AHC: Indonesia occupies the same role as Europe OTL

Exactly what it says on the tin. I've heard a lot of talk about how India was rapidly gaining gunpowder weapons and that if something happened to knock Europe back a few decades, it's not implausible for India to occupy the same niche. However, I also have noticed Indonesia has a lot of the same advantages as India or Europe, including stratified proto-Nation-State societies and a strong oceanic tradition. So., with a POD after the fall of the Roman Empire, how do you get Indonesia to occupy the same niche as Europe. This would entail having Indonesia colonize far-flung areas, and overall establish a kind of global dominance in the same way Europe did OTL.

My best guess would be to nix the Chola Invasions. This would give Srivijaya time to expand farther east than OTL, which, when it collapses, would mean that there were even more state-like societies looking to expand. It would also allow the Indonesian states to enter trade with China and India on their own terms, and might even give them an incentive to try to cross the Pacific if India or China becomes hostile to trade.

What do y'all think?
 

Deleted member 97083

If Srivijaya does expand further east and south, perhaps Indonesia colonizing Australia and New Zealand could act as a miniature version of Europe's colonization of the Americas, bringing resources into Indonesian empires that may allow for exploration elsewhere.
 
If Srivijaya does expand further east and south, perhaps Indonesia colonizing Australia and New Zealand could act as a miniature version of Europe's colonization of the Americas, bringing resources into Indonesian empires that may allow for exploration elsewhere.
Now that you mention it, if you can get Indonesian colonization to reach New Zealand before 1200, they'll beat the Maori there, which means that they'd still get to see things like Moa.
 

Deleted member 97083

Now that you mention it, if you can get Indonesian colonization to reach New Zealand before 1200, they'll beat the Maori there, which means that they'd still get to see things like Moa.
Technically the Polynesians originated from Maritime Southeast Asia, so given your definition of Indonesia as a continent/civilization, then one could argue Aotearoa was at one point, an "Indonesian" colony already.
 
Technically the Polynesians originated from Maritime Southeast Asia, so given your definition of Indonesia as a continent/civilization, then one could argue Aotearoa was at one point, an "Indonesian" colony already.
I mean, yeah, but it was politically disconnected from the rest of Indonesia.
 
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