Nusantara is the Indonesian name of Maritime Southeast Asia (or parts of it). It is an Old Javanese term that literally means "outer islands". In Indonesia, it is generally taken to mean the Indonesian Archipelago. Outside of Indonesia, the term has been adopted to refer to the Malay Archipelago. The word Nusantara is taken from an oath by Gajah Mada in 1336, as written in the Old Javanese Pararaton. Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader and prime minister of Majapahit credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory. Gajah Mada delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of Nusantara under the glory of Majapahit. The concept of Nusantara as a unified region was not invented by Gajah Mada in 1336. The term Nusantara was first used by Kertanegara of Singhasari in Mula Malurung inscription dated 1255. Furthermore, in 1275, the term Cakravala Mandala Dvipantara was used by him to describe the aspiration of united Southeast Asian archipelago under Singhasari and marked the beginning of his efforts to achieve it. Dvipantara is a Sanskrit word for the "islands in between", making it a synonym to Nusantara as both dvipa and nusa mean "island". Kertanegara envisioned the union of Southeast Asian maritime kingdoms and polities under Singhasari as a bulwark against the rise of the expansionist Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. In a wider sense, Nusantara in modern language usage includes Austronesian-related cultural and linguistic lands, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and Taiwan, while excluding Papua New Guinea.

Etymology

The term Nusantara derives from a combined two words of Austronesian and Sanskrit origin, the word nūsa (see also nusa) meaning "island" in Old Javanese, is ultimately derived from the Proto-Malayo-Polynesian word *nusa with the same meaning, and the word antara is a Javanese loanword borrowed from Sanskrit अन्तरा (antarā) meaning "between" or "in the middle", thus creating a compound word of nūsa (“island”) + antara (“interval, interspace; other, another, different”) and together it means " the outer islands" as mentioned in the 14th century Old Javanese manuscript Pararaton and Nagarakretagama.

Ancient concepts

Etymology

Nusantara is an Old Javanese word which appears in the Pararaton manuscript. In Javanese, Nusantara is derived and antara, 'between'. It means "outer islands" or "other islands" (in the sense of "islands beyond Java in between the Indian and Pacific Oceans"), referring to the islands outside of Java under hegemony of the Majapahit Empire. The term is commonly erroneously translated as "archipelago" in modern times. Based on the Majapahit concept of state, the monarch had power over three areas: The word Nusantara was not only used by the Javanese and did not disappear after the fall of Majapahit. This word can be found in Malay Annals, a classic Malay literature written as early as 1612, but it remained known even in the 1808 manuscript: "Terlalu sekali besar kerajaan Baginda (Majapahit) pada zaman itu, segala seluruh Jawa semuanya dalam hukum Baginda, dan segala raja-raja Nusantarapun setengah sudah ta-luk kepada baginda. Very big was the kingdom of Baginda (the king of Majapahit) at that time, all of Java was under Baginda 's law, and half of the kings of the Nusantara archipelago were submissive to Baginda."

Nusantara concept in the 20th century

In 1920, Ernest Francois Eugene Douwes Dekker (1879–1950), also known as Setiabudi, proposed Nusantara as a name for the independent country of Indonesia which did not contain any words etymologically related to the name of India or the Indies. This is the first instance of the term Nusantara appearing after it had been written into Pararaton manuscript. The definition of Nusantara introduced by Setiabudi is different from the 14th-century definition of the term. During the Majapahit era, Nusantara described vassal areas that had been conquered. Setiabudi defined Nusantara as all the Indonesian regions from Sabang to Merauke.

Modern usage

Indonesia

Nowadays, in Indonesian, Nusantara is synonymous with either the Indonesian Archipelago or the national territory of Indonesia. In this sense, the term Nusantara excludes Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, and the Philippines. In 1967, it transformed into the concept of Wawasan Nusantara, or "archipelagic outlook," which regards the archipelagic realm of Indonesia (the islands and seas within/surrounding the country) as a single unity of several aspects, mainly socio-cultural, linguistic, political, economic, security-driven and defensive unity. Nusantara is also the name of the future capital of Indonesia.

Outside Indonesia

In Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, the term is generally used to refer to the Malay Archipelago or the Malay realm which includes those countries. In a more scholarly manner without national borders, Nusantara in a modern language usage "refers to the sphere of influence of the Austronesian-related cultural and linguistic islands that comprise Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the southernmost part of Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and perhaps even Taiwan, but it does not involve the areas of Papua New Guinea."

Foreign Nusantara studies

The Nusantara Society in Moscow conducts studies on the Nusantara region's history, culture, languages and politics.