Java (; Indonesian: Jawa , pronounced [ˈdʒawa]; Javanese: ꦗꦮ; Sundanese:
ᮏᮝ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the
Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of
151.6 million people, Java is the world's most populous island, home to
approximately 56% of the Indonesian population.
Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta, is on Java's northwestern coast. Many of
the best known events in Indonesian history took place on Java. It was the
centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, and the
core of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Java was also the center of the
Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 1940s.