Naming

It was a ship's doctor who gave a name to Indonesia. In 1861, Adolf Bastian, from Bremen in Germany, was sailing in Southeast Asia. Later he wrote a few books. One of them became widely read: Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884-1894. And it was from this book that 'Indonesia' began to be widely used to name the archipelago.

Bastian was influential because he was not merely a ship's doctor. He was a graduate of law and biology, and he was interested in the science that in his day was called 'ethnology'; but he was also a doctor. The fact that he became a ship's doctor shows that he wanted to explore other parts of the world. In 1873, he helped establish the Museum fr Vlkerkunde in Berlin, with its huge collection of man-made artifacts from all corners of the globe.

June 2, 2015