Java Ethnic - Indonesia

The Javanese are the dominant ethnic group of Indonesia. Non-Javanese Indonesians often complain of a Javanese "colonialism" having replaced the Dutch version. Although Javanese culture is just another regional culture, it has far greater power to influence national culture.

The Austronesian ancestors of the Javanese arrived perhaps as early as 3000 BC from the Kalimantan coast. Apparently the island's agricultural bounty was renowned from the earliest times: "Java" comes from the Sanskrit Yavadvipa ("island of barley").

Over the centuries, various native Javanese states emerged. Most were fragile coalitions of regional lords under central dynasties, often embroiled in bloody succession struggles. In the fifteenth century AD, Java's north coast ports fell under the influence of Muslim Malacca, and under the rule of the descendants of non-Javanese Muslim merchants. The Dutch government took control of Java in the 1830s. A population explosion turned three million Javanese in 1800 to twenty-eight million by 1900. The Javanese took the lead in the Islamic, communist, and nationalist movements that challenged colonialism from early in the twentieth century.

The island of Java is roughly the size of Britain. Some 63 percent of the island is cultivated; 25 percent of the surface is devoted to wet-rice paddies. The northern coastal plain faces the shallow and busy Java Sea. Along the southern shore, plateaus fall sharply to the Indian Ocean. The Javanese homeland consists of the provinces of Central Java and East Java (minus the island of Madura) and the Special Region of Yogyakarta. Javanese have also settled for centuries along the northern coast of West Java, particularly in the area of Cirebon and Banten.

Numbering between 60 million and 80 million people, the Javanese account for more than 40 percent of Indonesia's total population.