Túnel en el cielo

See also: Java

The island of Java ( Jawa in Indonésien, Djawa until the spelling reform of 1972) belonged to the Republic of Indonesia.

Its name would come from Sanskrit Javadvipa , “the island of the millet”. It is under this name that the island is indeed indicated in the Indian epopee of the Ramayana (written between and the 3rd century after J.C.).

The ancestors Austronésiens of the Javaneses left the alluvial plains of the littoral of China of the South towards 3000 before J.C.. At that time, they practiced already the culture of the millet.

It is only later that the culture of rice would have been introduced in Java. The ethnobotanist Louis Berthe indeed allots the development of the centralized kingdoms of Java to the 8th century with the development of the Riz irrigated iculture. To date, l archeology n´a still nothing been able to show concerning the passage of the millet to rice in Java, and in Indonesia in general.

The island stretches itself of is in west on more than 1000 km, for a surface of 138  800 km ² with the island close to Madura and other small islands. Its climate is equatorial. The capital of the Indonesia, Jakarta, is located on the northern coast of Java, in its western part.

Surabaya (2nd town of Indonesia), Bandung (3rd city, seat of the Conference of Bandung in 1955) and Semarang (5th) are also on the island of Java. Surabaya and Semarang also are located on the northern coast.

Three Javanese cities are still the seat of course royal and princely: Cirebon in the west, Surakarta (still called Solo) and Yogyakarta in the center.

Java is the most populated island of Indonesia and account nearly 60% of the total population of the country. With a surface of 138  800 km ² by including the island close to Madura, Java count 127 million inhabitants, that is to say one population density of about 962 habitants/km ².

In 1905, the Dutch colonial government had launched a policy encouraging of the inhabitants of Java to settle in other less populated islands. The government of independent Indonesia continued this program known as of " transmigrasi ". The results are mitigated by it according to the areas. The transmigrasi in the province of Lampung, in the south of Sumatra, is generally regarded as a success. In other areas, in particular on the island of Borneo, it often caused conflicts between inhabitants of origin and transmigrating. The government indonésien put an end to the policy transmigrasi in 2002.

Administrative divisions

See also: Subdivisions of Indonesia

Java is divided into 4 special provinces ( propinsi ) and 2 territories:

  • Banten, capital Serang

  • Daerah Istimewa (" territory spécial") of Yogyakarta or DIY
  • Daerah Khusus Ibukota (" special territory of the capitale") or DKI Jakarta
  • Jawa Barat or Jabat (Java-West or Java-Western), capital Bandung
  • Jawa Tengah or Jateng (Java-Center or Java-Power station), capital Semarang
  • Jawa Timur or Jatim (Java-Is or Java-Eastern), capital Surabaya.

The provinces of Java are resulting from the regrouping of old the residenties Dutchwomen, themselves corresponding in old indigenous States, like the sultanate of Cirebon or the kingdom of Surakarta, or with provinces of these kingdoms. The residenties , managed by a resident Dutch, capped the kabupaten , with the head of which the colonial government put a bupati , chosen in the indigenous nobility. The government indonésien dissolved the residenties in the years 1950 but preserved the kabupaten .

Yogyakarta, old capital of the kingdom of the same name, owes its special statute with the part played by its king, the sultan Hamengku Buwono IX, at the time of the conflict which opposed of 1945 to 1949 the Republic of recently independent Indonesia to the old colonial power, the Netherlands. “ Jogja ”, as it familiarly is called, was even the provisional capital of Indonesia of 1946 to 1949 because the Dutchmen occupied Jakarta then. Traditionally, the governor is the sultan, currently Hamengku Buwono X.

The province of Banten was created in 2000. Since the resignation of Soeharto, many areas of Indonesia claim the statute of province on the basis of historical or cultural argument. At the 17th century, Banten was a prosperous sultanate, to which the Dutchmen end up imposing their suzerainty. In 1813, Banten is integrated into the territory of the Indies Dutchwomen. Its last sultan is sent in exile to Surabaya by the Dutchmen in 1832. The old capital of Banten is nothing any more but one large borough of fishermen.

Languages

In addition to the national language of Indonesia, the Indonésien, one speaks in Java the following regional languages: the Betawi (dialect Malayan of the Jakarta be born " autochtones"), the Javanese itself, the sundanais in the western part, and madurais it in the island of Madura and part of the east of Java.

These languages belong to the family Austronésien.

Culture

See also: Javanese Culture

To describe the traditional culture in Java, various dimensions should be distinguished.

There is initially cutting " ethnique" : vis-a-vis the culture Javanese E itself, the Sunda be born from the west of Java, Betawi of Jakarta and the Madura is of the close island affirm a distinct identity, in particular founded on the language. But in the west of the island Banten of language sundanaise, and Cirebon where a Javanese dialect is spoken, as Java Is also of Javanese language, assert also a distinct culture. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish the culture from the Pesisir (the northern coast of Java) of that of the interior represented especially by the old royal capitals which are Surakarta and Yogyakarta. Lastly, the areas " intermédiaires" , like the country of Banyumas, which marks the transition between the country Sunda and Java, or the area of Banyuwangi, heiress of the old principality hindouist of Blambangan and a long time under influence Bali is born, are their own.

See also: Batik ~ Gamelan ~ Kriss ~ Sunda

Religions and beliefs

The word kejawen (of Jawi , " Java") indicate a whole of elements considered as clean with the Javanese culture. It includes beliefs and practices former to the Islam, which one could describe as " religion traditionnelle" Javanese and whom one calls kebatinan (of Arabic bathin , " interior, spirituel"). The law indonésienne does not recognize the kejawen like religion. The Sunda be also born maintain a tradition of beliefs and practices former to Islam.

See also: Javanisme

The majority of the Javaneses to the ethnic direction are probably Moslem, but there does not exist any serious statistics on this question. Other ethnicities of Java: Betawi (Jakartanais “autochtones”), Madurais and Sundanais, are traditionally Moslem. There exist still some enclaves of hindouism in Java: in the area of Banyuwangi, where a population called Osing saw, in the mountainous solid mass of the Tengger around the volcano Bromo, and on the western side of the Lawu volcano in the east of Solo. Among the Javaneses “of stock”, Buddhism is marginal. Indonésiens of Chinese origin are generally Confucianists or Christians.

One does not know yet very well the circumstances which brought to the introduction of concepts and cultural and religious models Indian in Java. One can only note their presence at least as of 450 after Jesus-Christ, by an inscription in Sanscrit and writing Pallava found in the east of Jakarta. The last princes hindouists of Java converted with Islam in 1770. On the southern part of Java, in the village of Balekambang, is, with 100 meters of the beach, a small island on which one built a small temple hindouist, on the model of Tanah Lot in Bali.

There was a Buddhist kingdom in the center of Java, which built the temple of Borobudur. It coexisted with the kingdom Shiva ite of Mataram which built Prambanan.

It is impossible to date the arrival from Islam in Java. In a mausoleum with Leran close to Surabaya, there is a Moslem stele gone back to 1082. On the site of the capital of the kingdom of Majapahit, in the south-west of Surabaya, one finds a series of Moslem tombs of which oldest is gone back to 1376 and is perhaps that of a family member royal. The rise of the maritime Silk route, controlled by Moslem merchants, who passed by the archipelago indonésien, leads these Moslem merchants to drop anchor in the ports of the northern coast of Java. The princes of these ports found advantage to convert with Islam, which enabled them to enter this commercial network. Tomé Worse, an apothecary of Lisbon which remains with Malacca of 1512 to 1515 (either just after the catch of the city by the Portuguese), note that all kings de Sumatra are Moslem but that it is not the case of the populations.

When one speaks about religion, it is necessary to have for the spirit that this one is observed by the sovereigns and their immediate entourage. The population, in particular in the campaigns, is impregnated beliefs and practical rites former on arrival of Buddhism, hindouism and Islam. In the case of Islam, one sees that between the date of 1082 for the stele of Leran and that of 1770 for the conversion of the last prince hindouist of Blambangan, his diffusion is a long process, more especially as there is always today in Java of the populations remained hindouists.

They are the Dutchmen who introduce Christianity in Java, in the cities where they reside. The oldest church of Java is Gereja Sion in Jakarta, built in 1695. A mongrel, Coenrad Laurens Coolen, found in 1827 in Java Is a Christian village in margin of the Christian community of Surabaya. In 1855, a Javanese of the name of Tulung Wulung converts with Protestantism and voyage through Java for évangéliser, against the opinion of the missionaries and the Dutch authorities. The most famous case is that of Sadrach, a Javanese disciple of Tulung Wulung which takes the head of a Christian community in 1876. These Javaneses diffuse a Christianity related to the clearing in a still covered Java of forests.

Lastly, there exists still a synagog with Surabaya, around which a tiny Jewish community of Iraqi origin survives.

See also: Islam in Indonesia

History

See also: History of Java

  • 3.000 front J. - C: migrations of the littoral of China of the South towards Taiwan of populations Austronésien born
  • 2.000 front J. - C.: migrations of Austronésiens of Taiwan towards Philippines, and towards Célèbes, Timor and the other islands of the archipelago indonésien
  • IIIe front century J. - C. - IIIe century after J. - C.: the Ramayana mentions Yavadvipa , " the island of the millet"
  • after J. - C.: network of harbor city-States which trade with India and China
  • 413 after J. - C.: the buddhist monk Chinese Faxian remains with " Ye-Po-ti" (i.e. Yavadvipa)
  • Ve century after J.C.: kingdom of Tarumanagara in the west of Java
  • 732: the inscription of Canggal in the center of Java declares that king Sanjaya of Mataram set up a monument to honor Shiva
  • 778: the inscription of Kalasan, always in the center of the island, mentions a king Sailendra who observes the Buddhist rites
  • S: construction of temples in the center of Java, of which Buddhist Borobudur and Prambanan shivaite
  • 907: the authority of king Balitung extends on the center and is of Java
  • 928: king Mpu Sindok definitively transfers his palate to Java East
  • 1041: an inscription of Java East mentions the king Airlangga, wire of the prince Bali are born Udayana
  • 1053: the inscription of Sdok Kok Thom with the Kampuchea says that the Khmer king Jayavarman II (reign 802-869) established his capital into 802 after being himself released of the suzerainty of " Java"
  • XIe century: the center of the capacity passes to the kingdom of Kediri, then with that of Singasari
  • 1292: unloading of a task force sino-Mongolian with Java Is, foundation of the kingdom of Majapahit, which controls a territory extending until the center from Java
  • XIV-XVe centuries: Majapahit trades with Kampuchea, the Champa, China, India, Siam, Vietnam (" Yawana "). The Chinese admiral Zheng He makes several times stopover with in the wearing of Java
  • 1333-1579: the kingdom hindouist Sunda be born from Pajajaran with Western Java control the ports of Banten and Kalapa (future the Jakarta)
  • 1478: Majapahit passes under the control of the princes de Kediri
  • Fin of the 15th century: a Moslem Chinese of the name of Cek KB-Po bases Demak on the northern coast of Java. This Moslem kingdom undertakes the conquest of the northern coast of Java (the Pesisir )
  • 1527: Fatahillah, a prince of Cirebon, conquers the port of Kalapa and founds there Jayakarta
  • 1583: Senopati, king of Mataram undertakes the conquest of the center of Java and the Pesisir
  • 1597: Cornelis de Houtman makes stopover with Banten
  • 1619: the VOC ( Vereenigde Oostindische Company or " Dutch Company of the Eastern Indies " conquers Jayakarta and founds there Batavia
  • the grandson of Senopati takes the title of Sultan Agung (" large the sultan" , reign 1613-46) and attacks the remainder of Java. Agung makes the head office of Batavia twice, without success.
  • 17th century: wars of succession in the kingdom of Mataram. The kings are involved in debt at the VOC by pawning their territories of the Pesisir
  • 1755: treaty of Giyanti. Mataram is divided into two kingdoms: Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
  • 1770: princes de Blambangan convert with Islam
  • 1799: the VOC is declared in bankruptcy. Its credits are taken again by the government of the Netherlands. *1825: prince Diponegoro de Yogyakarta takes the weapons against the Dutchmen. This " war of Java" ends in 1830 (15 000 died in the Dutch army, more than 200.000 in the Javanese population on a little more than 4 million inhabitants).
  • 19th century: the Dutchmen can begin the economic development of the island. The governor van den Bosch sets up a farming system ( Cultuurstelsel ) forced
  • 1870: an agrarian law of 1870 opens Java at the private company

Tourism

Like many areas of Indonesia, Java is characterized by the beauty of its landscapes, the approval of its climate, the originality of its cultures. The island has a beautiful tourist potential, with its paradisiac small islands off its northern coast such Karimunjawa, its beaches of the southern part, its archaeological vestiges of which most known are the temples of Borobudur, Buddhist, and Prambanan, shivaïte, its old princely cities like Cirebon, Surakarta (also called Solo) and Yogyakarta where a culture of court still quite alive is maintained, its charming villages, its traditional cultures quite as alive, its many volcanos, its natural reserves of which that of Ujung Kulon, where the last specimens of Asian rhinoceros live.

With 5,3 million international arrivals in 2004, Indonesia is the 23e world tourist destination, and 5th in Asia behind the China, the Thailand, Singapore and the Malaise (). The most important entrance points are the airports of Jakarta (31% of the arrivals) and of Denpasar to Bali (28%) and the port of Sekupang with Batam opposite Singapore (27% of the arrivals).

On 3,5 million foreign visitors having remained in hotel in 2004,90 000 remained with Yogyakarta, principal destination tourist of Java, against 1,65 million with Bali and 705.000 with Jakarta ().

References

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