Cultural and historical overview

Yogya’s rich living culture today has its roots in the distant past. Habitation of the region dates back to Java Man ( pithecantropus ) whose remain have been found in the solo area, some 60 km away. Inded , the Yogyakarta – Solo plains, being extremely fertile thanks to their volcanic soil, have been cultivated since the dawn of history.

Hinduism and Buddhism arrived early in Java from India, brought by traders sometime around the 1st or 2st century AD, and were grafted onto the animistic beliefs of the indigenous population. Archaeological remains from the Hindu and Buddhist ( Majapahit ) kingdoms in Central Java are today a principal tourist attraction. These include the UNESCO designated World Heritage sites of Borobudur and Prambanan. Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences are still very important in modern javanese dialy life, especially in the performing arts.

The History of modern Yogyakarta can be formally dated to the officially founding of the city in 1755, after the kingdom of Mataram was divided in two under a treaty with the Ducth colonial rulers. The first Sultan was Hamengku Buwono X , the tenth in line. Islam arrived in the 15 century brought by Arab and Indian Traders , and rapidly spread from the coast inward. Today, the overwhelming majority of Yogyakartans are Muslims ( 90% ), with significant Christian and Buddhist minorities scattered throughout the province. Despite these official affiliations, traditional religious beliefs are still of great importance of the Javanese. Traditional Javanese mysticism continue to play an important role in the dialy lives of the people.

The Dutch ruled the area known then as the Ducth East Indies for 300 years, with Indonesia declaring independence on August 17th , 1945 . after a brief struggle, the state of Indonesian was formally recognized by the world in 1949. The Crucial role played by Yogya during the flight for independence (when it also acted as the temporary capital of the young republic ) , earned it the ‘special region’ status.

Today the province of Yogyakarta is the only independent sultanate in Indonesia, and it has an elected provincial assembly. With the progressive moves towards decentralization under a newly-elected reform goverment in Jakarta, the provincial goverment in taking over many of the economic decisions and public responbilities that were formally under the tight control of the central goverment