hilarity (cities "succumb to carnage" every few pages, it seems) and every chapter begins with a feeble and misguided attempt at scene-crafting: "The road unspooled ahead across soft, green countryside...Skeins of cloud hung over the landscape" is actually how one of the chapters begins. Every chapter begins with a single paragraph of regular roads and hills and clouds described with a palpable attempt at "artsyness" before falling back into something more resembling regular narration. It draws so much attention to itself and sponsors many an exhausted eye-roll.
Native voices are surprisingly absent. It's maybe a little easier to forgive when dealing with 16th-century history but it's significantly less forgivable in the late 20th.
I suppose in the end you get what's on the cover. The history certainly was brief, if ultimately drained of human interest, and it was about Indonesia. So there's that.
July 15, 2019
I do a significant amount of rewarding manual labor and driving for my job, which means I consume a lot of pop histories. Pop histories rule because they provide a convenient index for more in-depth analysis later. For example, a pop history of the banana provides entry points for corporate colonialism in Latin America, modern food marketing, supply chain management, genetics and cuisine. I can smoke a bowl and read through two dozen related wikipedia articles, then dig into a single-subject analysis and poof! I have learned something about the world.
Indonesia provides a fascinating subject for a pop history--the nation is colossal, insanely heterodox, impossibly polyglot and the fourth-most populous on the planet. A true confection of colonial politics, the story of Indonesia is a story of the failures of the enlightenment and modern capitalism.
Mr. Hannigan sets out at a breakneck pace to cover a three-thousand year span of history that sees hinduism over take ancestor worship and animism to be supplanted by buddhist-hinduism (primarily as a vehicle for adopting new ideas of statehood) to eventually be overtaken by Islam through trade-based conversion. While this is happening trade with India and China are introducing new concepts and technologies and Portuguese, Dutch and British colonialism provide brutal modernizing projects and infrastructure while also cementing a class-system based on mercantile exploitation. Also Japan occupied the islands for most of WWII and the modern state was largely a success story from the perspective of international politics. Truly insane stuff.
Anyway Mr. Hannigan's desire to cover the broad political, ethnic, religious and commercial movements over 3,000 years means he had to limit his focus, spending most of his time on the islands of Bali, Borneo, Sumatra and Java, and his attention to detail on the human side of things is somewhat limited (though that could be from lack of documentary evidence).
Excellent introduction to Indonesia, I wish the author hadn't used the word "fiery" so much. I hope to one day visit.
Indonesia provides a fascinating subject for a pop history--the nation is colossal, insanely heterodox, impossibly polyglot and the fourth-most populous on the planet. A true confection of colonial politics, the story of Indonesia is a story of the failures of the enlightenment and modern capitalism.
Mr. Hannigan sets out at a breakneck pace to cover a three-thousand year span of history that sees hinduism over take ancestor worship and animism to be supplanted by buddhist-hinduism (primarily as a vehicle for adopting new ideas of statehood) to eventually be overtaken by Islam through trade-based conversion. While this is happening trade with India and China are introducing new concepts and technologies and Portuguese, Dutch and British colonialism provide brutal modernizing projects and infrastructure while also cementing a class-system based on mercantile exploitation. Also Japan occupied the islands for most of WWII and the modern state was largely a success story from the perspective of international politics. Truly insane stuff.
Anyway Mr. Hannigan's desire to cover the broad political, ethnic, religious and commercial movements over 3,000 years means he had to limit his focus, spending most of his time on the islands of Bali, Borneo, Sumatra and Java, and his attention to detail on the human side of things is somewhat limited (though that could be from lack of documentary evidence).
Excellent introduction to Indonesia, I wish the author hadn't used the word "fiery" so much. I hope to one day visit.
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