Trade and Syncretism: How Islam Reached Nusantara and The Sociopolitical Ramifications

Nusantara is a term given to the collection of Islands that dotted Southeast Asia, encompassing well over 25,000 distinct landmasses connected by an archipelagical sea. In the middle of the most crowded maritime route are the nations of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei, the three of which are muslim-majority countries. Alas, how does this region, where Buddhism and Hinduism was much prevalent in the past, coupled with its geographically distant location with the Arabian peninsula come to be populated by muslims? And how does it affect both the local culture and political stance? In this, we need to look back to the old seafaring nations of Nusantara.