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Indonesia is the common and official name to refer to theRepublic of Indonesia orIndonesian Archipelago; however, other names, such asEast Indies, are also known. Some names are considered obsolete and confined to certain periods of history, while some might be more geographically specific or general.
On identifying geographical names of their lands, theIndonesian natives seldom transcend their traditional boundaries, which is relatively small confined in their tribal environs. There are around1,300 distinct native ethnic groups in Indonesia, and742 different languages,[1][2] which add to the complexity and nonconformity on the naming of the region. The concept of identifying the whole archipelagic region that today forms Indonesia with a single name was unknown then. Geographical names usually applied to individual islands, such asJava, one of the earliest identified islands in the Indonesian archipelago. It was foreign traders and explorers fromIndia,China, theMiddle East, andEurope who finally chose the names of this region.
The following ancient names were originally the names for some of the islands in present-day Indonesia (aspars pro toto).
The island ofJava was the earliest island within Indonesia to be identified by the geographers of the outside world. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned inIndia's earliest epic, theRamayana. It was mentioned thatSugriva, the chief ofRama's army, dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in search ofSita.[3]
Suvarnadvipa, "Golden Island", may have been used as a vague general designation of an extensive region in Southeast Asia, but over time, different parts of that area came to be designated by the additional epithets of island, peninsula or city.[4] In contrast, the ancient name for theIndian subcontinent and its culturally familiar surrounding regions isBhāratavarsha or Bhāratakhanda.[5] In ancient Indonesia, the nameSuvarnadvipa is used to designateSumatra island; as counterpart of neighbouringJavadvipa orBhumijava (Java island). Both Java and Sumatra are the principal islands in Indonesian history.
The great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned inPtolemy'sGeographia composed around 150 CE in theRoman Empire. Iabadiu is said to mean "barley island", to be rich ingold, and have asilver town called Argyra at the west end. The name indicated Java,[6] and seems to be derived from the Hindu name Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa). Despite the name's indicating Java, many suggest that it refers toSumatra instead.[6]
The following names were originally the names present day Indonesia and several other surrounding states (astotum pro parte). They are mostlyexonyms.
Eighth-centuryArab geographers identified the whole Maritime Southeast Asian region as "Jawi" (Arabic:جاوي). The word "Jawi" (جاوي) is anadjective for the ArabicnounJawah (جاوة). Both terms may originate from anIndian source, the term "Javadvipa", the ancient name for Java, or from Javanese source because (Javanese:ꦗꦮꦶ,romanized: jawi) is theJavanese Krama form of the word (Javanese:ꦗꦮ,romanized: jawa) to meanJava (geographically:ꦠꦤꦃꦗꦮꦶ, romanized:tanah Jawi, or ethnically:ꦠꦶꦪꦁꦗꦮꦶ, romanized:tiyang Jawi).[7][8] "Jawah" and "Jawi" may have been used by the Arabs as catch-all terms referring to the entire Maritime Southeast Asia and its peoples.[9] Today, the term Jawi is also used to describe theJawi alphabet, theArabic script that has been used and modified to write in Southeast Asian languages, especiallyMalay.
Nanyang (南洋) (literally meaning "Southern Ocean"), is aChinese term denoting the greaterMaritime Southeast Asia region not only Indonesia, but also includingMalaysia,Philippines,Singapore, andBrunei, but usually excluding other mainland Southeast Asian nations, especially the other nations on theIndochinese peninsula. It came into common usage in self-reference to the large ethnic Chinese migrant population in Southeast Asia.Nanyang is contrasted withDongyang (Eastern Ocean), which refers toJapan.
Insulindia or Insulinde, is an archaic geographical term[10][11][12] for Maritime Southeast Asia, encompassing the entire area situated betweenAustralasia andIndochina.[13] More common inPortuguese andSpanish,[14][15][16] it is a combined word (portmanteau) frominsula ("island") andindia (India).
The following names wereendonym alternatives to "Indonesia".
The Sunda Islands are agroup of islands in theIndonesian Archipelago.[17] They consist of theGreater Sunda Islands (roughly western part of present Indonesia) and theLesser Sunda Islands (roughly southeastern part of present Indonesia).
The Sunda Islands are divided between four countries, namelyBrunei,East Timor,Indonesia andMalaysia. The majority of these islands fall under the jurisdiction of Indonesia.Borneo is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.Timor Island is divided between East Timor and Indonesia. Two small islands also belong to East Timor.
Sunda (Sundanese:ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ,romanized: sunda) is the name of the ethnic group living in western part of Java Island. Today the Sundanese are the second largest such group in Indonesia after the Javanese.
Nusantara is anIndonesian word for theIndonesian archipelago.[18] It originated fromOld Javanese and literally means "archipelago".[19] The name derived from the Old Javanese words.
The word Nusantara was taken from an oath byGajah Mada in 1336, as written on an oldJavanese manuscriptPararaton andNegarakertagama.[20] Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader andprime minister of theMajapahit Empire who was credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada delivered an oath calledSumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat any food containingspices until he had conquered all of Nusantara under Majapahit.
In 1920,Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879–1950), proposed "Nusantara" as a new name for this country instead of "Indonesia". He argued that the name was more indigenously developed, which did not contain any words etymologically inherited from the nameIndies,Indus orIndia.[21] This is the first instance of the termNusantara appearing after it had been written in Pararaton manuscript.
The definition of Nusantara introduced by Douwes Dekker is different from its 14th century definition. During theMajapahit era, Nusantara was described as vassal areas to be conquered, the overseas possessions of Majapahit, in contrast withNegara Agung or the core of Majapahit. However, Douwes Dekker did not want this aggressive connotation, so he defined Nusantara as all the Indonesian regions fromSabang as far asMerauke. Although Douwes Dekker's proposal did not succeed, and the name "Indonesia" remained in use for the nation's name, the name "Nusantara" has been widely used in literature, printed and broadcast news materials and popular publications, thus it has become thesynonym for Indonesia.Nusantara was chosen as the name for the new capital city of Indonesia.
Starting withHindia-Belanda, academics began to refer the present day Indonesia with a single term. After the 1945 independence, the country officially adopted Indonesia as its formal name.
The term "the Indies" derived from theIndus River flowing through modern-dayPakistan, India and westernTibet. It was applied by the ancient Greeks to most of the regions ofAsia to the east ofPersia. This usage dates at least from the time ofHerodotus, in the 5th century BC (seeNames of India). The term "Indies" was first used by European geographers to identify the geographic region of theIndian subcontinent, and the islands beyond.
After thediscovery of America, the term was modified to include "east", to distinguish the area from the area associated with Columbus' discoveries, called theWest Indies. During theAge of Discovery in the 16th century, "East Indies" became a term used byEuropeans to identify what is now known asIndian subcontinent orSouth Asia,Southeastern Asia, and the islands ofOceania and Maritime Southeast Asia.[22] During that era, the East Indies portion now called "Indonesia" fell under Dutch colonial control and therefore was referred to asDutch East Indies.
Indonesia derives fromAncient GreekIndus (Ἰνδός), meaning "Indian Ocean", andnésos (νῆσος), meaning "island".[23] The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia.[24] In 1850,George Windsor Earl, an Englishethnologist, proposed the termsIndunesians — and, his preference,Malayunesians — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".[25] In the same publication, a student of Earl's,James Richardson Logan, usedIndonesia as a synonym forIndian Archipelago.[25][26] However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to useIndonesia. Instead, they used the termsMalay Archipelago (Maleische Archipel); theNetherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularlyIndië;the East (de Oost); andInsulinde.[27]
After 1900, the nameIndonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression.[27]Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularised the name through his bookIndonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name wasSuwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands,Indonesisch Pers-bureau, in 1913.[24] Between 1910 and 1915, Swiss linguist,Renward Brandstetter wroteAn Introduction to Indonesian Linguistics in 4 essays, which was translated into English in 1916. It talked about the various similarities between languages in the region, and pioneered the concept of Common Indonesian [words] and Original Indonesian [words].
Although the name was originally meant for scientific purposes, on 28 October 1928, the name "Indonesia" gained more political significance when the native pro-independence nationalist youth in the Dutch East Indies declared theYouth Pledge, acknowledging Indonesia as one motherland, one nation, and upholdingIndonesian as the language of unity.[28]
Malayunesia is another name next toIndunesia that was proposed byGeorge Samuel Windsor Earl to identify the archipelago.[29] It was a Greek translation of theMalay Archipelago also connected to the concept ofMalay race, the inhabitant of the archipelago. It was said that Windsor Earl prefer the name Malayunesia (Malay Archipelago) instead of Indunesia (Indian Archipelago), because Malayunesia is an appropriate name for the Malay archipelago, while Indunesia can also refer to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Maldives. He also argues thatMalay language is spoken throughout the archipelago.[citation needed]
Some literature works and poems describe Indonesia in eloquent poetic names, such asZamrud Khatulistiwa ("Equatorial Emerald" or "Emerald of the Equator"), which refers to Indonesian green and lushtropical rainforest as theemeralds, as well as the geographic position of Indonesia, along theequator. It was originally from the Dutch phraseGordel van Smaragd ("Emerald of the Tropic") which was coined byMultatuli (a pen name used by Eduard Douwes Dekker, a 19th-centuryDutch writer, who described Dutch East Indies as"'t prachtig ryk van Insulinde dat zich daar slingert om den evenaar, als een gordel van smaragd" ("the beautiful empire of Insulinde that girdles the equator like a belt of emerald").[30]
Other local epithets such asBumi Pertiwi ("Land of Earth orMother Earth"), refer to Indonesia through itsnational personification,Ibu Pertiwi, andTanah Air (Indonesian lit: "soil and water"), an Indonesian word for "homeland", motherland, ormother country.
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