The Javanese Wars of Succession were three military confrontations between the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
(VOC) and the
Mataram Sultanate
The Sultanate of Mataram () was the last major independent Javanese people, Javanese kingdom on the island of Java (island), Java before it was Dutch Empire, colonised by the Dutch. It was the dominant political force radiating from the inte ...
on central
Java
Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
between 1703 and 1755. The hereditary succession in Maratam was at stake, prompting the VOC to field its own candidates in an attempt to gain more influence in central and eastern Java. At the end of the Javanese Wars of Succession, Mataram was carved into three weak ''
Vorstenlanden
The VorstenlandenEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Vorstenlanden". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum. ( Dutch for 'princely lands' or 'princely states', Japanese: , Hepburn: ''kōchi'', Nihon-shiki/Kunrei-shiki: ''kooti'', ...
'' ("Princely Lands"), independent in name only, as a consequence of the
divide and rule
The term divide and conquer in politics refers to an entity gaining and maintaining political power by using divisive measures. This includes the exploitation of existing divisions within a political group by its political opponents, and also ...
policy of the VOC.
Overview
The
Trunajaya rebellion
The Trunajaya Rebellion (also spelled Trunojoyo) or Trunajaya War was the ultimately unsuccessful rebellion waged during the 1670s by the Madurese prince Trunajaya and fighters from Makassar against the Mataram Sultanate and its Dutch East I ...
(1674–1681) lay the seed for the Javanese Wars of Succession. During this uprising, sultan
Amangkurat I of Mataram died in 1677, causing a war of succession to break out between his sons
Rahmat (Amangkurat II) and
Puger (Pakubuwono I). Puger surrendered in 1681 and recognised his brother as the rightful sultan, but when the latter died in 1703, he disputed his brother's succession by his son
Amangkurat III, which led to the First Javanese War of Succession.
The three Javanese Wars of Succession were:
*
First Javanese War of Succession (1703–1708)
*
Second Javanese War of Succession (1719–1722)
*
Third Javanese War of Succession (1749–1755)
In the aftermath of this divide and rule policy on Java, one further partition of Yogyakarta occurred in 1812, increasing the number of Vorstenlanden to four.
[Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "Vorstenlanden". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.]
Indonesian nationalism
The most prominent leaders on the Javanese side (
Untung Surapati,
Hamengkubuwono I
Hamengkubuwono I (Javanese script: ꦱꦸꦭ꧀ꦠꦤ꧀ꦲꦩꦼꦁꦏꦸꦧꦸꦮꦤꦆ, Bahasa Jawa: ''Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono I''), born Raden Mas Sujana ( Kartasura, 16 August 1717Yogyakarta, 24 March 1792), was the first sultan of Yog ...
) were later elevated to national Indonesian heroes in the 19th and 20th century, preceding the
independence struggle of the
Republic of Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
proclaimed in 1945.
Literature
*Ooi Keat Gin, ''South-East Asia. A historical encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor'', Santa Barbara: ABC CLIO
*Busken Huet, ''Het land van Rembrandt. Studieën over de Noordnederlandse beschaving in de zeventiende eeuw'', Haarlem: Tjeenk Willink 1882
*Blok, P.J., ''Geschiedenis van Nederlandsche Volk'', volume III, book X, Leiden 1923
References
{{Reflist
Wars of succession involving the states and peoples of Asia
Military history of the Indian Ocean