What is Nusantara?

Nusantara today is an Indonesian term for the Indonesian archipelago. It originated in Old Javanese and literally means "archipelago". In Malay, Nusantara means the Malay world.

The word Nusantara was taken from an oath by Gajah Mada in 1336, as written in the Old Javanese Pararaton and Nagarakretagama. Gajah Mada was a powerful military leader and prime minister of Majapahit who was 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.

Nusantara is a Javanese word which appears in the Pararaton manuscript. In Javanese, Nusantara means "outer islands", from nūsa, meaning "island" and antara, "within". Based on the Majapahit concept of state, the monarch had the power over three areas:

•     Negara Agung, or the Grand State, the core kingdom. This includes the capital and the surrounding area. In the context of the Majapahit empire, this area covered East Java and its surrounding area.

•     Mancanegara, areas surrounding Negara Agung. These areas are directly influenced by Javanese culture. In the context of Majapahit empire, this includes the entire Java island, Madura, Bali, as well as Lampung and Palembang in South Sumatra.

•     Nusantara, areas which do not reflect Javanese culture, but are colonies where they had to pay tribute. In the context of Majapahit empire, this includes the modern territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei, East Timor and southern Thailand.

Today in Indonesian, Nusantara is synonymous with Indonesian archipelago or the national territory of Indonesia, in this sense the term Nusantara excludes Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. While in Malaysian this term is synonymous and often interchangeable with Malay archipelago or Malay realm (Malay: Alam Melayu) which includes those countries, and the Philippines.

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