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History of the name of the archipelago

Jakarta (DreamLandLibrary) - Nusantara is a term used to describe the archipelago that stretches from Sumatra to Papua. This word was first recorded in Middle Javanese literature (12th to 16th century) to describe the concept of state adopted by Majapahit. After being forgotten, at the beginning of the 20th century the term was revived by Ki Hajar Dewantara as an alternative name for the independent state of the Dutch East Indies that had not yet materialized.

When the use of the name "Indonesia" (meaning Indian Islands) was agreed to be used for the idea, the word Nusantara was still used as a synonym for the Indonesian archipelago. This understanding is currently used in Indonesia. As a result of subsequent political developments, the term was later used to describe the geographic-anthropological unity of the islands which lie between the continents of Asia and Australia, including the Malay Peninsula but usually does not cover the Philippines. In this last sense, the archipelago is the equivalent of the Malay Archipelago (Malay Archipelago), a term that was popular between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially in English literature.

Archipelago in the Javanese Majapahit state concept

In the concept of Javanese state in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, the king was the "King of Gods": the ruling king was also the incarnation of a god. Because of this, his domain exudes the concept of a god's power. The Majapahit Kingdom can be used as an example. The country is divided into three parts:

Negara Agung is the area around the royal capital where the king rules. Foreign countries are areas on the island of Java and around which the culture is still similar to the Great State, but it is already in the "border area". From this point of view, Madura and Bali are "foreign" regions. Lampung and Palembang are also considered "foreign" regions.
Nusantara, which means "another island" (outside Java) is an area outside the influence of Javanese culture but is still claimed to be a conquered area: its rulers must pay tribute.

Gajah Mada stated in the Oath of Palapa: Sira Gajah Mada pepatih amungkubumi tan ayun amukita palapa, sira Gajah Mada: Seagrass huwus lost Nusantara ingsun amukti palapa, seagrass lost the Desert ring, Seram ring, Tanjungpura, Haru ring, Pahang ring, Dompo, Bali ring, Bali Sundanese, Palembang, Tumasik, samana ingsun amukti palapa.

The translation is: "He is Gajah Mada Patih Amangkubumi does not want to let go of fasting. He is Gajah Mada," If I have defeated other islands, I (will) let go of fasting. If I defeat the Desert, Seram, Tanjung Pura, Haru, Pahang, Dompo, Bali, Sunda, Palembang, Tumasik, so I (will) break my fast ".

The Negarakertagama book lists the "Nusantara" regions, which today can be said to cover most of Indonesia's modern regions (Sumatra, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, parts of Sulawesi and surrounding islands, parts of the Maluku Islands, and West Papua) plus Malaysia , Singapore, Brunei and a small portion of the southern Philippines. Morphologically, this word is a compound word taken from the Old Javanese language nusa ("island") and between (other / across).

Dwipantara
Now most Indonesian historians believe that the concept of the unity of the archipelago was not first coined by Gajah Mada in the Palapa Oath in 1336, but was coined more than half a century earlier by Kertanegara in 1275. Previously the concept of the Horizon Mandala Dwipantara was coined by Kertanegara, Raja Singhasari . Dwipantara is a Sanskrit word for "intermediate islands", whose meaning is exactly the same as the Archipelago, because "dwipa" is a synonym of "nusa" which means "island". Kertanegara had an insight into the unity of the kingdoms of Southeast Asia under the authority of Singhasari in facing the possible threat of the Mongol attack that built the Yuan Dynasty in China. For this reason Kertanegara launched the Pamalayu Expedition to establish political unity and alliance with the kingdom of Malayu Dharmasraya in Jambi. At first the expedition was considered a military conquest, but lately it was suspected that this expedition was more of a diplomatic effort in the form of a show of strength and authority to establish friendship and alliance with the kingdom of Malayu Dharmasraya. The proof is that Kertanegara presented the Amoghapasa statue as a gift to please the rulers and people of Malayu. In return the Malay king sent his daughter; Dara Jingga and Dara Petak went to Java to be married to the Javanese authorities.

Modern use
In the 1920s, Ki Hajar Dewantara introduced the name "Nusantara" to refer to the Dutch East Indies. This name is used as an alternative because it has no foreign language elements ("Indian"). This reasoning was put forward because the Dutch, as colonizers, preferred to use the term Indie ("Indies"), which caused a lot of confusion with other language literature. This definition is clearly different from the definition in the 14th century. At this stage of the proposal, the term "competes" with other alternatives, such as "Indonesië" (Indonesia) and "Insulinde" (meaning "Indies Islands"). The latter term was introduced by Eduard Douwes Dekker.

When finally "Indonesia" was designated as the national name for the independent state of the Netherlands East Indies at the Second Youth Congress (1928), the term Nusantara did not necessarily diminish its use. In Indonesia, it is used as a synonym for "Indonesia", both in terms of anthropo-geography (some advertisements use this meaning) and politics (for example in the concept of the Archipelago Vision).

"Nusantara" and "Malay Islands"
European literature in English (then followed by literature in other languages, except Dutch) in the 19th century to the mid-20th century referred to islands from Sumatra to the Spice Islands (Maluku) as Malay Archipelago ("Malay Islands" ). The term was popular as a geographical name after Alfred Russel Wallace used this term for his monumental work. The islands of Papua (New Guinea) and its surroundings were not included in the concept of "Malay Archipelago" because the original inhabitants were not inhabited by the Mongoloid branch of race as the Malay Archipelago and were also culturally different. It is clear that the concept "Malay Archipelago is anthropogeographic (cultural geography). The Dutch, as the owners of the largest colonies, prefer to use the term" East Indian Archipelago "(Oost-Indische Archipel) or no eastern frills.

When "Nusantara" which was re-popularized was not used as a political name as the name of a new nation, this term was still used by Indonesians to refer to Indonesian territory. The political dynamics leading up to the end of the Pacific War (ending 1945) gave rise to the discourse of the Greater Indonesia region which also included Britain Malaya (now West Malaysia) and North Kalimantan. The term "Nusantara" has also become popular among Malay Peninsula residents, following the spirit of the common background of origin (Malay) among the inhabitants of the Islands and Peninsula.

When the Malaysian state (1957) was established, the spirit of togetherness under the term "Nusantara" was replaced in Indonesia with hostility clad in political confrontation by Sukarno. When hostilities end, the understanding of the Archipelago in Malaysia still carries the spirit of commonality. Since then, the notion of "Nusantara" overlaps with "Malay Islands".

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusantara

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