History of Indonesia: Timeline, Rulers & Map

1,800,000 BCE – 201 BCE

Prehistory & Austronesian Era

Homo erectus lived on Java for at least 1.5 million years, and Java Man was found at Trinil in 1891, while Sulawesi cave paintings are dated to at least 45,500 years. Austronesian seafarers, believed to have come from Taiwan around 2000 BCE, brought rice farming, boats and languages.

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c. 1.5–1.66 million years ago Homo erectus at Sangiran Sangiran, a dome-shaped area of eroded deposits about 15 km north of Surakarta in Central Java, preserves some of the oldest traces of people in Indonesia.
at least 65,000 years ago (estimate) First seafarers cross Wallacea to Sahul Sometime at least 65,000 years ago, according to current estimates, people moved from the Sunda shelf through the islands of Wallacea and reached Sahul, the Pleistocene landmass joining New Guinea, Australia and the Aru Islands.
c. 40,000 years ago The Lubang Jeriji Saléh bull of Borneo In Lubang Jeriji Saléh, a cave in the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat karst of East Kutai Regency in East Kalimantan, an artist painted a red-orange banteng bull more than 1.5 metres across.
c. 3000 BCE–1300 CE (broad range) Megalith carvers of the Lore Lindu valleys In the Napu, Behoa and Bada valleys of Central Sulawesi, in and around what is now Lore Lindu National Park, stand more than 400 granite megaliths.
c. 300 BCE The Moon of Pejeng drum of Bali The Moon of Pejeng is a bronze kettle drum kept at the Pura Penataran Sasih temple in Pejeng, near Ubud on Bali.

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200 BCE – 670

Early Kingdoms

Sanskrit sources name Yawadvipa by about 200 BCE, and the Kutai yupa pillars and Tarumanagara inscriptions are the oldest written records of the archipelago. Faxian stayed on Ye-po-ti, probably western Java, in 412-413 CE, while Kalingga and Tarumanagara flourished before Srivijaya rose.

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c. 2nd century BCE onward Archipelagic ports join the Maritime Silk Road The Maritime Silk Road began by the 2nd century BCE, growing out of older Austronesian jade and spice networks, and it flourished until the 15th century CE. Chinese ceramics first entered Southeast Asia through these routes in the 2nd century BCE. The Indonesian archipelago sat astride the sea lanes between India and China.
c. 1st–2nd century CE Ptolemy names the island of Iabadiu In his Geographia, compiled around 150 CE, the Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy recorded an island called Iabadiu, also given as Sabadibai.
c. late 4th century CE The Yupa inscriptions of Kutai On the Mahakam River in what is now East Kalimantan, seven stone pillars called yupa, meaning sacrificial posts, were inscribed in Sanskrit in Pallava script with a record of a gift to Brahmin priests.
c. mid-5th century CE The Tugu inscription records a canal project The Tugu inscription, a roughly one-metre egg-shaped stone found in Batutumbuh hamlet, Tugu village, Koja, North Jakarta, records canal works ordered by King Purnawarman in the 22nd year of his reign.
669–670 CE (disputed) Sunda and Galuh emerge from Tarumanagara Tarumanagara is believed to have ended in 669 CE, according to its article's summary, although the text suggests around 686.

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671 – 1292

Srivijaya & Classical Java

Srivijaya rose at Palembang from 682-683 and dominated the Strait of Malacca until the Chola raid of 1025, while Mataram's Sailendra and Sanjaya dynasties built Borobudur and Prambanan in Central Java. Airlangga and Singhasari followed in East Java before 1292.

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671 Yijing Studies at Srivijaya In 671 the Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing left Guangzhou on a merchant ship bound for India and called at Srivijaya on the Sumatran coast.
traditionally 840 CE Traditional Foundation of the Peureulak Sultanate Later Acehnese tradition dates the founding of the Peureulak (Perlak) sultanate to 840 CE, equivalent to 1 Muharram 225 in the Islamic calendar, in what is now East Aceh Regency.
990 Dharmawangsa's Naval Attack on Srivijaya In 990 the East Javanese kingdom of Medang under Dharmawangsa sent a naval expedition against Srivijaya in Sumatra aiming to capture Palembang.
c. 1225 Zhu Fan Zhi Describes Southeast Asian Trade Around 1225 the Song dynasty official Zhao Rukuo completed the Zhu Fan Zhi, a description of foreign peoples and products compiled while he supervised maritime trade at Quanzhou.
May–June 1292 Marco Polo Visits North Sumatra In 1292 Marco Polo sailed from Quanzhou in a fleet of fourteen junks escorting a Mongol princess to Persia.

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1293 – 1527

Majapahit

Raden Wijaya founded Majapahit in 1293, and under Hayam Wuruk the Nagarakretagama of 1365 listed about 98 tributaries from Sumatra to New Guinea, though direct rule reached only East Java and Bali. Demak, a former vassal, took over around 1527 as Islam spread along coastal ports.

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10 November 1293 Coronation of Majapahit's first king On 10 November 1293 (the fifteenth day of Kartika, Saka 1215) Raden Wijaya was consecrated as Kertarajasa Jayawardhana, the first king of Majapahit.
1350 Hayam Wuruk becomes king of Majapahit In 1350 Hayam Wuruk, aged about sixteen, succeeded his mother Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi as king of Majapahit, taking the regnal name Sri Rajasanagara.
c. 1475–1481 Demak emerges as the first Javanese sultanate Demak, on the north coast of Central Java, was founded as an Islamic sultanate by Raden Patah, a Javanese noble of Majapahit descent.
1512 Tome Pires writes the Suma Oriental Between 1512 and 1515 the Portuguese apothecary Tomé Pires wrote the Suma Oriental in Malacca and India, finishing it before Afonso de Albuquerque's death in December 1515.
1527 End of Majapahit Handbooks conventionally date the end of Majapahit to 1527, when Demak invaded and overran the remnants of the old kingdom.

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1528 – 1601

Islamic Sultanates & European Arrival

Banten, Aceh, Ternate, Gowa and Mataram rose as Islamic powers, and Ternate under Baabullah expelled the Portuguese from Maluku in 1575 after a five-year siege. Portuguese ships from Malacca had reached the islands in 1512, and Dutch merchants arrived in 1596 (from memory).

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22 April 1529 Treaty of Zaragoza On 22 April 1529, Portugal and Castile signed the Treaty of Zaragoza, settling their dispute over the Moluccas.
1549 (956 AH) Menara Kudus Mosque founded The Menara Kudus Mosque in Kudus, Central Java, was founded in 1549 (956 AH) according to an inscription over its mihrab.
28 February 1570 (some accounts 25 February) Sultan Hairun murdered at Ternate In February 1570 Sultan Hairun of Ternate was summoned to the Portuguese fort of São João Baptista after a failed reconciliation with the captain Diogo Lopes de Mesquita.
1579 (some accounts: 1550s) Francis Drake visits Ternate In late 1579 the Golden Hind reached the Moluccas on the English circumnavigation of 1577 to 1580.
11 September 1599 Aceh defeats Houtman and negotiates with the Dutch In 1599, on a second voyage for a different company, Cornelis de Houtman arrived in Aceh.

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1602 – 1799

Voc Era

The Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1602, founded Batavia on 30 May 1619, conquered Banda in 1621, broke Gowa in 1669 and took cessions from Mataram until the Treaty of Giyanti of 1755 split it. Mounting debts led to nationalisation of the company on 31 December 1799.

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20 March 1602 Founding of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) On 20 March 1602 the States General of the Dutch Republic chartered the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC, by merging several competing voyage companies.
31 July 1652 Clove Eradication Agreement with Ternate and the Great Ambon War On 31 July 1652 the sultan of Ternate agreed with the VOC to destroy all clove trees in Ternate and to end Ternate's governorship over the Ambon-area dependencies, in exchange for an annual payment of 12,000 rijksdaalders.
1686 Untung Surapati Defeats Dutch Force at Kartasura In 1686 a VOC captain, François Tack, came to the Mataram court at Kartasura to demand that Untung Surapati be handed over.
10 August 1744 Buitenzorg Country Residence Begun at Bogor On 10 August 1744 Governor-General Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff found a site in the village of Kampong Baroe and ordered a mansion built there.
1787 Banjar Becomes a Dutch Protectorate In 1787, after the VOC had defeated the attack by a rival prince, Amir, who had come with Bugis forces in 1757, Banjar became a Dutch protectorate, according to Wikipedia, and Amir was exiled to Sri Lanka.

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1800 – 1900

Dutch East Indies: Colonial State

After the British interregnum of 1811-1816, the Java War of 1825-1830 and the Cultivation System of 1830-1870 consolidated Dutch rule on Java, while campaigns in Sumatra, Bali, Lombok and Aceh expanded it. The Aceh War from 1873 and the Lombok conquest of 1894 marked the outer-island frontier.

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1 January 1800 (charter expired 31 December 1799) Dutch state takes over the bankrupt VOC On 31 December 1799 the charter of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was allowed to expire, and its territories, forts, ships and debts passed to the Batavian Republic.
June 1821 Dutch forces take Palembang and end its sultanate In June 1821 a Dutch expedition under General Hendrik Merkus de Kock defeated the defenders of Palembang in southern Sumatra and annexed the city.
April 1859 – c. 1905 Banjarmasin War begins in southern Borneo At the end of April 1859 Colonel Augustus Johannes Andresen landed Dutch forces in Banjarmasin in southern Borneo and took military command on 29 April.
1884–1885 Dutch end the Lanfang Chinese kongsi republic In 1884 the Dutch conquered the Lanfang Kongsi (Lanfang Republic), a self-governing Chinese mining federation in West Borneo with its capital at Mandor.
17 March 1900 Chinese Indonesians found the Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan On 17 March 1900 the Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan (THHK, Chinese Association) was founded in Batavia as an Indonesian Chinese organisation.

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1901 – 1941

Ethical Policy & National Awakening

The Ethical Policy of 1901 coincided with Dutch conquest of the last independent states, such as Bali in 1906 and 1908, and with nationalist groups from Budi Utomo in 1908 to Sarekat Islam in 1912. The 1930 census counted 60,727,233 people in the Dutch East Indies.

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17 September 1901 The Dutch Ethical Policy is announced In September 1901 the Dutch government used the annual opening of parliament in The Hague to proclaim a moral obligation toward the inhabitants of the Dutch East Indies.
19 September 1912 Muhammadiyah founded in Yogyakarta On 18 November 1912 Ahmad Dahlan, a religious official at the Yogyakarta court who had studied in Mecca, founded Muhammadiyah in the sultanate's capital.
1925 Perhimpunan Indonesia adopts an anti-colonial manifesto In 1925 the Indonesian students' association in the Netherlands, which had begun in 1908 as the Indische Vereeniging, took the name Perhimpoenan Indonesia and adopted a manifesto calling for independence.
28 October 1928 Indonesia Raya is first played in public On 28 October 1928, at the close of the Second Youth Congress in Batavia, Wage Rudolf Supratman played his song 'Indonesia' on the violin.
21 May 1939 GAPI demands an Indonesian parliament On 21 May 1939 eight nationalist parties formed the Indonesian Political Federation, known as GAPI, under Mohammad Husni Thamrin.

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1942 – 1949

Japanese Occupation & Revolution

Japan invaded in January 1942 and held Java and Sumatra under the Army and the east under the Navy until August 1945. Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed independence on 17 August 1945, and four years of fighting and talks ended with the transfer of sovereignty on 27 December 1949.

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1942–1945 Romusha forced labour mobilised across Java Under Japanese rule, the occupation authorities recruited rōmusha, forced labourers, mainly on Java.
14 February 1945 The independence preparatory committee meets The Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK) was set up by the Japanese military on 1 March 1945 and had 59 members, including eight Japanese.
14 February 1945 Battle of Ambarawa The battle around Ambarawa and Magelang in Central Java ran from 20 October to mid-December 1945 between Republican forces and Allied troops.
21 July – 4/5 August 1947 Rawagede massacre On 9 December 1947 soldiers of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army killed nearly all adult males in the village of Rawagede, now Balongsari in Karawang, West Java.
1 March 1949 Sovereignty is transferred and the United States of Indonesia is born On 27 December 1949 the Netherlands transferred sovereignty over most of the former Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia (RIS), a federation of sixteen entities.

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1950 – 1965

Liberal Democracy & Guided Democracy

The unitary republic replaced the federal state on 17 August 1950, followed by the 1955 elections and Sukarno's Guided Democracy from 1957-1959. West New Guinea passed to Indonesia on 1 May 1963, and the Konfrontasi with Malaysia ran from 1963 to 1966.

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23 January 1950 APRA Coup Attempt in Bandung In the early hours of 23 January 1950, men of the Legion of the Just Ruler (APRA), led by the former Dutch colonial captain Raymond Westerling, entered Bandung and killed some thirty soldiers of the Indonesian army, among them Lieutenant Colonel Lembong.
18–24 April 1955 First National Parliamentary Election On 29 September 1955 Indonesians voted for the 257-member House of Representatives in the country's first national election.
1959–1967 Decree of 5 July 1959 and Guided Democracy On 5 July 1959 the president issued Decree No. 150, which dissolved the deadlocked Constituent Assembly and restored the 1945 constitution.
4 June 1962 Jakarta Hosts the Fourth Asian Games From 24 August to 4 September 1962 Jakarta held the fourth Asian Games, with about 1,460 athletes from fifteen nations in 120 events across thirteen sports.
January 1965 The 30 September Movement In the early hours of 1 October 1965 members of the 30 September Movement, led by Lieutenant Colonel Untung of the presidential guard, seized parts of Jakarta and killed six army generals, including the army commander Ahmad Yani.

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1966 – 1998

New Order

After the upheaval of 1965-1966, Suharto ruled until 21 May 1998, a period that included the Act of Free Choice in 1969 and the annexation of East Timor in 1976 after the invasion of 7 December 1975. The 1997 Asian financial crisis preceded his resignation.

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11 March 1966 Supersemar Transfers Executive Power On 11 March 1966, as troops without insignia surrounded the palace during a cabinet meeting, Sukarno flew to Bogor.
15–16 January 1974 Malari Riots in Jakarta On 15 January 1974, during a state visit by Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, student protests in Jakarta turned into rioting that lasted two days.
1983–1985 Pancasila Made the Sole Basis of All Organisations In 1983 the People's Consultative Assembly adopted Resolution 11/1983 requiring all organisations to adhere to Pancasila, the five-principle state philosophy.
27 July 1996 Attack on the PDI Headquarters (Kudatuli) At 6:30 a.m. on 27 July 1996 a mob that included soldiers in civilian clothes and members of an army-linked youth group attacked and seized the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) on Jalan Diponegoro in Jakarta, which was occupied by supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri.
12 May 1998 Biak Massacre On 2 July 1998 unarmed villagers, among them Filep Karma, raised the Morning Star flag on a water tower on Biak Island in Papua.

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1999 – 2013

Reformasi

Democratic reform followed 1998, with the East Timor referendum of 30 August 1999, independence for Timor-Leste on 20 May 2002, and the first direct presidential election in 2004. The 2004 tsunami and the Helsinki Agreement of 15 August 2005 reshaped Aceh.

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1999–2002 Maluku Sectarian Conflict Violence began in Ambon on 19 January 1999, the day of Idul Fitri, after a quarrel near the Batu Merah bus terminal escalated into fighting between Christian and Muslim neighbourhoods.
24 December 2000 Christmas Eve Church Bombings On the evening of 24 December 2000 a series of bombs exploded at churches in Jakarta and eight other cities, including Medan, Bandung, Batam, Mojokerto, Mataram and Pekanbaru.
May 2003 Constitutional Court Established Indonesia's Constitutional Court was established on 13 August 2003, in line with the third constitutional amendment of 2001.
27 May 2006 Lusi Mud Eruption in Sidoarjo On 29 May 2006 water, steam and mud erupted about 200 metres from the Banjar-Panji 1 exploration well operated by PT Lapindo Brantas, in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java.
11 July and 20 September 2012 Jakarta Gubernatorial Election of 2012 Jakarta's gubernatorial election was held in two rounds, on 11 July and 20 September 2012.

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2014 – 2024

Jokowi Era

Joko Widodo governed from 2014 (from memory), with the capital relocation law of 2022 and four new Papuan provinces that raised the total to 38 in 2022. The first Independence Day ceremony at Nusantara in East Kalimantan was held on 17 August 2024.

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1 January 2014 National Health Insurance Launched On 1 January 2014 the state-owned insurer PT Askes became BPJS Kesehatan, a public agency running the Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, or National Health Insurance.
13–14 May 2018 Surabaya Church Bombings On 13 May 2018 suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, East Java: the Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church, the Indonesian Christian Church on Diponegoro Street and the Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church.
17 April 2019 2019 General Election On 17 April 2019 Indonesia held its first simultaneous presidential and legislative elections, choosing the president, vice-president, members of the national and regional assemblies on one day.
30 June 2022 (ratified); 25 July 2022 (signed) Papua Divided into New Provinces On 30 June 2022 Indonesia's parliament ratified a bill splitting the province of Papua.
14 February 2024 Prabowo Subianto Sworn In as Eighth President Prabowo Subianto was sworn in as Indonesia's eighth president on 20 October 2024, with Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice-president.

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2025 – present

Prabowo Era

Prabowo Subianto is listed as president and Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice president on the Wikipedia Indonesia page. Nusantara's construction continues, with Presidential Regulation 79/2025 ordering civil-servant relocation in 2026, and every 2025-2026 item should be refreshed before publication.

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6 January 2025 Free Nutritious Meals Programme Launched The Free Nutritious Meals programme, known as MBG, was launched nationwide on 6 January 2025.
6 January 2025 Danantara Sovereign Wealth Agency Established Danantara, short for the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency, was formed on 24 February 2025 as Indonesia's second sovereign wealth fund, after the Indonesia Investment Authority.
6 January 2025 August 2025 Protests Protests began on 25 August 2025 and continued into early September.
2 January 2026 New Criminal Code Takes Effect Indonesia's new Criminal Code took effect on 2 January 2026, three years after the House of Representatives approved it on 6 December 2022.
2 January 2026 Flores Earthquake At 05:58 local time on 15 August 2026 a shallow thrust earthquake struck off Flores in East Nusa Tenggara.

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