Over the past decades Indonesia has seen crowded, developed and 21st-century cities spring up all over the place. Just a few decades ago some were scarcely more than villages with few humble buildings around a train station.
The photos weve compiled below provide a glimpse into what the country was like before it industrialized and modernized:
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Sawah Besar, Jakarta. Date unknown.
Indonesian classroom. Date unknown.
Indonesian classroom. Date unknown.
Bogor Botanical Gardens, West Java. Date unknown.
Garut, West Java. Date unknown.
Post office in Jakarta. Date unknown.
Sabang, Sumatra. Date unknown.
Pasar Baru, Jakarta. Date unknown.
Train station Jakarta Kota. 1970.
Jalan Sudirman, Jakarta. 1971.
Dirgantara Monument, Pancoran, Jakarta. Date unknown.
A house in Menteng, Jakarta. 1930.
A soldier in Braga street, Bandung, West Java. 1940.
A street in Solo, Central Java. 1940.
Helicak, tri-wheeled public transport made out of a Lambretta scooter, Jakarta. Date unknown.
Train station in Bandung, West Java. Between 1920-1925.
Schoolchildren. 1920.
Javanese man at the foot of stairs in the temple complex of Borobudur in Magelang, Central Java. Photographed by Kassian Cephas. 1872.
Warung (food stall) in Jakarta. 1915.
Javanese woman painting batik on cloth. Date unknown.
Surabaya, East Java. Date unknown.
Semarang. 1915.
Surabaya. 1925.
Tram in Jakarta. 1920.
Dutch tourists in Bali. 1939.
Surabaya. 1940.
Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Kennedy with President Soekarno. 1960.
Glodok Chinatown, Jakarta. 1953.
Dentist in Batavia, Jakarta. 1950.
Jalan Sudirman, Jakarta. 1968.
Automobile in Jakarta, 1965.
Bandung cinema complex (now Palaguna), West Java. Date unknown.
Alun-Alun, Bandung, West Java. 1960.
Jalan Sudirman, Jakarta. 1969.
De Orion Bioscoop (now Preanger Theatre) in Bandung, West Java. 1920.
Muhammad Ali on a becak, Jakarta. 1973.
The poster for Muhammad Ali’s fight in Jakarta. 1973.
Madiun, East Java. 1973.
Kuta beach, Bali. 1980.
Hotel Indonesia Traffice Circle, Jakarta. 1980.
Jalan Legian, Kuta, Bali. 1988.
Chevrolet cars. Date unknown.
Roads in Jakarta. Date unknown.
An empty street. Date unknown.
A house with Javanese characters painted above the door.. Location & date unknown.
Railway in the making. Date unknown.
Old bus in North Sumatra. Date unknown.
Indonesian and Dutch Soldiers. Date unknown.
Ujung Water Palace, Bali. 1925.
Temple in Bali. Date unknown.
Soldiers in Yogyakarta. December 1947.
Taken from an Indonesian postcard from 1910.