History of Nusantara and Indonesia by DR Ir Pandji R. Hadinoto, PE, MBL
01. Islands of what now known as managed by the Republic of Indonesia, in early AD was written in Jataka book, India, as Suvannabhumi (gold island) and in Ramayana book as Yavadvipa (gold and silver island) and Suvarnadvipa (gold island). The first European indicated this group of islands in a navigation book named as Periplous tes Erythras written by Strabo and Plinius then followed in 2nd AD by another one titled as Geographike Hyphegesis made by Claudius Ptolomaeus, that described Argryre Chora (silver country), Chryse Chora (gold country), Chryse Chersonesos (gold peninsula) and Iabadiou (iaba = yawa and diou = dvipa = island). This "iaba" is closely comparable with the first legal source known as stone inscription of Canggal, Central Java, 732 AD that mentioned the term of Yawa; 02. Between 320 to 455 AD the term of Dvipantara is used in the literatures of ancient Hindu i.e. Ramayana book that written during the Ruler of India, named as King Gupta, Gangga River, India. Dvipa means islands and antara means between, thus Dvipantara means island between continentals of India and China; 03. During the reception of ancient Hindu by the ancient Javanese, then Dvipantara translated as Nusantara (stone inscription of Gunung Wilis, 1269 AD, issued during the Ruler of Singosari, named as King Kartanegara, its capital city in Kediri, East Java, 1269 - 1292 AD) as well as written by Mpu Prapanca in Negarakertagama (1365 AD) during the empire of Majapahit, its capital city in Trowulan, Mojokerto, East Java, 1293 - 1525 AD under the meaning of other islands outside Java island. The History of Malay used Nusa Tamara; 04. Manuel Elgodinho de Eredia, a Portuguese Cartograph, used Nusantara to name his global map made in 1601; 05. Russel Jones wrote in Archipel 6 Magazine, Etudes interdiciplinaires sur le monde insulindien, SECMI, 1973 AD, a.f ".as Nusantara which is modern Javanese for "archipelago", and is used in Bahasa Indonesia to denote the Archipelago. The respectable antiquity of Nusantara is attested, for it occurs in the 14th century Negarakertagama, though there in the sense of "other islands", that is, excluding Java. It did not refer to what we now know as Indonesia; indeed it is of questionable value to speak of such a concept as Indonesia prior to Dutch colonisation. After being reintroduced by Brandes the name Nusantara was taken up by E. F. Douwes Dekker in the 1920's and for a time was used as an appellation for the Netherlands Indie in some circles"; 06. In view of language and nation sciences, Nusantara means island world stretches from Madagaskar to Fiji islands, which also named by Pater W, Schmidt as Austro-nesia in 1906, referring also to the area managed by the empire of Sriwijaya, its capital city in Karanganyar, Palembang, South Sumatera, 392 - 1406 AD; 07. Today Nusantara is used to formulate the nasional perspective of Indonesia, Wawasan Nusantara and in strategic defence point of view it is expressed as Indra Jaya and Astra Jaya. Since March 22nd, 1973, through the Decree of People's Assembly No. IV/MPR/1973, Nusantara is used in relation with legal term to express the law of Nusantara ocean. On the other hand, the term of Indonesia is used in relation with legal term since August 18th, 1945 as stated in the Basic Law of Republic of Indonesia, UUD1945; 08. The term of Indonesia, historically is compounded by Indo (Latin word for India or Hindus) and Nesia (= nesos, a Greek word for island); 09. Before 1820, this Indonesian Archipelago was expressed as India beyond the Gangges or Ultra Gangetic India and further East India; 10. Archipelago (English) or Arcipelagus (Italia) is compounded by "arci" means important and "pelagus" means ocean. This term of Arcipelagus was used at the first time in the Agreement between Republic of Venezia and King Micael Palaeologus, 1268. In this agreement, Arcipelagus is "aigaius-pelagus" (Greek word, Aigaion- pelagos or Aigaia Sea). Further, Archipelago means a body of water with islands within) and now known as "islands world"; 11. John Crawfurd, a scientist from Edinburg, used "Indian Archipelago" to express "Dvipantara" in his book, History of the Indian Archipelago, 1820. This term was reinforced further in Notice of the Indian Archipelago and Adjacent Countries by J. H. Moore, Singapore, 1837, and in The Indian Archipelago, Its History and Present State by Horace St. John, London, 1853. A. R. Wallace preferred to use Malayan Archipelago in 1869 and DR Prichard, a French scientist, used Malaysian Archipelago in his Physical History of Mankind. The other French scientists use "Oceania et Malasia"; 12. George Samuel Windsor Earl, a jurist born in London, is known as the pioneer of using Indu-nesians or Malayu-nesians to express the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago" or "Malayan Archipelago" as written in The Journal of Indien Archipelago and Eastern Asia, 1850; 13. James Richardson Logan, a jurist born in Scotland, is known as the inventor of Indonesia when writing The Ethnology of the Indian Archipelago : Embracing enquiries into the Continental relations of the Indo Pacific Islanders, 1850, which expressed "The name Indian Archipelago is too long to admit of being used in an adjective or in an ethnographical form. Mr Earl suggests the ethnographical term Indu- nesians but rejects it in favour of Melayu-nesians. For reasons which will be obvious on reading a subsequent note, I prefer the purely geographical term Indonesia, which is merely a shorter synonym of Indian Islands or the Indian Archipelago. We thus get Indonesian for Indian Archipelagian or Archipelagic, and Indonesians for Indian Archipelagians or Indian Islanders,." 14. Multatuli used Insulinde in his book Max Havelar, 1859, compounded by "inseln" means islands and "indie" from Indus = India. There were also Malay Archipelago or Le Grand Archipel Malais or Nusantara Malayu Raya (Nusantara Raya) that extended to use; 15. Prof Adolf Bastian, University of Berlin, popularized the name of Indonesia through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayichen Archipels, 1884-1894; 16. The first political party named as Indische Partij in 1913 which then renamed as Partai Insulinde referred to Max Havelar; 17. University of Leiden then developed division of Indology in 1922, organized by Prof Cornelis van Vollenhoven; His valuable contribution is recoqnized todate when describing the Indonesian Customary Law into 19 subsystems of indigenous legal environmental as written in his Het Adatrecht van Nederlandsch Indie (1901-1931); 18. Indische Vereeniging in Netherland then renamed as Indonesische Vereeniging or Perhimpoenan Indonesia (one of the founder was DR Moh Hatta, who later the first vice president of Republic of Indonesia); Partai Nasional Indonesia (National Party of Indonesia) in Bandoeng, founded in 1927 by DR Ir Soekarno, who later the first president of Republic of Indonesia; 19. Soempah Pemoeda (Declaration on Oath by Young Generations) confessed one father-land, one nation and one language of Indonesia (Jakarta, 1928); 20. Gabungan Partai Indonesia abbreviated as GAPI (Union of Indonesian Parties) was formed in 1939; 21. The Independence of Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed in 1945. Edited for Legal Travel Guide 2002 KHIBAR IndoLawFirm, Tourism Legal Counsel A Partner-in-Progress with DEKOPINWIL DKI Jakarta Jl. Dharmawangsa Raya No. 18, South Jakarta 12160 eMail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] mediacare http://www.mediacare.biz [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
