Banjar kingdom

According to De Kroniek van Bandjarmasin, authored by A.A. Cense (1928:141-146), described the history of Banjarmasin sultanate. 1526 M was the year the beginning of the Banjar Sultanate.

The fall of Malacca into the hands of the Portuguese caused many traders leaving and changing their trading location in Brunei and Borneo. Eventually, it led to the glory of Banjar sultanate in the early 16th century.

The Sultanate of Banjar emerged and replaced the Islamic empires Dipa State and State Daha. The formation of this sultanate was marked by the end of war between Prince Samudera and his uncle, Prince Tumenggung, the last king of Daha Kingdom from the dynasty of Raden Sekar Sungsang.

Prince Samudera escaped to Banjar kampong located in the estuary of the Barito river. Banjar Kampong was the dwelling place of Malay merchants led by Patih Masih. Patih Masih was the official appointed by Daha Kingdom to lead the area of the Barito river’s estuary.

Some experts explain that the Sultanate of Banjar initially was ruled by the Sultan of Samudra who had the title of Sultan Suriansah who defeated his uncle with the help of Patih Masih and Demak Sultanate in Java.

The rapid development of this Sultanate was marked by rapid economic growth through the spice trade. The expansion of Islam in the 16th to 17th centuries in Southeast Asia directly impacted the strengthening of the existing Sultanate.

The Banjar Sultanate was even able to respond to the needs of pepper at the global level through intensification of pepper cultivation.

The Banjar Kingdom had fairly broad powers covering nearly the entire island of Borneo, even the kingdom of Kutai in East Kalimantan was his realm.

However, the Sultanate of Banjar in the early 20th century could be controlled by the government of the Netherlands. In 1859 Colonel AJ Andresen took over Sultan power, and Sultan was exiled to Bogor. Dutch colonial government dissolved the Banjar Sultanate in 1860.
Banjar kingdom

Siak treaty in 1858

Jambi recognized Dutch sovereignty after a brief military intervention in 1834 and Indragiri in 1838, but under the London treaty Britain objected to Dutch expansion north of the Equator and the Dutch had no formal presence in Indragiri.

North of Indragiri, however, the sultanate of Siak experience internal political struggles in the 1850s and the Sultan appealed for Dutch protection. The Britain reluctantly permitted the Dutch to establish their hegemony in 1858 in order to preserve regional stability.

 In the Siak Treaty (1858) which was subsequently concluded the Sultan pledged his allegiance to the Netherlands Indies Government. In this treaty the Government at the same time undertook to maintain the rights of the Sultan in his dependencies.

Siak Treaty gave the Dutch sovereignty over Siak and which counted as the state’s territories as far north as Tamiang, the border state of Aceh. The article in the treaty defined the boundaries as far as Alas and Langkat and thus including pepper ports which were both under Aceh’s jurisdiction and important to British trade. The British objected and in 1863-5 sent gunboats to these pepper ports.
Siak treaty in 1858

Ceylon Malay

Historically, the Malay community of Sri Lanka is composed of the descendents of the settlers from what is present day Indonesia and those from the landmass of present day Malaysia.

In 1764 it was reported that 2408 Malays serving in Dutch army in Sri Lanka. In 1796 British gain control of coastal Sri Lanka from the Dutch, and begin waves of migration from Malays and establish military schools beginning around 1802 in which Malay language is taught.

The Alamat Lankapuri or News of the Island of Lanka was the first newspaper printed in the Malay vernacular, a language written in Arabic characters with the addition of six letters from other alphabets and existed nine years from 1869 to 1878.

In 1875 the Wajah Selong or Light of Ceylon was published its fortnightly issues circulating largely amongst the Malay-speaking races in Ceylon, the Straits Settlements, Java, Batavia, Holland etc.

In 1901, as much as one-third of the entire population of the Malays in Ceylon lived in the precincts of the Colombo Municipal Council. There were in that area some 4351 Malays. It was the seat of the Ceylon Malay Rifles till is demobilization in 1872. Afterwards, the ex-soldiers were settled in civilian jobs in the locality.

Although Malays have taken pains to affirm their loyalty to their host nation, they have also strengthened relations with Malays in other countries and attempted to foster their own cultural and literary traditions.
Ceylon Malay

Battle of Malacca in 1641

The Dutch had started their seafaring activities in the east at the close of the 16th century. At that time the Dutch came to the Johore Empire.

Unlike the Portuguese who came before them, the Dutch were there to become allies with empire and in turn make a fortune by taking control of the bustling spice trade.

With the support of the Johore, the Dutch planned to take control of Malacca in 1641. Determined to secure Portuguese Malacca Dutch Admiral Willmsoon Cartekoe and ships from Johore besieged the powerful fortress, commanded by Governor Manuel de Sousa Coutinho.

With no hope of aid from Goa, the city surrendered six months later after a bloody assault, effectively ceding control of the spice trade (June 1640-14 January 1641). Some of the defeated Portuguese fled to Makassar, to live and trade under the Sultan of Gowa.

To thank the Johore Empire, the Dutch lifted all taxes and trade restrictions that they had forced on the other states.

Under Dutch occupation after 1641 Malacca’s importance as an entrepot declined as Johore and Patani became more independent and prominent in regional trade and war. By the end of the 17th century Johore was one of the strongest Asian powers in the region.
Battle of Malacca in 1641

Pontianak Sultanate

The origins of the sultanate of Pontianak can be traced back to 1772 when Syarif Abdul Rahman Al Kadri established a trading settlement and harbor at the intersection of three rivers: Landak, the Kapuas Kecil and the Kapuas.

The Dutch residences, fort, etc are on the south side of the river, about half a mile below the sultan’s.

Abdul Rahman had been drawn here by the rumor of diamonds and gold, and by its location close to the main trading routes running through the archipelago and north to China.

The name of the city translates roughly as ‘the ghost of a woman who died in childbirth’, a reference to the ghostly howl heard by early visitors to these shores.

Believing that this noise was the work of local spirits, Abdul Rahman used cannon fire to frighten them away before he landed.

By the year 1779 he was able to get himself recognized as Sultan of Pontianak by the Dutch East India Company and to make a treaty with them. By the early nineteenth century Pontianak had become the major entreport on the west coast.

Pontianak became the capital of the newly created Western Division of Borneo in 1849.
Pontianak Sultanate

Brief history of Riau Islands

The Riau Islands have played a significant role in the cultural history of Indonesia, being the cradle of the form of Malay that became the national language and major center of classical Malay civilization.

Riau’s position at the southern entrance to the Strait of Malacca, the gateway for trade between India and China, was strategically significant.

There were small trading settlements on the Riau and Lingga archipelagos from at least the time of the empire of Srivijaya, which was established in southern Sumatra from the seventh century. It was said that the sea nomads of Riau made up opart of 20,000 strong military force of the Srivijaya ruler around 683 AD.

By about 1000 the island of Bintan was emerging as dominant, and it was to this island that Sultan Mahmud I of Malacca fled when the Portuguese captures his capital in 1511.

From the 16th century, the Riau Islands were ruled by a variety of Malay Kingdoms, which had to fight off constant attacks by pirates and the opportunistic Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Riau’s Golden Age, when it was at the height of its cultural and religious influence, was from around the middle of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century. At that time Bintan became an international center for the exchange of opium, tin, peeper, cloth, gambier and spices.

The Dutch then won controlled over the Strait of Malacca and mainland Riau became their colony when the Sultan of Johor surrendered in 1745.

In 1824 the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London completed and Riau Islands became part of the Dutch colony of what became known as the Netherlands East Indies.

The last Sultan of Riau was finally forced to abdicate by the Dutch colonial authorities in 1911.
Brief history of Riau Islands