When you read Indonesian history, you read world history. This country is a subtle blending of every culture that ever invaded it - Chinese, Indian, Melanesian, Portugese, Polynesian, Arabian, English and Dutch. Indonesia's history is a story of wave after wave of migrations of peoples who either absorbed earlier arrivals, killed them off, or pushed them into less favorable regions such as deep forests, high mountains, or remote islands (where they are found to this day). This explains Indonesia's astounding ethnic diversity