Banten Sultanate

The Banten Sultanate (كسلطانن بنتن) was a Bantenese Islamic trading kingdom founded in the 16th century and centred in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English name of both was Bantam. It is said to have been founded by Sunan Gunungjati, who had previously founded Cirebon.

Once a great trading centre in Southeast Asia, especially of pepper, the kingdom reached its apogee in the late 16th and mid-17th centuries. By the late 17th century its importance was overshadowed by Batavia, and finally annexed to Dutch East Indies in 1813.

Its core territory now forms the Indonesian province of Banten. Today, in Old Banten, the Great Mosque of Banten is an important destination for tourists and for pilgrims from across Indonesia and from overseas.

Formation

Before 1526 CE, a settlement called Banten was situated about ten kilometres inland from the coast on the Cibanten River, in the area which is today occupied by the southern suburbs of the town of Serang. It was known as Banten Girang, meaning "Upper Banten" owing to its location. This town was a native Hindu Sundanese principality that belonged to the Kingdom of Sunda.

Previously the Cirebon settlement was founded in 1445 by prince Cakrabuana, also known as raden (lord) Walangsungsang.
Sunan Gunungjati (Sharif Hidayatullah) was an "ulama", an educated class of Muslim legal scholars. He was educated in the Middle East, and was the grandson of King of Sunda Sri Baduga Maharaja, also known as Prabu Siliwangi. In the early 16th century, Gunungjati arrived in the town of Banten Girang with the intention of spreading the word of Islam in this still Hindu-dominated area. Sharif Hidayatullah become the tumenggung (marquess) of Cirebon in 1479, succeeding his uncle and father-in-law Cakrabuana. In 1482 Sharif Hidayatullah sent a letter to his grandfather, proclaiming independence of Cirebon from Sunda Pajajaran. According to Suma Oriental, written in 1512–1515, Tomé Pires, a Portuguese explorer reported that the port of Banten still belonged to the Kingdom of Sunda, while Cirebon had been established as an Islamic state.
Although at first well received by Sunda authorities, after news of the Portuguese-Sunda alliance in 1522 became known, Gunungjati nevertheless asked the Demak sultanate to send troops to Banten, started the Demak-Sundanese war. It was likely his son, Hasanudin, who commanded this military operation in 1527, just as the Portuguese fleet was arriving of the coast at Sunda Kelapa, to capture these towns. Subsequently, the Portuguese fleet that intended to establish a coastal fortress was defeated by Cirebon and Demak forces.

Sunan Gunungjati and his son settled in Banten Girang, and took control of both the port of Banten and Kelapa, while Surawisesa, the king of Sunda at that time was powerless to prevent this take over and signed a peace treaty with Demak and Cirebon in 1531 M. Sunan Gunungjati crowned Hasanudin as the tumenggung of Banten with authority bestowed by the Sultan of Demak, Trenggana who, in turn, offered Hasanudin his sister's hand in marriage. Thus, a new dynasty was born at the same time as a new kingdom was created. Old Banten (currently part of Serang) was the capital of this kingdom, held as a province under Sultanate of Cirebon.

Growth

The first sultan, Hasanuddin

Obviously from the beginning for his own benefit Hasanuddin's intention was to revive the fortunes of the ancient kingdom of Sunda — the rice and spice trade, especially pepper. One of his earliest decisions was to travel to southern Sumatra (today Lampung province), which had traditionally belonged to the kingdom of Sunda, and from which the bulk of the pepper sold in the Sundanese region came. He was keen to assure himself of the loyalty of these agriculturally wealthy areas as soon as possible and to guarantee supplies of pepper for his ports, since it was on this spice that all international trade was based and, hence, in which the wealth of his kingdom lay.

Having established control over the ports and the pepper trade, Hasanuddin decided to build a new capital, to symbolise the new era which was beginning. On the advice of his father, Sunan Gunungjati, he choose to construct it on the coast at the mouth of the Cibanten River. That a settlement already existed at this place is evidence by its harbour activities, but at this time the seat of political power was in Banten Girang. The royal city was founded on the delta, formed by the two arms of the river. Two main streets running crossed north–south and east–west divided the city into quarters. The royal palace surrounded by residences of the principal minister of state, was built on the south side of the royal square and the great mosque on the west side. Foreigners, for the most part merchants, had to live outside the royal city, that is on either side of the delta. The international trade was accommodated in the larger western harbour where ''Pecinan'' (Chinatown), European trading post and foreigner quarters were located, while the eastern port accommodated domestic trade with smaller vessels, where the retail market was also located. A ship-wright to repair ships was located on the eastern side of the city. Hasanuddin tried to invade Pakuan multiple times during the reign of Ratu Dewata, however his efforts were failed due to the strong defense employed by the Sundanese army.

After some twenty years the new dynasty was so firmly established that Hasanuddin had no hesitation in leaving the kingdom in 1546 to take part in a military expedition against Pasuruan in eastern Java, at the request of Sultan Trenggana, the third sultan of Demak.
At that time, Banten was still under the suzerainty of Demak, thus obliged to fulfill the duty as a vassal state to participate in Demak's endeavour. During this venture, the Demak Sultan lost his life, and it is likely that Hasanuddin took advantage of his suzerain's death and the troubles which ensued to free his kingdom from any further obligations to this royal house.

From the 1550s onwards the kingdom enjoyed a period of great prosperity. Trade received a significant growth due to flourishing trade with Portuguese Malacca, a former enemy that despite their political rivalry Portuguese fleets kept coming back to Banten to buy pepper. According to tradition, the development of this kingdom was managed by Hasanuddin's son, Maulana Yusuf, who had become co-sovereign with his father, following a custom long practised in the archipelago.

Rapid economic development led to an increase of the urban population. Major agricultural developments to ensure food production was launched, by constructing irrigation canals, dams and the expansion of ricefields. The royal city itself had undertaken a major project; 1.80 metres thick brick ramparts were built encircling the entire city spanned for 8 kilometres. Maulana Yusuf also led the construction of the Great Mosque of Banten, perhaps built upon an older and simpler structure.

Also during this period, Hasanuddin decided to launch the final blow to what remained of the kingdom of Sunda. Maulana Yusuf led the attack on Dayeuh Pakuan, its capital city located in modern Bogor