The Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, often pronounced /ˌjɒɡjəˈkɑːrtə/; Javanese: ꦣꦲꦺꦫꦃꦲꦶꦯ꧀ꦡꦶꦩꦺꦮꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ) is a provincial-level autonomous region of Indonesia in the southern Java. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south, as well as sharing all the land borders to the province of Central Java. Ruled by the Yogyakarta Sultanate, the region is the only officially recognised monarchy within the government of Indonesia. The city of Yogyakarta is the capital and the economic center of the region.

The Yogyakarta Sultanate has been established since 1755 and provided an unwavering support for Indonesia's independence during the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949). As a first-level division in Indonesia, Yogyakarta is governed by Sultan Hamengkubuwono as the governor and Prince Paku Alam as the vice governor. With a land area of 3,185.8 km², it is the second-smallest province of Indonesia after Jakarta. Read more...

East Java (Indonesian: Jawa Timur, abbreviated as Jatim, Javanese: ꧋ꦗꦮꦮꦺꦠꦤ꧀, translit. Jåwå Wétan, Madurese: جاوه تيمور, translit. Jhâbâh Dhimor) is a province of Indonesia. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern and southern coasts, respectively, while the narrow Bali Strait to the east separates Java from Bali. Located in eastern Java, it includes the island of Madura, which is connected to Java by the longest bridge in Indonesia, the Suramadu Bridge, as well as the Kangean and Masalembu archipelagos located further east and north, respectively. Its capital is Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia and a major industrial center. Banyuwangi is the largest regency in East Java and the largest on the island of Java.

It covers an area of 47,800 km², According to the 2010 Census estimates, there were 37,476,757 people residing in the East Java, making it Indonesia's second-most-populous province; the latest official estimate (for January 2014) is 41,529,481. The province is inhabited by many different ethnic groups, such as the Javanese, Madurese and Chinese. Most of the people in East Java adheres to Islam, forming around 96% of the total population. Other religions are also worshipped, such as Christianity, which are mostly worshipped by Chinese Indonesians and immigrants from Eastern Indonesia and North Sumatra, and also Hinduism which are mostly worshipped by the Tenggerese people in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park and the Balinese people inhabiting the easternmost part of the province bordering Bali. The Indonesian language is the official language of the province as well as the whole nation, but Javanese and Madurese are the most frequently used language. Indonesian is only used for inter-ethnic communication and official purposes.

East Java is one of the provinces in Indonesia that offers different types of tourist attractions. This area offers a variety of natural attractions ranging from mountains, beaches, caves, to waterfalls. In general, almost every regencies or city in East Java has its own unique tourist destinations, such as the Ijen volcano in Banyuwangi, Baluran National Park in Situbondo, etc. Read more...

Banten is the westernmost province on the island of Java, in Indonesia. Its provincial capital city is Serang. The province bordered West Java and the Special Capital Region of Jakarta to the east, the Java Sea to the north, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Sunda Strait to the west, which separates Java and the neighbouring island of Sumatra. The population of Banten was officially estimated at 11,834,087 at the start of 2014, up from over 10.6 million during the 2010 census. Formerly part of the province of West Java, Banten became a separate province in 2000. The province is a transit corridor to the neighbouring Indonesian island of Sumatra. Historically, it has had a culture distinct from the rest of Java and that of the broader Indonesian archipelago. In recent years, the northern half, particularly those areas near Jakarta and the Java Sea coast, have experienced rapid rises in population and urbanization, while the southern half, particularly that facing the Indian Ocean, maintains more of its traditional character.

Centuries ago, the area in what-is-now Banten is ruled by the Sundanese Tarumanagara kingdom. After the fall of the Tarumanegara, Banten was controlled by many Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, such as the Srivijaya Empire and the Sunda Kingdom. The spread of Islam in the region begins in the 15th century. By the late 16th century, Islam has replaced Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion in the province, with the establishment of the Banten Sultanate. At that time however, Europeans traders started arriving in the region. The first was the Portuguese, then the British and finally the Dutch. In the end, through the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Dutch controlled the economy in the region, causing a gradual decline of the Banten Sultanate in the region. On 22 November 1808, the Dutch Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels declared that the Sultanate of Banten had been absorbed into the territory of the Dutch East Indies. This marked the beginning of direct Dutch rule in the region for the next 150 years. In March 1942, the Japanese invaded the Indies and occupied the region for 3 years, before they surrendered in August 1945. The area was returned to Dutch control for 5 years, before they handed the region to the new Indonesian government when the Dutch left in 1950. Banten was absorbed into the province of West Java. However, separatist sentiment ultimately led to the creation of the province of Banten in 2000.

A very diverse province, Banten is populated by many ethnic groups, the most dominant being the Bantenese, a sub-group of the Sundanese people. Therefore, the Sundanese language forms the lingua franca of the province, although Indonesian is the main official language. The Javanese language is also spoken by many Javanese migrants from Central or East Java. In the Lebak Regency lives the semi-isolated Baduy people, who spoke the Baduy language, an archaic form of the Sundanese language. Nonetheless, most of the people in Banten can speak Indonesian fluently as their second language. Read more...

West Java (Indonesian: Jawa Barat, abbreviated as Jabar; Sundanese: ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪ Jawa Kulon) is a province of Indonesia. It is located in the western part of the island of Java and its capital and largest urban center is Bandung, although much of its population in the northwest corner of the province live in areas suburban to the larger urban area of Jakarta, though that city itself lies outside the administrative province. With a population of 46.3 million (as of 2014) West Java is the most populous of Indonesia's provinces.

The city proper of Bandung, largest city in West Java, has one of the highest population density worldwide, while Bekasi and Depok are respectively the 7th and 10th most populated suburbs in the world (Tangerang in adjacent Banten province is the 9th); in 2014 Bekasi had 2,510,951 and Depok 1,869,681 inhabitants. All these cities are suburban to Jakarta. Read more...

Central Java (Javanese: ꦗꦮꦠꦼꦔꦃ; Indonesian: Jawa Tengah, abbreviated as Jateng) is a province of Indonesia. This province is located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. The province is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in the south, East Java in the east, and the Java Sea in the north. The area is 32,548 km², or around 28.94% of the total area of Java. The province of Central Java also includes the island of Nusakambangan in the south (close to the border of West Java), and the Karimun Jawa Islands in the Java Sea. Central Java is also a cultural concept that includes the Special Region and city of Yogyakarta as well as the Province of Central Java. However, administratively the city and its surrounding regencies have formed a separate special region (equivalent to a province) since Indonesian independence, administrated separately. Central Java is known as the "heart" of Javanese culture. Even so, in this province there are also other ethnic groups that have different cultures from the Javanese, such as the Sundanese in the border area with West Java. Besides there are also Chinese-Indonesians, Arabs-Indonesians and Indian-Indonesians scattered throughout the province.

The province has been inhabited by humans since the prehistoric-era. Remains of the Homo erectus, popularly dubbed the "Java Man", were found along the banks of the Bengawan Solo River, and these dates back to 1.7 million years ago. In the past, Central Java was under the control of several Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates and the Dutch East Indies colonial government. Central Java was also center of the Indonesian independence movement. As the majority of the modern-day Indonesian are of Javanese descent, both Central Java and East Java has a major impact on Indonesia's social, political and economic life.

The province is 32,800.69 km² in area, approximately a quarter of the total land area of Java. Its population was 33,753,023 at the 2015 Census; it is the third most populated province in both Java and Indonesia after West Java and East Java. Read more...

Jakarta (/dʒəˈkɑːrtə/; Indonesian pronunciation: [dʒaˈkarta]), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Khusus Ibu Kota Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the world's most populous island, Java, it is the centre of economics, culture and politics of Indonesia, with a population of 10,075,310 . Jakarta metropolitan area has an area of 6,392 square kilometers, which is known as Jabodetabek (an acronym of Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi). It is the world's second largest urban agglomeration (after Tokyo) with a population of 30,214,303 . Jakarta is predicted to reach 35.6 million people by 2030 to become the world's biggest megacity. Jakarta's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from across the Indonesian archipelago, combining many communities and cultures.

Established in the 4th century as Sunda Kelapa, the city became an important trading port for the Sunda Kingdom. It was the de facto capital of the Dutch East Indies, when it was known as Batavia. Jakarta is officially a province with special capital region status, but is commonly referred to as a city. The Jakarta provincial government consists of five administrative cities and one administrative regency. Jakarta is nicknamed the Big Durian, the thorny strongly-odored fruit native to the region, as the city is seen as the Indonesian equivalent of New York (Big Apple).

Jakarta is an alpha world city and is the seat of the ASEAN secretariat, making it an important city for international diplomacy. Important financial institutions such as Bank of Indonesia, Indonesia Stock Exchange, and corporate headquarters of numerous Indonesian companies and multinational corporations are located in the city. As of 2017, the city is home for six Forbes Global 2000, two Fortune 500 and four Unicorn companies . In 2017, the city's GRP PPP was estimated at US$483.4 billion. Jakarta has grown more rapidly than Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Beijing. Read more...

Srivijaya (also written Sri Vijaya or Sriwijaya in Indonesian or Malay), was a dominant thalassocratic Indonesian city-state based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 8th to the 12th century. Srivijaya was the first unified kingdom to dominate much of the Indonesian archipelago. The rise of the Srivijayan Empire is seen to run parallel to the end of the Malay sea-faring period. Due to its location, this once powerful state developed complex technology utilizing maritime resources. In addition, its economy became progressively reliant on the booming trade in the region, thus transforming it into a prestige goods based economy.

The earliest reference to it dates from the 7th century. A Tang Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for six months. The earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century in the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682. Between the late 7th and early 11th century, Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia. It was involved in close interactions, often rivalries, with the neighbouring Java, Kambuja and Champa. Srivijaya's main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which lasted from the Tang to the Song dynasty. Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East.

The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors, including the expansion of the rival Javanese Singhasari and Majapahit empires. After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Cœdès, of École française d'Extrême-Orient, formally postulated its existence. Read more...

Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Hanyakrakusuma (Javanese: ꦯꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦲꦒꦸꦁꦲꦢꦶꦦꦿꦧꦸꦲꦚꦏꦿꦏꦸꦱꦸꦩ, Sultan Agung Adi Prabu Hanyåkråkusumå) was the third Sultan of Mataram in Central Java ruling from 1613 to 1645. A skilled soldier he conquered neighbouring states and expanded and consolidated his kingdom to its greatest territorial and military power.

Sultan Agung or Susuhunan Agung (literally, "Great Sultan" or "Majestic Sultan") is subject of a substantial amount of literature due to his legacy as a Javanese ruler, a fighter against the incursions of the Dutch East India Company, a conqueror, and his existence within a cultural framework where myth and magic are well intertwined with verifiable historical events and personages. The Dutch literature wrote his name by Agoeng de Grote (literally, "Agung the Great"). Read more...

Hayam Wuruk, also called (after 1350) Rajasanagara, Pa-ta-na-pa-na-wu, or Bhatara Prabhu, (1334–1389), was a Javanese Hindu King from the Rajasa Dynasty and the fourth monarch of the Indianised Majapahit Empire. Together with his prime minister Gajah Mada, he reigned the empire at the time of its greatest power. During his reign the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, became ingrained in the culture and worldview of the Javanese through the wayang kulit (“leather puppets”). He was preceded by Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi and succeeded by his son-in-law Wikramawardhana. Most of the accounts of his life were taken from Nagarakretagama and Pararaton. Read more...