| Abstract: |
In the eighth century, a new center of economic, political, and artistic achievement arose in central Java. The major remnants of this period are the Buddhist monument of Borobudur and the Hindu temple complex of Prambanan. After two centuries of prosperity founded on a combination of maritime trade and agrarian development, this center vanished for reasons that are still unclear. Several new centers of population and economic activity arose in East Java, but monumental structures only reappeared in the thirteenth century. Indonesia’s greatest kingdom, Majapahit, flourished in the fourteenth century, then declined as new Islamic polities formed in the seaports of the north coast. Bali had close relations with Java during the ninth to fifteenth centuries, during which the nobility of the two islands intermarried, but Bali was not simply a peripheral reflection of Java. Bali’s distinctive modern culture evolved in a very different direction from Java.
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