The VOC would rule the world for more than two centuries before going bankrupt. The English and Dutch traders would come a little later and it was in 1602 that the Dutch created the VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) which was to take on a capital importance in relations with Indonesia. The first Westerners to land on Indonesia were the Portuguese who sought to have a monopoly on spices. The first traces of Muslims date back to the 13th century in North Sumatra. This period of prosperity went from the 7th to the 13th century. It is from this period that the sites of Borobudur and Prambanan date.

Indonesia's golden age begins with the Naval Kingdom of Srivijaya which developed through trade and Buddhist and Hindu influences. The current populations (of the Melanesian type) arrived here around 2000 years before Jesus Christ. Homo Sapiens are considered to have occupied the archipelago as early as 43,000 BC. 500,000-year-old Homo Erectus fossil bones have been found. The archipelago has been inhabited for a very long time. It is the largest of the Muslim countries. The country has more than 267 million inhabitants.

The main islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo (Kalamatan), Sulawesi and Papua New Guinea, although the best known among tourists is Bali. The archipelago formed by the Republic of Indonesia is made up of some 17,000 islands.

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