Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state in the world, consisting of 17,504 islands, although only 7,870 of these islands can be named by geographical position in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982. The following is a summary of Indonesias struggle for territorial sovereignty over the Indonesian archipelago:

July 11, 1945The BPUPKI declares that Independent Indonesia retains the regions formerly