Early history of the Malay Archipelago Area
There are more than 17,000 islands in the area now called Indonesia and 7,000 islands in the area now called the Philippines. Near these islands is also New Guinea. It is impossible to say when Homo Sapiens first came to this area, but there is little doubt that close relatives also used these islands as way posts to Australia and quite possibly as beginnings of a long trip to the Hawaiian islands and South America. It is thought that the first Homo Sapiens came to this area from Tiawan. |
It is estimated that the Javanese first came to Java around 1,300 BC. Buddhist and Hindu traders came later from India areas in the 5th century. The first dynasties that have been written about are the Sanjaya and Silendra.
Mount Merapi had a very large volcanic eruption in 1,006 AD which buried thousands of Hindu and Buddhist temples. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 was probably the most powerful recorded before 2036, causing the global temperature to decrease by about a half degree centigrade. 1816 was talked about in many areas as the year without a summer. There were food shortages and floods in Europe, North America and Asia. The Javanese had an empire that for some time included Bali, southern Thailand, and Sumatra, as well as in parts of the Philippines and Cambodia. The Mataram Sultanate was strongest around 1,620 AD after which the Dutch East India Company began to gain more power which eventually spread to include most of Maritime Southeast Asia. |