Portal:Indonesia/Intro
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Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a nation of islands consisting of almost 18,000 islands located in the South East Asian Archipelago. From the city of Sabang to Merauke to east about 5000 km and from the Island of Miangas to the Islands of Rote to south about 1000 km, Indonesia respects its diversity with the motto Bhineka Tunggal Ika or "Unity in Diversity". Jakarta, the nation's capital city is located on island of Java, which is one of the five most populated Indonesian islands, along with Sumatra, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi and New Guinea.
Since the seventeenth century, the archipelago has been inhabited by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, mainly for exploration and trading. Later, these countries demanded more than just spices and started colonising Indonesia. The Dutch ruled Indonesia for more than 300 years and in 1942, the Japanese arrived in Indonesia and ruled for three years.
Indonesia declared its independence from the Japanese on August 17, 1945. The country has more than 200 million citizens and is the most populous Muslim-majority nation. Currently, Indonesia is trying to recover after a series of disasters such as the 2004 Tsunami and 2006 Java earthquake.
