•Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492 to find new route to the Spice Island of Indonesia
•Portuguese arrived in
the sixteenth century
•Dutch gained control
of the islands around 1602
•Japanese occupation
during WWII
•Sukarno proclaimed
independence in 1945
•General Suharto ousted
Sukarno in 1965 with a military-controlled
republic until 1998
•