Archipelago: A Journey Across Indonesia

(Hardback)

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Indonesia is the worlds largest archipelago nation comprising as many as 17,000 islands spread over the same distance as Los Angeles to New York, or Perth to Sydney. Indonesia is also the most culturally diverse nation on the planet and its national motto had to be Unity in Diversity as these islands are an extraordinary melange of races, religions, languages and cultures. Ian Burnet sets out on a journey across the archipelago to discover the rich cultural diversity of Indonesia. He describes how the early Malay people came to these islands and the influence of the Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. He discovers the heritage of the Indians, Chinese and Arabs who came here to trade in spices and sandalwood, he follows the rise of Islam and the traces of the first Europeans to enter Asia - the early Portuguese traders and priests. Travelling by bus, plane, train, ferry, boat, car and motorcycle from Java to Timor, he hops from island to island across the Indonesian archipelago and the smoking volcanoes that form its spine. Ian Burnet combines his love of adventure and travel with his knowledge of history to take us with him on a personal journey through geographic space and historical time, which will delight all armchair travellers.

Author Bio

Ian Burnet has spent thirty years, living, working and travelling in Indonesia. His three prior books show his fascination with the diverse history and cultures of the archipelago. Spice Islands tells the 2000 year history of the spice trade from the Moluccas of Eastern Indonesia until the spices reached Europe. It was the lure of the fabled Spice Islands and exotic spices such as cloves and nutmegs that drove The Age of Discovery' and the first circumnavigation of our planet. East Indies begins in the port city of Malacca, and tells the story of the 200 year struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for trade supremacy in the Eastern Seas. It follows the rise of the world's first joint stock and multinational trading companies and their conversion to huge colonial states ruling over millions of people in Indonesia, India and Malaya. Archipelago takes us on a journey across the islands of the Indonesian archipelago, the most ethnically and culturally diverse nation on the planet. Through Ian Burnet's eyes we see the layers of ethnicity, culture, language and religion that make up the nation of Indonesia, a nation whose national motto had to be Unity in Diversity'. Ian lives with his family in Sydney, Australia.