country in southeastern Asia in the Malay Archipelago comprising Sumatra, Java, southern and eastern Borneo, Sulawesi, western Timor, western New Guinea, the Moluccas, and many adjacent smaller islands; formerly (as the Netherlands Indies) an overseas territory of the Netherlands; capital Jakarta area 735,358 square miles (1,904,569 square kilometers), population 262,787,000 see also indonesiansense 1