In the 1200s Indian Muslim traders brought Islam to northern Sumatra, and by the 1400s Islam had spread through most of present-day Indonesia except Bali, which remained Hindu. Indonesia became the Netherlands East Indies in 1610. By 1700 the Dutch controlled almost all the islands, although they did not fully subjugate Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra, until 1904. They retained control with only two brief interruptions during the Napoleonic Wars. British forces took over most of the outer islands under Dutch control by 1799 to 1802, and took over all areas, including the central island of Java, from August 1811 to 1816. The Japanese occupied Indonesia from March 8, 1942 until October 1945. Indonesia declared its independence on August 17, 1945, and formally gained independence on December 27, 1949.
The first coins were produced in Indonesia in the twelfth century. These coins were gold and silver lumps issued by the Indianized kingdoms such as the Sailendras of Java and the Srivijaya of Sumatra. In the thirteenth century, imported Chinese bronze coins were adopted as the official currency. These were supplemented by gold and tin coins with Arabic inscription issued in Sumatra and Sulawesi.
When Europeans began arriving in Indonesia, they brought with them gold coins from Portugal and Venice, and silver dollars from Mexico, Peru and Bolivia. Chinese and Japanese bronze coins were also imported along with Japanese gold coins and Indian rupees counterstamped by the Dutch.
Dutch money circulated in the Netherlands East Indies from 1610 until January 14, 1817 when the Netherlands East Indies adopted the Guilder as its currency, at par with the Netherlands Guilder (NLG). This led to special issues of coins for the Netherlands Indies in 1821 and 1833. Thirty Stuivers equaled a rupee and 66 stuivers equaled a dollar.
The Dutch produced coins especially for the Netherlands Indies in 1726. The Spanish Silver Dollar circulated in the Dutch Indies and was equal to 64 Stuivers or about 3.2 Dutch Guilders. The Netherlands Indies Paper Rijksdaalder was equivalent to a Spanish Silver Dollar. They also issued notes denominated in Spanish dollars dated 1 May 1812 and notes denominated in "Java rupees" dated 1814.
One Netherlands Indies Guilder (IDDG) was divisible into 30 Stuyvers or 120 Duiten until 1854 when the Guilder was decimalized and made divisible into 100 cents. The Treasury issued banknotes between 1815 and June 30, 1861 when the banknotes were withdrawn. The Treasury also issued banknotes between 1919 and 1943. The Javasche Bank was established in 1828 and began issuing banknotes in 1864. The Netherlands Indies left the Gold Standard on November 26, 1936.
When the Japanese occupied the Netherlands East Indies, they introduced the Military Yen denominated in Guilders, but overissue of the Gumpyo Guilders (IDDJ) led to inflation. The Gumpyo Guilder was replaced with a Gumpyo Rupiah (IDDR) at par, but it steadily depreciated during the war. Originally at par with the Japanese Yen, by March 7, 1946, it took 33 Indonesian Rupiah to obtain 1 Japanese Yen. Japan minted coins for the Netherlands East Indies, but the Japanese were unable to ship the coins to the Netherlands East Indies and they were never used.
After the war, the “Nica” guilder (IDD), issued by the Netherlands Government, and the “Java” Rupiah (IDJ), issued by the Javasche Bank, circulated in different parts of Indonesia. Indonesian forces rebelling against the Netherlands also issued “guerilla” banknotes (IDG). All of these circulated at different exchange rates relative to each other.
The Indonesia Republic Rupiah replaced the Indonesian/Netherlands East Indies Guilder on November 2, 1949 at par with the Guerilla Rupiah, and “Java” Rupiah notes were exchanged for Indonesia Rupiah notes at the rate of 2 “Java” Rupiah equal to 1 Indonesia Guilder for amounts above five Guilders. Although Indonesia eliminated the three versions of the Guilder and consolidated them into the New Rupiah, extensive currency controls were used to fruitlessly prevent the Rupiah from depreciating. The old Rupiah was replaced by a new Rupiah on December 13, 1965 with 1000 old Rupiahs equal to 1 New Rupiah. Banknotes were issued by the Treasury from 1945 until 1964, and by the Bank Indonesia from 1952 until today.
The Riau Archipelago includes a group of islands near Singapore. Malayan Dollars (MYAD) circulated in the Riau Archipelago and were legal tender from 1952 until December 1, 1963. A special version of the Indonesia Rupiah, the Kepulauan Riau Rupiah (IDRR) was created on October 15, 1963 to replace Malayan Dollars in the Riau Archipelago since 1 Kepulauan Riau Rupiah was equal to 1 Malayan Dollar. The Indonesian Rupiah (IDN) replaced the Rupiah Kepulauan Riau on July 1, 1964.
Irian Barat includes West Irian, Irian Jaya, and Netherlands New Guinea. Netherlands New Guinea was part of the Netherlands East Indies from 1828 until December 1949. The issue of Irian Jaya remained unresolved in 1949 and the Dutch continued to administer it as Netherlands New Guinea. It became part of Indonesia on May 1, 1963. On October 1, 1962 the Netherlands transferred Irian Barat transitionally to the United Nations, which administered the territory as West New Guinea. On May 1, 1963 Indonesia became the administering power of the territory, renamed Irian Barat, and on September 17, 1969 it became an Indonesian province.
Irian Barat followed the monetary history of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia until 1949 when it became a separate political entity from Indonesia. The Netherlands New Guinea Guilder (NNGG) circulated at par with the Netherlands Guilder (NLG) from March 30, 1950 until May 1, 1963. The Irian Barat Rupiah (IDIR) replaced the Netherlands New Guinea Guilder at par, being officially equal to 12.43 Indonesian Rupiah, but a subsidiary rate of 87.01 Ruipah also existed. Because of the weakness in the Indonesian Rupiah, the conversion rate fluctuated over time. The Irian Barat Rupiah depreciated, though at a slower rate than the Indonesia Rupiah. The Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) replaced the Irian Barat Rupiah on February 18, 1971.
