Names of Indonesia
Indonesiais the common and official name to refer to theRepublic of IndonesiaorIndonesian archipelago;however, other names, such asNusantaraandEast Indiesare also known. Some names are considered obsolete and confined to certain periods of history, while some might be more geographically specific or general.
History[edit]
On identifying geographical names of their lands, theIndonesian nativesseldom transcend their traditional boundaries, which is relatively small confined in their tribal environs. There are around1,300 distinct native ethnic groupsin Indonesia, and742 different languages,[1][2]which add to the complexity and nonconformity on the naming of the region. The concept of identifying the whole archipelagic region that today forms Indonesia with a single name was unknown then. Geographical names usually applied to individual islands, such asJava,one of the earliest identified islands in the Indonesian archipelago. It was foreign traders and explorers fromIndia,China,theMiddle East,andEuropewho finally chose the names of this region.
Names recorded in ancient scriptures[edit]
The following ancient names were originally the names for some of the islands in present-day Indonesia (aspars pro toto).
Yavadvipa[edit]
The island ofJavawas the earliest island within Indonesia to be identified by the geographers of the outside world. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned inIndia's earliest epic, theRamayana.It was mentioned thatSugriva,the chief ofRama's army, dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in search ofSita.[3]
Suvarnadvipa[edit]
Suvarnadvipa,"Golden Island", may have been used as a vague general designation of an extensive region in Southeast Asia, but over time, different parts of that area came to be designated by the additional epithets of island, peninsula or city.[4]In contrast, the ancient name for theIndian subcontinentand its culturally familiar surrounding regions isBhāratavarsha or Bhāratakhanda.[5]In ancient Indonesia, the nameSuvarnadvipais used to designateSumatraisland; as counterpart of neighbouringJavadvipaorBhumijava(Java island). Both Java and Sumatra are the principal islands in Indonesian history.
Iabadiu[edit]
The great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned inPtolemy'sGeographiacomposed around 150 CE in theRoman Empire.Iabadiu is said to mean "barleyisland ", to be rich ingold,and have asilvertown called Argyra at the west end. The name indicated Java,[6]and seems to be derived from the Hindu name Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa). Despite the name's indicating Java, many suggest that it refers toSumatrainstead.[6]
Exonym names[edit]
The following names were originally the names present day Indonesia and several other surrounding states (astotum pro parte). They are mostlyexonyms.
Jawi[edit]
Eighth-centuryArabgeographers identified the whole Maritime Southeast Asian region as "Jawi" (Arabic:جاوي). The word "Jawi" (جاوي) is anadjectivefor the ArabicnounJawah(جاوة). Both terms may originate from anIndiansource, the term "Javadvipa", the ancient name for Java, or from Javanese source because (Javanese:ꦗꦮꦶ,romanized:jawi) is theJavanese Kramaform of the word (Javanese:ꦗꦮ,romanized:jawa) to meanJava(geographically:ꦠꦤꦃꦗꦮꦶ,romanized:tanah Jawi,or ethnically:ꦠꦶꦪꦁꦗꦮꦶ,romanized:tiyang Jawi).[7][8]"Jawah" and "Jawi" may have been used by the Arabs as catch-all terms referring to the entire Maritime Southeast Asia and its peoples.[9]Today, the term Jawi is also used to describe theJawi Alpha bet,theArabic scriptthat has been used and modified to write in Southeast Asian languages, especiallyMalay.
Nanyang[edit]
Nanyang( Nam Dương ) (literally meaning "Southern Ocean" ), is aChineseterm denoting the greaterMaritime Southeast Asiaregion not only Indonesia, but also includingMalaysia,Philippines,Singapore,andBrunei,but usually excluding other mainland Southeast Asian nations, especially the other nations on theIndochinese peninsula.It came into common usage in self-reference to the large ethnic Chinese migrant population in Southeast Asia. Nanyang is contrasted withDongyang(Eastern Ocean), which refers toJapan.
Insulindia[edit]
Insulindiaor Insulinde, is an archaic geographical term[10][11][12]for Maritime Southeast Asia, encompassing the entire area situated betweenAustralasiaandIndochina.[13]More common inPortugueseandSpanish,[14][15][16]it is a combined word (portmanteau) frominsula( "island" ) andindia(India).
Endonym names[edit]
The following names wereendonymalternatives to "Indonesia".
Sunda Islands[edit]
The Sunda Islands are agroup of islandsin theIndonesian Archipelago.[17]They consist of theGreater Sunda Islands(roughly western part of present Indonesia) and theLesser Sunda Islands(roughly southeastern part of present Indonesia).
The Sunda Islands are divided between four countries, namelyBrunei,East Timor,IndonesiaandMalaysia.The majority of these islands fall under the jurisdiction of Indonesia.Borneois divided between Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.Timor Islandis divided between East Timor and Indonesia. Two small islands also belong to East Timor.
Sunda(Sundanese:ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ,romanized:sunda) is the name of the ethnic group living in western part of Java Island. Today the Sundanese are the second largest such group in Indonesia after the Javanese.
Nusantara[edit]
Nusantara is anIndonesianword for theIndonesian archipelago.[18]It originated fromOld Javaneseand literally means "archipelago".[19]The name derived from the Old Javanese words.
The word Nusantara was taken from an oath byGajah Madain 1336, as written on an oldJavanesemanuscriptPararatonandNegarakertagama.[20]Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader andprime ministerof theMajapahit Empirewho was credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada delivered an oath calledSumpah Palapa,in which he vowed not to eat any food containingspicesuntil he had conquered all of Nusantara under Majapahit.
In 1920,Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker(1879–1950), proposed "Nusantara" as a new name for this country instead of "Indonesia". He argued that the name was more indigenously developed, which did not contain any words etymologically inherited from the nameIndies,IndusorIndia.[21]This is the first instance of the termNusantaraappearing after it had been written in Pararaton manuscript.
The definition of Nusantara introduced by Douwes Dekker is different from its 14th century definition. During theMajapahitera, Nusantara was described as vassal areas to be conquered, the overseas possessions of Majapahit, in contrast withNegara Agungor the core of Majapahit. However, Douwes Dekker did not want this aggressive connotation, so he defined Nusantara as all the Indonesian regions fromSabangas far asMerauke.Although Douwes Dekker's proposal did not succeed, and the name "Indonesia" remained in use for the nation's name, the name "Nusantara" has been widely used in literature, printed and broadcast news materials and popular publications, thus it has become thesynonymfor Indonesia.
Modern names[edit]
Starting withHindia-Belanda,academics began to refer the present day Indonesia with a single term. After the 1945 independence, the country officially adopted Indonesia as its formal name.
Dutch East Indies (Oost-Indië /Hindia Belanda)[edit]
The term "the Indies" derived from theIndus Riverflowing through modern-dayPakistan,India and westernTibet.It was applied by the ancient Greeks to most of the regions ofAsiato the east ofPersia.This usage dates at least from the time ofHerodotus,in the 5th century BC (seeNames of India). The term "Indies" was first used by European geographers to identify the geographic region of theIndian Subcontinent,and the islands beyond.
After thediscovery of America,the term was modified to include "east", to distinguish the area from the area associated with Columbus' discoveries, called theWest Indies.During theage of explorationin the 16th century, "East Indies" became a term used byEuropeansto identify what is now known asIndian subcontinentorSouth Asia,Southeastern Asia,and the islands ofOceaniaand Maritime Southeast Asia.[22]During that era, the East Indies portion now called "Indonesia" fell under Dutch colonial control and therefore was referred to asDutch East Indies.
Indonesia[edit]
Indonesiaderives from theGreek scriptwas anIndus(Ἰνδός), meaning "Indian Ocean", andnésos(νῆσος), meaning "island".[23]The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia.[24]In 1850,George Windsor Earl,an Englishethnologist,proposed the termsIndunesians— and, his preference,Malayunesians— for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".[25]In the same publication, a student of Earl's,James Richardson Logan,usedIndonesiaas a synonym forIndian Archipelago.[25][26]However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to useIndonesia.Instead, they used the termsMalay Archipelago(Maleische Archipel); theNetherlands East Indies(Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularlyIndië;the East(de Oost); andInsulinde.[27]
After 1900, the nameIndonesiabecame more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression.[27]Adolf Bastian,of the University of Berlin, popularised the name through his bookIndonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894.The first Indonesian scholar to use the name wasSuwardi Suryaningrat(Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands,Indonesisch Pers-bureau,in 1913.[24]Between 1910 and 1915, Swiss linguist,Renward BrandstetterwroteAn Introduction to Indonesian Linguisticsin 4 essays, which was translated into English in 1916. It talked about the various similarities between languages in the region, and pioneered the concept of Common Indonesian [words] and Original Indonesian [words].
Although the name was originally meant for scientific purposes, on 28 October 1928, the name "Indonesia" gained more political significance when the native pro-independence nationalist youth in the Dutch East Indies declared theYouth Pledge,acknowledging Indonesia as one motherland, one nation, and upholdingIndonesianas the language of unity.[28]
Malayunesia[edit]
Malayunesiais another name next toIndunesiathat was proposed byGeorge Samuel Windsor Earlto identify the archipelago.[29]It was a Greek translation of theMalay Archipelagoalso connected to the concept ofMalay race,the inhabitant of the archipelago. It was said that Windsor Earl prefer the name Malayunesia (Malay Archipelago) instead of Indunesia (Indian Archipelago), because Malayunesia is an appropriate name for the Malay archipelago, while Indunesia can also refer to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Maldives. He also argues thatMalay languageis spoken throughout the archipelago.[citation needed]
Nicknames[edit]
Equatorial Emerald[edit]
Some literature works and poems describe Indonesia in eloquent poetic names, such asZamrud Khatulistiwa( "Equatorial Emerald" ), which refers to Indonesian green and lushtropical rainforestas theemeralds,as well as the geographic position of Indonesia, along theequator.It was originally from the Dutch phraseGordel van Smaragd( "Emerald of the Tropic" ) which coined byMultatuli(a pen name used by Eduard Douwes Dekker, a 19th-centuryDutchwriter, who described Dutch East Indies as"'t prachtig ryk van Insulinde dat zich daar slingert om den evenaar, als een gordel van smaragd"( "the beautiful empire of Insulinde that girdles the equator like a belt of emerald" ).[30]
Bumi Pertiwi and Tanah Air[edit]
Other local epithets such asBumi Pertiwi( "Land of Earth orMother Earth"), refer to Indonesia through itsnational personification,Ibu Pertiwi,andTanah Air(Indonesianlit: "soil and water" ), an Indonesian word for "homeland",motherland, ormother country.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"An Overview of Indonesia".Living in Indonesia, A Site for Expatriates.Expat Web Site Association.Retrieved5 October2006.
- ^Merdekawaty, E. (6 July 2006).""Bahasa Indonesia" and languages of Indonesia"(PDF).UNIBZ – Introduction to Linguistics.Free University of Bolzano. p. 5. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 21 September 2006.Retrieved17 July2006.
- ^Kapur; Kamlesh (2010).History Of Ancient India (portraits Of A Nation), 1/e.Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.ISBN978-81-207-4910-8.
- ^Ancient India's Colonies in the Far East Vol 2,Dr.R. C. Majumdar,Asoke Kumar Majumdar (1937) p. 46
- ^"Puranas - What is the Story behind Jambudweep?".
- ^abJ. Oliver Thomson (2013).History of Ancient Geography.Cambridge University Press. pp. 316–317.ISBN9781107689923.Retrieved25 August2015.
- ^Kridalaksana, Harimurti (2001).Wiwara: Pengantar Bahasa dan Kebudayaan Jawa(in Indonesian). Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
- ^S.K., Lim (2011).Asian Civilizations.Singapore: Asiapac Books Pte Ltd.ISBN978-981-229-594-1.
- ^Shahrizal bin Mahpol (2002)."Penguasaan tulisan jawi di kalangan pelajar Melayu: suatu ka gian khusus di UiTM cawangan Kelantan(Competency in Jawi among Malay students: A specific study in UiTM, Kelantan campus) ".Digital Repository,Universiti Malaya.Retrieved8 July2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^Reptiles in the East and West Indies- and Some Digression.T. Barbour, The American Naturalist, Vol. 57, No. 649 (Mar. - Apr. 1923), pp. 125-128
- ^Review: The Tongking Delta and the Annamite House.Geographical Review, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Jul. 1937), pp. 519-520
- ^Pottery Braziers of Mohenjo-Daro.A. Aiyappan, Man, Vol. 39, (May 1939), pp. 71-72
- ^Asia in the making of Europe: Volume III, A century of advance.Donald F. Lach,Edwin J. Van Kley (eds.), University of Chicago Press (1993).ISBN978-0-226-46757-3pp. 1301-1396
- ^Portugal, Embaixada (Indonesia), Sukarno and Portugal.Embaixada de Portugal em Jacarta (2002) pp. 61-62
- ^Timor português: contribuïções para o seu estudo antropológico,António Augusto Mendes Correa. Vol. 1 of Memórias: Série antropológica e etnológica, Portugal Junta de Investigações do Ultramar. Imprensa Nacional de Lisboa (1944)
- ^Asia monzónica: India, Indochina, Insulindia,Jules Sion, Luis Villanueva López-Moreno (tr.). Vol. 13 of Geografía Universal. Montaner y Simón (1948)
- ^For an early English-language account see "Account of the Sunda Islands and Japan: discourse of the Hon.T.S. Raffles"pp. [190]-198, from theQuarterly journal of science articles,vol. 2 (1817); orJournal of science and the arts,Vol. 2 (1817).
- ^Echols, John M.; Shadily, Hassan (1989),Kamus Indonesia Inggris(An Indonesian-English Dictionary)(1st,6th ed.), Jakarta: Gramedia,ISBN979-403-756-7
- ^Friend, T. (2003).Indonesian Destinies.Harvard University Press. p.601.ISBN0-674-01137-6.
- ^Prapanca, Mpu; Robson, S. O.; Owen, Stuart (1995),Nagarakrtagama,Mpu Prapanca (Stuart Robson, tr.),Leiden: KITLV,ISBN90-6718-094-7
- ^Vlekke, Bernard H.M. (1943),Nusantara: A History of the East Indian Archipelago(1st ed.), Netherlands: Ayer Co Pub, pp. 303–470,ISBN978-0-405-09776-8
- ^http://dictionary.oed /cgi/entry/50071685?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=east+indies&first=1&max_to_show=10East Indies,Oxford English Dictionary,2nd ed. (1989)
- ^Tomascik, T.; Mah, JA; Nontji, A.; Moosa, M.K. (1996).The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas – Part One.Hong Kong: Periplus Editions.ISBN962-593-078-7.
- ^abAnshory, Irfan (16 August 2004)."Asal Usul Nama Indonesia"(in Indonesian). Pikiran Rakyat. Archived fromthe originalon 15 December 2006.Retrieved5 October2006.
- ^abEarl, George S.W. (1850). "On The Leading Characteristics of the Papuan, Australian and Malay-Polynesian Nations".Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (JIAEA):119, 254, 277–278.
- ^Logan, James Richardson (1850). "The Ethnology of the Indian Archipelago: Embracing Enquiries into the Continental Relations of the Indo-Pacific Islanders".Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (JIAEA):4:252–347.
- ^abJustus M. van der Kroef (1951). "The Term Indonesia: Its Origin and Usage".Journal of the American Oriental Society.71(3): 166–71.doi:10.2307/595186.JSTOR595186.
- ^"Archived copy".Archived fromthe originalon 16 May 2013.Retrieved15 October2012.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Youth Pledge Museum website (Indonesian) - ^"George Windsor Earl — 'a single glance is sufficient'".
- ^"Multatuli by Max Havelaar (full text)"(in Dutch). Project Gutenberg.Retrieved19 January2016.
