Indonesian History

Although hundreds of ethnic groups have been known as the indigenous of Indonesia for hundreds and thousands of years, Indonesia did not exist in its present form until the turn of the 20th century.

Of the so-called natives of Indonesia, archaeologists have speculated that the first people to populate Indonesia migrated from mainland China some 1,000 years ago and inhabited a stretch of islands along the equator, later known as Nusantara.

Over the centuries they built and refined their statecraft in the form of kingdoms and principalities. Sharing similar characteristics with other Southeast Asian kingdoms, these Nusantara kingdoms based their conception of state more on people than on space or territory. But intercourse with the western world changed the course of history in Nusantara.

Indonesia’s mountains of fire

While Indonesia’s volcanoes are often noted for the beauty of their spectacular peaks, steaming craters and view of the earth’s bubbling core, Mount Merapi, the country’s most active volcano, took centre stage this past October as a clear reminder of their deadly activity. Many of Indonesia’s volcanoes do erupt, sometimes with shocking consequences.

Due to Indonesia's placement on a significant segment of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", two large crustal plates (the Indian Ocean and western Pacific) are forced under the massive Eurasian plate, where they melt, approximately 100km beneath the surface. Some of the magma rises and erupts, forming the string of volcanic islands across Indonesia.

Social messaging service Bubble Motion launched Bubbly

Are you tired of typing updates to your social media channels? Or do you sometimes feel misunderstood because text-based social networking cannot do your emotions justice? Then maybe you should say your thoughts out loud.

Social messaging service Bubble Motion launched Bubbly, its social voice application for the iPhone.

A Venetian violinist

How does one become a great violinist? Is it the passion? Is it the talent? Or is it the determination?

According to Sara Michieletto, you need all three, plus hours of discipline.

As an accomplished violinist who has won numerous awards, Michieletto never imagined she would be a violin player when she grew up.