| We
traveled to Indonesia in the Summer of 2016 on a cruise out of Perth,
Australia. Our trip included a visit to Probolinggo, Semarang, and
the amazing Borobudur Temple in Java. We also visited the islands of
Bali, Lombok, and Komodo were we got to see the famed Komodo Dragon.
Indonesia is a diverse country made up of over 18,000 islands. The
island of Java is the most densely populated island in the world. The
roads in Indonesia are horrible, but we found the people to be very
friendly and the sites to be quite amazing. |
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Buddhist
kingdoms helped to form the foundation of Indonesia in the 600's CE.
When Arab traders came to the islands in the 1200's they brought with
them the Islamic religion, which over time became the dominate religion
in most of the islands. When the Europeans came in the 1500's, they
found the area divided into small nation-states. This allowed the
Europeans, namely the Dutch, led by the Dutch East India Company, to
dominate the islands using their superior weapons. The main draw for
the Europeans was the spice trade. By the beginning of the 19th
Century, the Dutch government had gained control over the islands. The
islands were invaded by Japan in World War II, which gave the people of
Indonesia the opportunity to declare independence from the Dutch by
1949. The country then became a dictatorship until 1998 and it is now a
shaky Democracy.
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Komodo Island National Park - home of the Komodo Dragoni
Semarang, Central Java, and the Temple of Borobudur
Probolinggo 2016
The Island of Bali
The Island of Lombok
