The Sultanate of Bulungan (کسلطانن بولوڠن) was a princely state of Indonesia located in the existing Bulungan Regency in the North Kalimantan province of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in the east of the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. Its territory spanned the eastern shores of North Kalimantan and

Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Pre-establishment

Until 1860, Bulungan was a subject of the Sulu. During this period, vessels began travelling to Sulu,

Tarakan Tarakan is an island and the largest city of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island (including a co ...

, and thence into the interior of

Bulungan Bulungan Regency is a regency of North Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 13,181.92 km2 and had a population of 112,663 at the 2010 Census and 151,844 at the 2020 Census. The administrative centre is at Tanjung Selor. His ...

, to trade directly with Tidung. It was because of territorial acquisition like this that Sulu became a sultanate in her own right. Allegedly, this influence ended in 1878 with the signing of a treaty between the English and Spanish, partitioning Sulu.

Foundations

The Sultanate was founded by a Kayan group, the Uma Apan, who originated from the interior region of Apo Kayan (Kayan Highland Plateau), before settling near the coast in the 17th century. Around 1650, a princess of the group married a man from

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

. This marriage founded a Hindu lineage who settled in the region of today's

Tanjung Selor Tanjung Selor is the capital of both the North Kalimantan province in Indonesia, and of the Bulungan Regency. It is among provincial capitals in Indonesia that as of 2021 does not yet have city status, together with Mamuju in West Sulawesi, So ...

. Around 1750, this dynasty converted to Islam. Its rulers took the title of Sultan and were recognised as vassals of the sultan of Berau, the latter acknowledging himself a vassal of the kingdom of

Kutai Kutai is a historical region in what is now known as East Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo and is also the name of the native ethnic group of the region (known as ''Urang Kutai'' or "the Kutai people"), numbering around 300,000 w ...

. In 1850, the Dutch, who had conquered Berau in 1834 and imposed their sovereignty upon Kutai in 1848, signed with the Sultan of Bulungan a ''Politiek Contract''. The Dutch intervened in the region to combat piracy and the trafficking in slaves.

Foreign intervention

In 1881, the

North Borneo Chartered Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia). ...

was created, thereby placing northern Borneo under British jurisdiction, despite initial Dutch objections. The Sultanate was finally incorporated into the colonial empire of the Dutch East Indies in the 1880s. The Dutch installed a government post in 1893 in Tanjung Selor. In the 20th century, like many other princely states of the archipelago, the Sultan was forced to sign a ''Korte verklaring''; a "short statement" in which he sold most of its powers over land upstream. The Dutch eventually recognised the border between the two jurisdictions in 1915. The Sultanate was granted ''Zelfbestuur'' ("self-administration") status in 1928, again like many princely states of the Netherlands Indies. The discovery of oil by the BPM (Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij) in the islands of Bunyu and Tarakan gave great importance to Bulungan for the Dutch, who made Tarakan the chief town of the region.

Post-Indonesian independence

After the recognition of Indonesian independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the territory received the status of Bulungan ''Wilayah swapraja'', or "autonomous territory", in 1950, before receiving the status of ''Wilayah istimewa'', or "special territory", in 1955. The last Sultan, Jalaluddin, died in 1958. The Sultanate was abolished in 1959 and the territory becomes a simple ''kabupaten'', or "department". On the dawn of Friday, 3 July 1964, a troop of Brawijaya 517 soldiers led by Lieutnant B Simatupang under the orders of Brigadier General Suharjo quickly swooped in the Bulungan Palace, kidnapping its aristocrat inhabitants while burning the rest of the palace grounds which lasted for 2 days and nights on Friday 24 July 1964. The kidnapees were later murdered, one ''Raja Muda'' Datu Mukemat in particular was reported to have been brought to sea between the islands of

and Bunyu, where he was shackled with stones as weight, shot dead and cast out into the sea.

Gallery

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Groepsportret met Maulana Mohamad Djalaloeddin Sultan van Boeloengan op zijn troon TMnr 60041528.jpg, The ruiling class of the Bulungan Sultanate (taken c. 1925–1935). File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De sultan van Bulungan en zijn echtgenote Borneo TMnr 10001599.jpg, Abdul Jalil of Bulungan with the Queen consort (1940).

References

Sources

* Burhan Magenda, ''East Kalimantan: the decline of a commercial aristocracy'', Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, 1991, * Sellato, Bernard, ''Forest, Resources and People in Bulungan'', Center for International Forestry Research, 2001, {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulungan, Sultanate of Former countries in Borneo Precolonial states of Indonesia Islamic states in Indonesia Former countries in Malaysian history Former sultanates States and territories disestablished in 1964 States and territories established in 1731