An Illustrated History of Indonesia describes the history of Indonesia from prehistoric times up to the present day. The narrative is an amalgam of Indonesia's own original traditions, most of Asia's great faiths and civilisations and 450-odd years of Western colonialism. Its turbulent passage since independence has produced a country with enormous potential for the future. Ray Canoy examines how today's reasonably strong state has emerged from this history to mediate between an extremely diverse array of cultures, ethnic groups and socioeconomic actors across the world's largest archipelago. The first chapters follow Indonesians from the prehistoric Austronesian-speaking population waves that settled the islands, on to the Hindu-Buddhist high cultures that gave its early political centres a lasting heritage. Later chapters then describe the trade-driven advents of Islam and the West, the Dutch colonial experience, the post-colonial struggles between democracy and autocracy in the Sukarno and Suharto eras, and finally the country's ongoing efforts to find a path after dictatorship to decentralised growth and pluralism in the twenty-first century. Alongside the main text, the book features boxed panels on specific topics of interest, bespoke maps and a detailed timeline. Together these offer the reader a chance to engage with Indonesia's past, from the post-glacial birth of the archipelago to today's emerging post-Western global order.
