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Indo-European languages ► induction I 937
Indo-European languages Family of languages with the greatest number of speakers, spoken in most of Europe and areas of European settlement and in much of southwestern and southern Asia. They are descended from a single unrecorded language believed to have been spo¬ ken more than 5,000 years ago in the steppe regions north of the Black Sea and to have split into a number of dialects by 3000 bc. Carried by migrating tribes to Europe and Asia, these developed over time into sepa¬ rate languages. The main branches are Anatolian, Indo-Iranian (including Indo-Aryan and Iranian), Greek, Itauc, Germanic, Armenian, Celtic, Alba¬ nian, the extinct Tocharian languages, Baltic, and Slavic. The study of Indo-European began in 1786 with Sir William Jones’s proposal that Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Germanic, and Celtic were all derived from a “common source.” In the 19th century linguists added other languages to the Indo-European family, and scholars such as Rasmus Rask established a system of sound correspondences. Proto-Indo-European has since been partially reconstructed via identification of roots common to its descen¬ dants and analysis of shared grammatical patterns.
Indo-Gangetic Plain See Gangetic Plain
Indochina or Indochinese Peninsula Region of mainland South¬ east Asia. The term, now largely superseded by the name Southeast Asia, was used mainly by Westerners to describe the intermingling of Indian and Chinese cultural influences in the region. Indochinese Peninsula typi¬ cally referred to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (see French Indochina), though it was sometimes expanded to include Myanmar (Burma), Thai¬ land, and the mainland portion of Malaysia.
Indochina wars 20th-century conflicts in Vietnam, Laos, and Cam¬ bodia. The first conflict (1946-54; often called the French Indochina War) involved France, which had ruled Vietnam as its colony (French Indoch¬ ina), and the newly independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh; the war ended in Vietnamese victory in 1954. Vietnam was then divided into the communist-dominated north and the U.S.-supported south; war soon broke out between the two. North Vietnam won the war (the Vietnam War) despite heavy U.S. involvement, and the country was reunited in 1976. Cambodia experienced its own civil war between com¬ munists and noncommunists during that period, which was won by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975. After several years of horrifying atroci¬ ties under Pol Pot, the Vietnamese invaded in 1979 and installed a pup¬ pet government. Fighting between the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese continued throughout the 1980s; Vietnam withdrew its troops by 1989. In 1993 UN-mediated elections established an interim government, and Cambodia’s monarchy was reestablished. In Laos, North Vietnam’s vic¬ tory over South Vietnam brought the communist Pathet Lao into com¬ plete control in Laos.
Indonesia officially Republic of Indonesia formerly Nether¬ lands East Indies Archipelago country, located off the coast of main¬ land Southeast Asia. It comprises some 17,500 islands, of which about 6,000 are uninhabited. Area: 730,024 square miles (1,890,754 square km). Population (2005 est.): 222,781,000. Capitaclass="underline" Jakarta (on Java). Indone¬ sia has more than 300 ethnic groups, which in the western islands fall into three broad divisions: the inland rice-growing peoples of Java and neigh¬ bouring islands; the Muslim coastal peoples, including the Malays of Sumatra; and the Dayak and other tribal groups. In the east the distinc¬ tion is between coastal and interior peoples. Languages: Bahasa Indone¬ sia (official), some 250 languages from different ethnic groups. Religions: Islam; also Christianity, Hinduism, traditional beliefs. Currency: rupiah. The Indonesian archipelago stretches 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from west to east. Major islands include Sumatra, Java (with more than half of Indo¬ nesia’s population), Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, about three-fourths of Borneo (Kalimantan), Celebes (Sulawesi), the Moluccas, and the western portions of Timor and New Guinea. The islands are characterized by rugged vol¬ canic mountains and tropical rainforests. Geologically unstable, Indone¬ sia has frequent earthquakes and 220 active volcanoes, including Krakatoa (Krakatau). Roughly one-fifth of its land is arable, and rice is the staple crop. Petroleum, natural gas, timber products, garments, and rubber are major exports. Indonesia is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president.
Austronesian-speaking peoples began migrating to Indonesia about the 3rd millennium bc. Commercial relations were established with Africa about the 1st century ad, and Hindu and Buddhist cultural influences from India began to take hold. Indian traders also brought Islam to the islands, and by the 13th century it was spreading throughout the islands—except Bali, which retained its Hindu religion and culture. Indonesia now has the
largest Muslim population of any country. European influence began in the 16th century, and the Dutch gradually established control of Indone¬ sia from the late 17th century until 1942, when the Japanese invaded. Sukarno declared Indonesia’s independence in 1945, which the Dutch granted, with nominal union to The Netherlands, in 1949; Indonesia dis¬ solved this union in 1954. The suppression of an alleged coup attempt in 1965 resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people the gov¬ ernment claimed to be communists, and by 1968 Gen. Suharto had taken power. His government forcibly incorporated East Timor into Indonesia in 1975-76, with much loss of life. In the 1990s the country was beset by political, economic, and environmental problems, and Suharto was deposed in 1998. Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid was elected presi¬ dent in 1999 but was replaced in 2001 by his vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, the eldest daughter of Sukarno. In 2004 she was succeeded by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In 1999 the people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia, which was granted; after a period under UN supervision, it achieved full sovereignty in 2002. In 2004 a large tsu¬ nami generated by an earthquake off the western coast of Sumatra caused widespread death and destruction. See map on following page.
Indonesian language See Malay language
Indore \in-'dor\ City (pop., 2001 prelim.: metro, area, 1,639,044), west¬ ern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Located northeast of Mumbai (Bombay), it was founded in 1715 as a trade market by local landown¬ ers, who erected Indreshwar Temple, from which the city’s name is derived. It became the capital of the princely state of Indore belonging to the Maratha Holkars. Under the British, it served as the headquarters of the British Central India Agency. The largest city in the state, it is an important commercial and industrial centre.