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Asia Indonesia

Guide to Indonesia, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Welcome to the INDONESIA Page


---LOCATION---

Indonesia lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N, and longitudes 95°E and 141°E. It consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited. These are scattered over both sides of the equator. The largest are Java, Sumatra, Borneo (shared with Brunei and Malaysia), New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea), and Sulawesi. Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia on Borneo, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea, and East Timor on the island of Timor. Indonesia shares maritime borders across narrow straits with Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Palau to the north, and with Australia to the south.

Indonesia's location on the edges of the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian tectonic plates makes it the site of numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Indonesia has at least 150 active volcanoes, including Krakatoa and Tambora, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century.

Lying along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons. Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimeters (70.1–125.0 inches), and up to 6,100 millimeters (240 inches) in mountainous regions. Mountainous areas – particularly in the west coast of Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua – receive the highest rainfall.

---HISTORY---

Fossils and the remains of tools show that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited by Homo-erectus, popularly known as "Java Man", between 1.5 million years ago and as recently as 35,000 years ago.

Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago.

Austronesian peoples, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BC, and as they spread through the archipelago, pushed the indigenous Melanesian peoples to the far eastern regions.

Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of wet-field rice cultivation as early as the 8th century BC,allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the 1st century AD. Indonesia's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade, including links with Indian kingdoms and China, which were established several centuries BC. Trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history.

---RELIGION---

The Constitution of the Republic of China protects people's freedom of religion and the practices of belief.

The CIA World Factbook reports that over 93% of Taiwanese are adherents of a combination of the polytheistic ancient Chinese religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism; 4.5% are adherents of Christianity, which includes Protestants, Catholics, and other, non-denominational, Christian groups; and less than 2.5% are adherents of other religions.

The Taiwanese aborigines comprise a notable subgroup among professing Christians: "...over 64% identify as Christian... Church buildings are the most obvious markers of Aboriginal villages, distinguishing them from Taiwanese or Hakka villages.

---ECONOMY---

Prior to WWII, Taiwan had a largely agrarian economy. However the war caused major damage to all areas of the country, as far as its ability to sustain itself.

By 1945, hyperinflation was in progress in mainland China and Taiwan as a result of the war with Japan. To isolate Taiwan from it, the Nationalist government created a new currency area for the island, and began a price stabilization program. These efforts significantly slowed inflation.

In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States began an aid program which resulted in fully stabilized prices by 1952.[180] Economic development was encouraged by American economic aid and programs such as the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, which turned the agricultural sector into the basis for later growth. Under the combined stimulus of the land reform and the agricultural development programs, agricultural production increased at an average annual rate of 4 per cent from 1952 to 1959, which was greater than the population growth.

In 1962, Taiwan had a (nominal) per-capita gross national product (GNP) of $170, placing its economy on a par with those of Zaire and Congo.

Today Taiwan has a dynamic, capitalist, export-driven economy with gradually decreasing state involvement in investment and foreign trade. In keeping with this trend, some large government-owned banks and industrial firms are being privatized.

Taiwan has had a real growth in GDP of about 8% per year over the last 25 years, making it a truly economic miracle and an example of what a democratic, capital driven economy can achieve.

---RESEARCH TOOLS---

Taiwan does not have a central repository for Birth, Marriage, and Death records. Instead everything is recorded with local government offices.

The following list of counties, municipalities, and special administrative regions can be of help:


 * Counties:
 * Changhua
 * Chiayi (county)
 * Hsinchu
 * Hualien
 * Kaohsiung (county)
 * Kinmen
 * Lienchiang
 * Miaoli
 * Nantou
 * Penghu
 * Pingtung
 * Taichung
 * Tainan
 * Taipei (county)
 * Taitung
 * Taoyuan
 * Yilan
 * Yunlin


 * Municipalities:
 * Chiayi (city)
 * Hsinchu
 * Keelung
 * Taichung
 * Tainan


 * Special Municipalities:
 * Kaohsiung (city)
 * Taipei (city)

The following links can be helpful to start research projects:


 * find a grave records


 * Taiwan GenWeb


 * Chinese history geneanet records


 * WWII records Taiwan genealogy societies


 * local history and genealogy societies records: Taiwan