| Summary: | This book is a comprehensive introductory text on the history of Indonesia since the arrival of Islam ca.1300 to the present day. An essential narrative of political history is provided together with details of social, cultural and economic affairs. Emphasis is given to the history of the Indonesian people themselves against the background of the formation of the Indonesian nation by an amalgamation of diverse but related ethnic communities. The whole period since the coming of Islam is surveyed with particular attention to major influences such as: the spread of Islam; cultural traditions; Dutch colonisation; Islamic revivalism; anti-colonialism and independence. This book will assist the serious study of the past and present of a state which is the most populous of Southeast Asia and of the Islamic world, a major oil producer and yet one of the poorest nations on earth. In this, the second edition, Professor Ricklefs includes further historiography and relevant facts since the book's first publication in 1981, bringing his history of Indonesia completely up-to-date
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