Bali is the only region of Indonesia where a living Hindu culture survived the spread of Islam during the 15th–16th centuries. To understand why this small island (5,780 km²) differs so fundamentally from the rest of the country, it is worth walking through its history in several key chapters.
Beginnings: the Warmadewa kingdom (8th–14th c.)
The first recorded Balinese kingdom — Warmadewa — was founded in the 8th century, with Hinduism and Buddhism arriving from Java. Copper-plate inscriptions and the rock-cut sanctuary of Goa Gajah („Elephant Cave") near Ubud, carved around the 9th century, survive from this era.
The Majapahit influence (14th–16th c.)
In 1343 the Javanese warlord Gajah Mada conquered Bali on behalf of the Majapahit empire. When Islam displaced Hinduism from Java in the 15th century, Balinese aristocracy, artists, scholars and priests fled here. This „last train from Majapahit" shaped the language, art, temple architecture and caste system still visible today. The year 1478 is regarded as the beginning of Bali's classical civilisation.
Independent kingdoms (16th–19th c.)
Bali was divided among rival kingdoms: Gelgel (later Klungkung), Buleleng, Karangasem, Badung, Mengwi, Tabanan, Bangli and Gianyar. They fought each other, traded slaves with the Dutch based in Batavia and maintained their distinctiveness from an Islamic Indonesia.
Dutch colonisation (1846–1942)
The Dutch conquered Bali step by step. The key moments are the puputan — ritual mass suicides of the Balinese nobility resisting invasion: in Badung (1906) and Klungkung (1908). Dressed in white, lords, ladies and children marched to their deaths accompanied by gamelan music; the shock of global public opinion forced a change in colonial policy and the promotion of Bali as „the Last Paradise".
War and independence (1942–1965)
During WWII Bali was occupied by Japan. After Indonesian independence (1945) another puputan took place at Marga (1946), where I Gusti Ngurah Rai fell fighting the Dutch — the island's main airport (DPS) now bears his name.
The 1963 Gunung Agung eruption
The eruption of the sacred volcano Gunung Agung during the great ceremonial festival Eka Dasa Rudra killed 1,500 people and was religiously interpreted as the wrath of the gods. A year later the massacre of 1965 (anti-communist purge) cost 80,000–100,000 Balinese lives — one of the island's darkest chapters.
The tourism era (from 1970)
The opening of Ngurah Rai airport (1969) and the arrival of surfing hippies in Kuta ignited mass tourism. Today Bali welcomes over 6 million visitors a year. The bombings of 2002 (Kuta, 202 dead) and 2005 exposed the economy's vulnerability, but the island rebuilt itself and became a global symbol of wellness, yoga and digital nomadism.