Indonesian name.

The region that is today identified as Indonesia has carried different names, such as "East
Indies" in this 1855 map.
Indonesia is the common and official name to refer to the Republic of
Indonesia or Indonesian archipelago; however, other names, such
as Nusantara and East Indies are also known. Some names are considered
obsolete and confined to certain periods of history, while some might be more
geographically specific or general.

History[edit]
On identifying geographical names of their lands, the Indonesian
natives seldom transcend their traditional boundaries, which is relatively small
confined in their tribal environs. There are around 1,300 distinct native ethnic
groups in Indonesia, and 742 different languages,[1][2] which add to the
complexity and nonconformity on the naming of the region. The concept of
identifying the whole archipelagic region that today forms Indonesia with a
single name was unknown then. Geographical names usually applied to
individual islands, such as Java, one of the earliest identified islands in the
Indonesian archipelago. It was foreign traders and explorers
from India, China, the Middle East, and Europe who finally chose the names
of this region.

Names recorded in ancient scriptures[edit]

The following ancient names were originally the names for some of the islands
in present-day Indonesia (as pars pro toto).
Yavadvipa[edit]
The island of Java was the earliest island within Indonesia to be identified by
the geographers of the outside world. "Yavadvipa" is mentioned in India's
earliest epic, the Ramayana. It was mentioned that Sugriva, the chief
of Rama's army, dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in
search of Sita.[3]
Suvarnadvipa[edit]
Further information: Suvarnabhumi
Suvarnadvipa, "Golden Island", may have been used as a vague general
designation of an extensive region in Southeast Asia, but over time, different
parts of that area came to be designated by the additional epithets of island,
peninsula or city.[4] In contrast, the ancient name for the Indian
subcontinent and its culturally familiar surrounding regions is Bhāratavarsha
or Bhāratakhanda.[5] In ancient Indonesia, the name Suvarnadvipa is used to
designate Sumatra island; as counterpart of
neighbouring Javadvipa or Bhumijava (Java island). Both Java and Sumatra
are the principal islands in Indonesian history.

1
Iabadiu[edit]
The great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned
in Ptolemy's Geographia composed around 150 CE in the Roman Empire.
Iabadiu is said to mean "barley island", to be rich in gold, and have
a silver town called Argyra at the west end. The name indicated Java,[6] and
seems to be derived from the Hindu name Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa). Despite
the name's indicating Java, many suggest that it refers to Sumatra instead.[6]

Exonym names[edit]
The following names were originally the names present day Indonesia and
several other surrounding states (as totum pro parte). They are
mostly exonyms.
Jawi[edit]
Eighth-century Arab geographers identified the whole Maritime Southeast
Asian region as "Jawi" (Arabic:‫)جاوي‬. The word "Jawi" (‫ )جاوي‬is an adjective for
the Arabic noun Jawah (‫)جاوة‬. Both terms may originate from an Indian source,
the term "Javadvipa", the ancient name for Java, or from Javanese source
because (Javanese: ꦗꦮꦶ, romanized: jawi) is the Javanese Krama form of the
word (Javanese: ꦗꦮ, romanized: jawa) to
mean Java (geographically: ꦠꦤꦃꦗꦮꦶ , romanized: tanah Jawi, or
ethnically: ꦠꦶꦪꦁ ꦗꦮꦶ , romanized: tiyang Jawi).[7][8] "Jawah" and "Jawi" may have
been used by the Arabs as catch-all terms referring to the entire Maritime
Southeast Asia and its peoples.[9] Today, the term Jawi is also used to
describe the Jawi alphabet, the Arabic script that has been used and modified
to write in Southeast Asian languages, especially Malay.
Nanyang[edit]
Main article: Nanyang (region)
Nanyang (南洋) (literally meaning "Southern Ocean"), is a Chinese term
denoting the greater Maritime Southeast Asia region not only Indonesia, but
also including Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Brunei, but usually
excluding other mainland Southeast Asian nations, especially the other
nations on the Indochinese peninsula. It came into common usage in self-
reference to the large ethnic Chinese migrant population in Southeast Asia.
Nanyang is contrasted with Dongyang (Eastern Ocean), which refers
to Japan.
Insulindia[edit]
Main article: Insulindia
Insulindia or Insulinde, is an archaic geographical term[10][11][12] for Maritime
Southeast Asia, encompassing the entire area situated
between Australasia and Indochina.[13] More common
in Portuguese and Spanish,[14][15][16] it is a combined word (portmanteau)
from insula ("island") and india (India).

2
Endonym names[edit]
The following names were endonym alternatives to "Indonesia".
Sunda Islands[edit]
Main article: Sunda Islands

Greater Sunda Islands

Lesser Sunda Islands

The Sunda Islands are a group of islands in the Indonesian Archipelago.
[17]
They consist of the Greater Sunda Islands (roughly western part of present
Indonesia) and the Lesser Sunda Islands (roughly southeastern part of
present Indonesia).
The Sunda Islands are divided between four countries, namely Brunei, East
Timor, Indonesia and Malaysia. The majority of these islands fall under the
jurisdiction of Indonesia. Borneo is divided between Brunei, Indonesia and
Malaysia. Timor Island is divided between East Timor and Indonesia. Two
small islands also belong to East Timor.
Sunda is the name of the ethnic group living in western part of Java Island.
Today the Sundanese are the second largest such group in Indonesia after
the Javanese.
Nusantara[edit]
Main article: Nusantara (archipelago)

3
 Modern Wawasan Nusantara, the Indonesian
archipelagic baselines pursuant to article 47, paragraph 9, of the UNCLOS
Nusantara is an Indonesian word for the Indonesian archipelago.[18] It
originated from Old Javanese and literally means "archipelago".[19] The name
derived from the Old Javanese words.
The word Nusantara was taken from an oath by Gajah Mada in 1336, as
written on an old Javanese manuscript Pararaton and Negarakertagama.
[20]
Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader and prime minister of
the Majapahit Empire who was credited with bringing the empire to its peak of
glory. Gajah Mada delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he
vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of
Nusantara under Majapahit.
In 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879–1950), proposed
"Nusantara" as a new name for this country instead of "Indonesia". He argued
that the name was more indigenously developed, which did not contain any
words etymologically inherited from the name Indies, Indus or India.[21] This is
the first instance of the term Nusantara appearing after it had been written in
Pararaton manuscript.
The definition of Nusantara introduced by Douwes Dekker is different from its
14th century definition. During the Majapahit era, Nusantara was described as
vassal areas to be conquered, the overseas possessions of Majapahit, in
contrast with Negara Agung or the core of Majapahit. However, Douwes
Dekker did not want this aggressive connotation, so he defined Nusantara as
all the Indonesian regions from Sabang as far as Merauke. Although Douwes
Dekker's proposal did not succeed, and the name "Indonesia" remained in use
for the nation's name, the name "Nusantara" has been widely used in
literature, printed and broadcast news materials and popular publications, thus
it has become the synonym for Indonesia.

Modern names[edit]
Starting with Hindia-Belanda, academicians began to refer the present day
Indonesia with a single term. After the 1945 independence, the country
officially adopted Indonesia as its formal name.

4
Dutch East Indies (Oost-Indië / Hindia Belanda)[edit]
Main article: East Indies
The term "the Indies" derived from the Indus River flowing through modern-
day Pakistan, India and western Tibet. It was applied by the ancient Greeks to
most of the regions of Asia to the east of Persia. This usage dates at least
from the time of Herodotus, in the 5th century BC (see Names of India). The
term "Indies" was first used by European geographers to identify the
geographic region of the Indian Subcontinent, and the islands beyond.
After the discovery of America, the term was modified to include "east", to
distinguish the area from the area associated with Columbus' discoveries,
called the West Indies. During the age of exploration in the 16th century, "East
Indies" became a term used by Europeans to identify what is now known
as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands
of Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia.[22] During that era, the East Indies
portion now called "Indonesia" fell under Dutch colonial control and therefore
was referred to as Dutch East Indies.
Indonesia[edit]
Indonesia derives from the Greek script was an Indus (Ἰνδός), meaning
"Indian", and nésos (νῆσος), meaning "island".[23] The name dates to the 18th
century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia.[24] In
1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the
terms Indunesians — and, his preference, Malayunesians — for the
inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".[25] In the same
publication, a student of Earl's, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a
synonym for Indian Archipelago.[25][26] However, Dutch academics writing in
East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia. Instead, they used
the terms Malay Archipelago (Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East
Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost);
and Insulinde.[27]
After 1900, the name Indonesia became more common in academic circles
outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for
political expression.[27] Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularised
the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen
Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name
was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press
bureau in the Netherlands, Indonesisch Pers-bureau, in 1913.[24] Between
1910 and 1915, Swiss linguist, Renward Brandstetter wrote An Introduction to
Indonesian Linguistics in 4 essays, which was translated into English in 1916.
It talked about the various similarities between languages in the region, and
pioneered the concept of Common Indonesian [words] and Original
Indonesian [words].
Although the name was originally meant for scientific purposes, on 28 October
1928, the name "Indonesia" gained more political significance when the native

5
pro-independence nationalist youth in the Dutch East Indies declared
the Youth Pledge, acknowledging Indonesia as one motherland, one nation,
and upholding Indonesian as the language of unity.[28]
Malayunesia[edit]
Malayunesia is another name next to Indunesia that was proposed by George
Samuel Windsor Earl to identify the archipelago.[29] It was a Greek translation
of the Malay Archipelago also connected to the concept of Malay race, the
inhabitant of the archipelago. It was said that Windsor Earl prefer the name
Malayunesia (Malay Archipelago) instead of Indunesia (Indian Archipelago),
because Malayunesia is an appropriate name for the Malay archipelago, while
Indunesia can also refer to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Maldives. He also argues
that Malay language is spoken throughout the archipelago.[citation needed]

Nicknames[edit]
Equatorial Emerald[edit]
Some literature works and poems describe Indonesia in eloquent poetic
names, such as Zamrud Khatulistiwa ("Equatorial Emerald"), which refers to
Indonesian green and lush tropical rainforest as the emeralds, as well as the
geographic position of Indonesia, along the equator. It was originally from the
Dutch phrase Gordel van Smaragd ("Emerald of the Tropic") which coined
by Multatuli (a pen name used by Eduard Douwes Dekker, a 19th-
century Dutch writer, who described Dutch East Indies as "'t prachtig ryk van
Insulinde dat zich daar slingert om den evenaar, als een gordel van
smaragd" ("the beautiful empire of Insulinde that girdles the equator like a belt
of emerald").[30]
Bumi Pertiwi and Tanah Air[edit]
Other local epithets such as Bumi Pertiwi ("Land of Earth or Mother Earth"),
refer to Indonesia through its national personification, Ibu Pertiwi, and Tanah
Air (Indonesian lit: "soil and water"), an Indonesian word for "homeland",
motherland, or mother country.

See also