About Kuta, Bali
- Stone Age settlers from Asia's mainland came to Bali (including the Kuta region) about 2500 B.C. Brahman priests with Hindu followers arrived millennia later (around 100 B.C.) from the Indian subcontinent introducing Hinduism to the island's inhabitants. Another wave of settlers, from India's Majaphit Empire, colonized the island nearly 1,500 years later. More than 90 percent of the population continues to practice a Balinese form of Hinduism.
- Setting up trading posts after discovering Bali in 1597, the Dutch colonized and controlled the island until the Japanese occupied the region during World War II. Gaining independence from Holland at the war's end, Bali today is part of the United States of Indonesia.
- Buddhist temple near Kuta rests on a hill.
Erecting a Chinese Buddhist temple 300 years ago beside the Tukad Mati river changed traditional row-boat traffic to the small fishing village of Kuta into a busy waterway. Kuta's half-moon beach eventually became the commercial port it is today. - During the 1960s and 1970s, the free spirit of the hippie culture led to the discovery of Bali and more specifically, Kuta. Visiting this former fishing village, for the laid-back ambiance and emerald backdrop of lush jungle, backpackers and world travelers continue to mark Kuta as "the" exotic destination.
- A memorial stands where suicide bombs killed innocent citizens of Kuta.
Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim nation in contrast to Bali's Hindu population. The peaceful life in Kuta was shattered by suicide bombers in 2002. Despite the attacks, Kuta remains southern Bali's most visited location, an area of culture and welcoming, friendly people.
