Early Hindu and Muslim Dynasties

The first Indonesian Hindu kingdom, Dvipantara, was founded on the islands of Sumatra and Java around 200 CE by Indian traders. Sumatra was taken over by the Sriwijayas, a Vajrayana Buddhist Kingdom, in the 7th century. Over the next several hundred years, Buddhism and Hinduism blended with native beliefs to create a syncretistic tradition unique to South East Asia. Records from the Majapahit Empire in the thirteenth century tell of Hindu kings patronizing prominent Hindu deities, including Shiva and Vishnu, while simultaneously following the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. Muslim traders visiting northern Sumatra in the 1200s began to establish an Islamic presence in Indonesia, and Islam slowly spread across the region. Sufi saints played a large role in the transculturation of Islam to Indonesia, blending traditional island practices with Muslim teachings. The last of the Hindu Majaphit kings was taken over by a Muslim Sultanate in the early 1500s, although Bali retained a Hindu majority. The Sultans began to enforce Sharia and to use Arabic script for legal matters and, eventually, for day-to-day life. The Sultanates ruled until the early 1800s, when Java was taken over by Dutch colonizers.