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Assignment 1 Sacred and Secular: A prelude to modern Asia AST 1001 / 96501 John Banton
The Natural Environment and its Influence on the Development of Civilisation on the Indonesian Archipelago.
The development of civilisation on the Indonesia archipelago has been significantly influenced by the natural environment. The archipelago’s proximity to the equator, the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, produced two features that have significantly influenced the development of civilisation in the region; an abundance of diverse plant species, and the easily navigable oceans surrounding the 17,508 islands that make up the archipelago. The people of the region used these two natural features to their advantage and became skilled mariners and traders, activities which allowed early opportunities to interact with Indian and Chinese civilisations. While Islamic civilisation has had perhaps the greatest influence on the Indonesia we see today, both Buddhist and Hindu civilisations contributed significantly to the development of civilisation in the region. The natural environment of the Indonesian archipelago ensured that the development of civilisation in the region did not occur in isolation.
The equatorial climate enjoyed by the region, produced one of the significant features of the natural environment upon the development of civilisation on the Indonesian archipelago. Warm equatorial climate (temperatures range between 23-29 degrees), an abundant annual rainfall, and fertile volcanic and alluvial soils, combined to produce optimal growing conditions and the development of a unique range flora and fauna. Drake (1998) highlights the rich biodiversity of the archipelago’s natural environment.
The western part of the country has many Asian species, including elephants, tigers, rhinoceroses, and orang-utans, whereas the drier eastern half of the archipelago is filled with plant and animal life closely related to that of Australia, including kangaroos, frilled lizards, and marsupial mice, as well as aromatic woods. The islands lying between the western and eastern parts of the country, between the Sunda and the Sahul shelves, have developed unique flora and fauna as a result of their long isolation from the main continental land masses.
This lush natural environment won the Indonesian archipelago the title of ‘The Spice Isles’. Even today, modern Indonesia remains one of the world’s largest producers of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa and coffee (Drake, 1998).
Rising sea levels, over 8,000 years ago, covered the Pliocene era land bridge (Baqai, et al, 2000) between the Indonesian archipelago and mainland Asia. The new sea level produced the second significant environmental feature to influence the development of civilisation in the region. The archipelago now found itself located between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea (Drake 1998). This proximity to what would become major trade routes for other civilisations would enable the opportunity to both develop sophisticated maritime skills and interact with more advanced civilisations. As early as 1154 CE ships from the Indonesian archipelago were trading in East Africa (Johns, 1975).
Traders from civilisations that flourished in India and China introduced Buddhism and Hinduism to the Indonesian archipelago. This influence is evident today in both archaeological sites and modern cultural practices. The Sumatran Kingdom of Srijaya, founded in the first century, had by the 7th century, according to the Indonesian Heritage Encyclopaedia, became renowned as a centre for Buddhist learning, attracting pilgrims from as far away as China. The early Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, visited the region in approximately 1292 on commission from the Mongolian emperor, Kublai Khan. However the Hindu/Buddhist empires that had flourished on the Indonesian archipelago were largely wiped out when Islam swept the region. Remnants of the East Javan Majapahit Empire fled to Bali and developed the Balinese Hinduism we observe today. (Bali Echo, 2000).
By the 1300 CE the Islamic influence on the developing civilisation in the Indonesian Archipelago was significant. According to Hale (1972) ‘The Indian Ocean resembled an Arabic speaking Mediterranean’. Early European travellers (1601 CE) were able to obtain letters of introduction, in Arabic, from the east coast of Africa to the Sultan of Achin.
It is from participation in this trading system that the beginnings of Islam in the Malay world derive...increasingly, settlements at the focal point of our region were drawn into the affairs of the “Arabic-speaking Mediterranean” and generated Muslim city-states which either developed to fill a power vacuum, where no rival state existed, as in the case of Malacca, or challenged and took over existing maritime states. It was this generation of Muslim city-states that was gradually to diffuse waves of Islamic influence into the hinterland, and which was to lead to the Islamization of broad swathes of the indigenous population. (Johns, 1975, p. 38-39)
Although Islamic influence might be seen to dominate the region, a 1995/96 census records that 88.8% of modern Indonesians claim adherence to Islam, it is evident that each new civilisation’s influence has tended to overlap the previous. A rich amalgamation of past and present influences are woven together to become the Indonesian civilisation we view today. An adequate study of Islam in Indonesia today is unlikely to be made without reference to earlier beliefs. Miller (1984) has made a statement which is essential to the study of developing civilisation on the Indonesian archipelago.
If we turn to Indonesia and the question of Indian influences on Indonesian culture we become aware of a tendency to regard culture metaphorically as a series of layers-Polynesian, Indonesian, Hindu and Islamic. This might do for the ideologue but it is not good enough for the academic. Culture is a process, part of the general social process. It is not like a solid jigsaw puzzle. You cannot take out the Hindu bit and leave the rest intact.
The development of civilisation on the Indonesia archipelago has been significantly influenced by the natural environment. These natural environmental features ensured that civilisation on the Indonesian archipelago did not develop in isolation. Had the region failed to be so well located, or less abundantly supplied with fertile soils, equatorial climate, or a proliferation of diverse plant species, the development of civilisation on the Indonesian archipelago might not have taken place as recorded in history.
Bibliography
Drake, C. ‘Geographic Dimensions of Indonesia’s Increasing Importance in the World’, Education about Asia, [online], vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1998, available from http://www.aasianst.org/EAA/drake.htm [accessed 30 March 2002].
Hale, J. R. 1972, ‘Renaissance Europe: 1480-1520’, in Carlo M. Cipolla. (ed.), Fontana Economic History of Europe, Collins/Fontana, London, pp. 50-51, quoted in Johns, A.E. 1975, ‘Islam in Southeast Asia: Reflections and new directions’, Indonesia, vol.19, pp. 33-35.
Johns, A.E. 1975, ‘Islam in Southeast Asia: Reflections and new directions’, Indonesia, vol.19, pp. 33-35.
Indonesian Heritage: An Online Encyclopaedia and Culture Guide of Indonesia, [online], available from, http://www.indonesianheritage.com/Encyclopedia/Religion_and_Ritual [accessed 29 March 2002].
Hubbard, J. 1994, ‘Marco Polo’s Asia’, An essay for the Macalester College course, HIST 74: History of Traditional China [online], available from, http://www.tk421.net/essays/polo.shtml [accessed 30 March 2002].
Bali Echo, No. 044/VIII, January 2000, [Online Magazine], available from, http://baliwww.net/becho/44/flash.htm [accessed 20 March 2002].
Miller, D.B. 1984, ‘Hinduism in Perspective: Bali and India compared’, RIMA, vol. 18, Winter, p. 37.
Baqai, A., Guruswamy, V., Liu, J. & Rizki, G. 2000, ‘Localities of the Pliocene: Bodjong Formation’ A Biology 1B project for Section 120, Biology Department, Dominican College, Berkeley [online], available from http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/tertiary/pli/bodjong.html [accessed 29March 2002].
©
2002-2006 John
B. N. Banton |
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