The author offers a reconstruction of regional variations in the growth of the indigenous population of Indonesia from 1880 till the Japanese invasion in 1942. The demographic components of population growth (migration, fertility and mortality) are not only presented as demographic statistics but also interpreted as the aggregate effects of major events in the lives of indigenous people. Hence, migration is described in relation to employment opportunities, the social structure, and tradition; fertility is examined in the light of aspects of family formation, including marriage customs and birth control practices; and mortality is linked to epidemics and Western health care.