Migration movements to the Indonesian archipelago took place CIRCA 3,000. Of Mongloid origin, it is believed that these migrants introduced new Stone, Bronze and Iron Age cultures as well as the Austronesian language.
Indonesia came under the influence of Indian civilization through the gradual influx of Indian traders during the first century A.D. when great Hindu and Buddhist empires were beginning to emerge. By the seventh century, the powerful Buddhist Kingdom of Sriwijaya was expanding and it is thought that during this period the spectacular Borobudur Buddhist sanctuary was built in Central Java.
During the seventh century, the powerful Buddhist and Hindu empires challenged each other for supremacy in Indonesia: the Buddhist Srivijaya were centered in Sumatra, while the Hindu Mataram located their capital on Java. The rich architectural and cultural legacy that remains from that time forms the basis for Indonesia's national identity. In the thirteenth century, the Hindu Majapahit of Java faced a strong challenge from Muslim forces, which spread south from the Malay peninsula. Slowly losing ground, the Hindus retreated to Bali, where they remain today. The rest of the islands with the exception of Irian Jaya became Muslim, and various sultanates were established.
The 13th century saw the rise of the fabulous Majapahit Hindu empire in East Java, which united the whole of what is now modern day Indonesia (although it did not extend that control over the vast island of New Guinea/West Papua. Indeed, Its control was limited to some of the outer islands and coastal areas.)and parts of the Malay peninsula ruling for two centuries.
First recorded attempts to invade Indonesia were by the notorious Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan who was driven back in 1293. Arab traders and merchants laid the foundations for the gradual spread of Islam to the region which did not replace Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religions until the end of the 16th century. Small Moslem kingdoms developed and grew but none anticipated the strength and persistence of European invasions which followed.
In 1292, Marco Polo became one of the first recorded Europeans to set foot on the islands, but it wasn't until much later that the Portuguese arrived in pursuit of spices. In 1509, Portuguese trading posts were established in the strategic commercial center of Malacca on the Malay peninsula and it was from here that they began to control trade routes. The Dutch followed at the turn of the 16th century and succeeded in ousting the Portuguese to easternmost islands where some ports were controlled by another major European power, Spain. The Dutch expanded their control of the entire area into the 17th and 18th centuries and retained it for the most part until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
The Dutch East Indies, as it was known at this time, fell under British rule for a short period during the Napoleons Wars of 1811-1816, when Holland was occupied by France and Dutch power overseas was limited. While under British control the Lt. Governor for Java and its dependencies was Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who was known for his liberal attitude towards the people under colonial rule and his research on the history of Java. With the return of the Dutch a relative calm was interrupted by long and bloody wars launched by the local people against the Dutch colonial government. This revolt was led by Javanese Prince Diponegoro in 1825. It was from this that the the independence movements of the 20th century, became stronger and more purposeful.
The surrender of the Japanese in 1945 signaled the end of the Second World War in Asia and also the start of independence. In the wake of global perceptions of freedom Indonesia proclaimed its independence on August 17 of that same year. Under the auspices of the United Nations at the Hague an agreement was finally reached on December 9, 1949. It was from this time that Indonesia's sovereignty was officially recognized.
It is not known for sure where the Irianese originated. There are two basic ethnicities native to Irian - the negroid peoples and those of Melanesian stock. It is thought that the Negritos settled on the island first, probably some 30,000 years ago, followed by those of Melanesian stock. One theory is that the bulk of Irianese came from East Africa and were pushed interior by successive migrations. Irian Jaya first finds its way (in any significant manner ) into Western History books in 1545 when the Spaniard Ynigo Ortiz de Retes stumbled upon it. Prior to his sighting, Irian was already known to various Indonesian Empires. Indeed, the Majapahit empire and the Tidore empire) raided the West Coast - What is now called Biak and the Birds head - for slaves. However, those people were not above slave trading themselves and in turn often raided westwards into East Timor and as far as Java.
In 1883 the island of New Guinea was partitioned by three Western powers, the Dutch claiming the western half, while the Germans and British divided the eastern half into German New Guinea in the north and British Papua in the south. When he Republic of Indonesia was created in 1949 the Netherlands granted independence to the colonised peoples of the former Dutch East Indies. West New Guinea however, due to its distinct Melanesian population and cultural characteristics, was retained as a colony by the Dutch and during the 1950s the Dutch government prepared the territory for independence. President Sukarno meanwhile consistently maintained Indonesia's claim to all former territory of the Dutch, and when his demands were not met armed conflict ensued from 1962.
Under pressure from the United States to come to terms with Indonesia, the Dutch agreed to secret negotiations. In August 1962 an agreement was concluded in New York between the Netherlands and Indonesia, under which the Dutch were to leave West New Guinea and transfer sovereignty to UNTEA (the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority), for a period of six years until a national vote was to be conducted to determine Papuan preference for independence, or integration with Indonesia. Almost immediately however, Indonesia took over the administration from UNTEA. A referendum was held in 1969, and the UN sanctioned a vote by 1025 handpicked electors, who allegedly chose to "remain with Indonesia".
The UN Representative sent to observe the election process produced a report which outlined various and serious violations of the New York Agreement. In spite of the "duly noted" report and in spite also of testimonials from the press, the opposition of fifteen countries and the cries of help and justice from the Papuans themselves, West Irian was handed over to Indonesia in November 1969. The inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, across the border, achieved full independence in 1975.
For more information and datesvisit here
Irian had for many years produced significant amounts of oil for Anglo/Dutch firm Shell amongst others. However it was not until 1967 that the massive reserve of copper at Mt Carstenz was first exploited by the Freeport McMoRan company of Louisiana, which had been granted mining rights by General Soeharto shortly after coming to office. The huge Freeport mine holds copper and gold reserves worth at least US $40 billion. Yet with political control and a twenty per cent share held in Jakarta, and USA-based Freeport and the giant RTZ company of the UK owning the dominant eighty per cent share in the mine, very little of the mineral revenue returns to West Papua and only a small proportion directly benefits the native Papuans.
There appears to be little planning given to long term sustainable economic development, with a rapid increase more recently in new mining and logging projects. Of the 41.5 million hectares of forest in Irian Jaya, over 27.6 million hectares have been designated as production forest. Indonesian law enables the Government to act virtually as it pleases with respect to the resource rights of the West Papuan tribal people. Transmigration, comrnercial logging, mining and other government-sponsored programs are considered to be in the interests of the nation, and take priority over any local land claims.
The forcible removal from traditional lands, coupled with the inherent differences between traditional and industrial culture, often causes indigenous communities to react with open hostility. "Enclave" type developments in the timber, mineral and oil sector, provide the Indonesian Government with the bulk of its foreign exchange earnings in eastern Indonesia. There is a close association of military personnel with such projects.
The population of West Papua is estimated at approximately 1,800,000. There is estimated to be 770,000 migrants now living in the province, mainly landless Javanese, sponsored and unsponsored, encouraged to move to West Papua under the government's Transmigration program. Under this national program of population resettlement, the province of West Papua is now the largest recipient of migrants transported from other islands such as Java, Bali and Sulawesi. The most extensive migration program in history, the Indonesian government's Trans-migration program has contributed to West Papua having one of the country's highest provincial population growth rates. There is also considerably greater pressure on the natural environment due to land clearance, legal and illegal, poaching and encroachment by settlers into nature reserves. West Papua's population was 85 per cent Christian before the annexation. This number has declined in the past few years.
The province has the poorest health standards of all twenty seven Indonesian provinces, including the highest infant mortality and maternal mortality rates. The average yearly provincial health department budget is only AUD $1.3 million. According to a 1995 United Nations index, of all the ASEAN countries Indonesia has the lowest quality of life, yet the statistics for Irian Jaya are by far the lowest in the country. This index includes longevity, measured by life expectancy, knowledge, measured by years of schooling, and standard of living, measured by purchasing power.
The people of West Papua are composed of various language groups, such as the Dani of the Baliem Valley in the central highlands, the Asmat of the southern, coastal region and the Ekari of the Wissel Lakes region. There are at least 250 main languages spoken by the indigenous people, reflecting the isolation and small numbers of many of the tribes. However, the long term policy of the Indonesian government is the universal use of Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia. This is taught in West Papua's schools from grade one onwards, whereas in other provinces of Indonesia the first three years of instruction at primary level are given in the local vernacular. The percentage of illiteracy for West Papua is nearly double the national average and quoted as 30.5 with a rate of 81.5 in the highlands district.
The destruction of West Papua's culture and environment is taking place with the full knowledge of the governments of the Western nations, protecting the business interests of numerous large multi-national corporations active in West Papua. Throughout the period of Indonesian government rule, President Soeharto and his associates have exploited the resources of West Papua in the worst tradition of military-based, authoritarian governments, and have sought to keep the issue hidden from the outside world. With a highly controlled Indonesian press and restrictions on movement within the province, geographical remoteness and difficulties of access have combined to make West Papua the silent genocide of modern times.
Irian possesses the worlds deepest natural harbour (Humboldt Harbour, Jayapura), has the only permanent Glacier of any tropical Island (and permanent glaciers are not exactly common anywhere in the tropics), (and including New Guinea) the largest single tract of rainforest in the world (excluding the obvious Amazon) and 1/4 of the worlds known languages (800) as well as numerous dialects. Also famous are the Asmat art, the various cannibalistic practices (still carried on in some parts) and the existence of unusual flora and fauna. One interesting geographical landmark is Lake Sentani which though freshwater, was once salt water-with the result that one used to be able to catch freshwater sword fish and sharks etc there. General Douglas McArthur also used Sentani (On the coast of Irian) as a HQ during his Island hopping campaign of WW2. It is also the second biggest Island in the world.
Information was taken from a number of sources. Please see the Bibliography (recommended reading) link from the main site for the full list. Much of the historical information on Indonesia was taken from a now defunct website. The Papuan history was taken from the book Koreri (Freerk Kamma, Koreri - Messianic movements in the Biak - Numfor Culture Area ,
The Hague, Holland: JN Voorhoeve, 1954)