Some 13,000 islands containing over 200 million people living in a land area about three times the size of Texas. While Javanese comprise 45 percent of the population, there are nearly fifty other groups with significant populations (and claims on a specific piece of territory.) Many of these peoples are not content to remain part of Indonesia, which didn't exist as a single political entity until the Dutch showed up in the 17th century. Became independent in 1949, and has suffered a series of corrupt governments ever since. Aceh, a province at the western tip of one of the larger islands, wants independence, as does East Timor (a former Portuguese colony) and Irian Jaya (the western half of New Guinea.) Other provinces are simmering, and if the government does not clean up it's act, more separatist movements will arise. In addition to the political strife, there are also bad feelings between Christians (9%) and the majority (87%) Muslim population. The ethnic Chinese population, less than two percent of the population, controls much of the retail and wholesale trade, providing another target for ethnic animosities.