Indonesia
Americannoun
-
Formerly Netherlands East Indies,. Formerly Dutch East Indies. Republic of. a republic in the Malay Archipelago consisting of 13,677 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, the S part of Borneo, the W part of New Guinea, the Moluccas, Bali, Madura, and most of the Lesser Sunda Islands: gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949. 735,358 sq. mi. (1,904,569 sq. km). Jakarta.
noun
Discover More
The volcanic (see volcano) island of Krakatoa, between Sumatra and Java, erupted in 1883, creating a tsunami that caused great destruction to its neighboring islands. It sent volcanic debris as far as Madagascar.
Rich in nutmeg and cloves, the Moluccas, in the eastern part of the archipelago, are known as the Spice Islands.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world.
A severe economic downturn in 1998 triggered public protests against corruption and cronyism in the government and led to the resignation of the country's longtime president, General Suharto.
In 1975, Indonesia invaded the former Dutch colony of East Timor and, despite international condemnation, annexed it in 1976. In 1999, East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence in a U.N.-sponsored referendum. Pro-Indonesia militias then rampaged through East Timor until the arrival of international peacekeepers. Independence was declared in May 2001.
Indonesia was under Dutch control from the beginning of the seventeenth century to World War II, when Japan occupied it. It proclaimed independence in 1945. The islands were called the Dutch East Indies from 1799 until their independence.
Indonesia is the principal oil producer in the Far East and Pacific.
Etymology
Origin of Indonesia
First recorded in 1850–55; Indo- + Greek nês(os) “island” + -ia
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia -- an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on boat connections for daily transport and tourism.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
In the new study, published in Science Advances, the Griffith researchers examined exceptionally rare skeletal remains belonging to two early human foragers from Sulawesi, Indonesia.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026
That means typically warmer water, like around Indonesia, moves east to a normally cooler part of the Pacific, near Peru — pushed along by Kelvin waves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Output fell sharply in several major producing countries, including Chile, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Those details of linguistic relationships agree perfectly with the archaeological evidence that the colonization of the Malay Peninsula was recent, and followed rather than preceded the colonization of Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
