The history of Pan-Pan kingdom (3rd – 7th century)

Pan-Pan Kingdom was a small independent kingdom, believed to have existed already since the 3rd century.

It is now general belief among the scholars that the kingdom was situated on the Bandon Bight in the Gulf of Thailand, at the mouth of the Tapi River near the sea, in the area of modern Surat Thani City. Excavations at Chaiya have produced some of the most impressive ancient architecture, statues and temples on the peninsula.

Pan-Pan was quite active diplomatically, it sent at least eight and possibly as many as 12 missions to Liang, Sui and Tang dynasties from the early seventh centuries. Chinese records state that the Hinduized ruler of the Pan-Pan kingdom sent accredited envoys and tributary, among other things a tooth of Lord Buddha, to the Chinese Emperor in the years 525, 530 and 537.

The Kingdom of Pan-Pan appears in the section the History of the Liang Dynasty which describes Funan’s conquest. A main source of wealth for Pan-Pan would have been its control of the important trans-peninsula route from Takuapa to Chaiya and it may have also controlled the Phang Nga route.

At the end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century, the small kingdom also came under the influence of the Srivijaya Empire.
The history of Pan-Pan kingdom (3rd – 7th century)

Kesultanan Siak Sri Inderapura

The formal establishment of the sultanate of Siak is normally dated 1725, when the first of the 12 Sultans, Abdul Jalil Rahmad Syah, ascended the throne.

The Sultanate was located on and around the great Siak River which flows east to the Malacca straits. It political center the town of Siak Indrapura, was situated close to the mouth of the river.

Occupying a strategic position on the great international shipping conduit of the Malacca Strait, and with commercially important resources pepper and tin, the sultanate perhaps inevitably could not escape the complex regional power struggles involving local forces such as those of Aceh and Johor.

In 1791 Sayid Ali came to the power as ruler. Well known to Dutch as a former ‘pirate’ and occasional ally, he incorporated much of his raiding style experience into his style of government. Allying with the dreaded Ilanun, he mounted periodic attacks on neighboring ports and rival shipping.

At its greatest extend, early in the 19th century Siak’s authority stretched as far north as Langkat, Deli and Serdang, in today’s North Sumatra.

The trade is considerable and is carried on in vessels from the coast of Coromandel, which supply cargoes of piece goods, and also raw silk, opium and other articles, which they provide at Penang or Malacca: in return for which they receive gold, wax, sago, salted fish and fish-roes, elephants teeth, gambir, camphor, rattan and other canes.

Although political declined the line of Sultans continued until the establishment of the Indonesian republic.
Kesultanan Siak Sri Inderapura

Kingdom of Aceh

According to Hikayat Bustan as-Salatin written in 17th century by AR-Raniri, Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah conquests Ache in the 1520s. He was the first sultan to rule Aceh, and he also the first to embrace and enforce Islam. Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah was identified as Raja Ibrahim in the Portuguese account.

Before that there were no rajas but only village communities. Aceh was united by an aggressive new dynasty determined to eliminate foreign interference in the name of militant Islam, Aceh’s rise was thus an exact counterpoint to Portugal’s intrusion into the area in the period 1509-20.

Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah al-Khahar (reign until 1588) was another great ruler of Aceh. He expanded the armed forces developed trade and established close relationships with Islamic powers in the Middle East, especially with Turkey and in Africa namely Abyssinia and Egypt.

The political expansion of the Acehnese sultanate was continued by his successors, who attacked Malacca in 1573 and conquered the rich tin-producing state of Perak in the Malay Peninsula two years later.

Modern Aceh province

Aceh’s main exports were the goods obtained from its dependencies of Sumatra West Coast and the Malay Peninsula, especially tin and pepper. Aceh’s most valuable mineral resource, however, was gold.

During the reigned of Sultan Iskandar Muda (r 1607-1636), the kingdom became strong and prosperous because of his achievement in the development of international trade and commerce, political expansion and the establishment of close relations with foreign Islamic kingdoms that not only strengthened Aceh’s’ military forces but also intensified the kingdom’s Islamic faith.

By mid 1660s, it appears that the power of the kingdom of Aceh relative to the VOC was reduced. The influence of Aceh over her dependencies in Sumatra West Coast and Minangkabau hinterlands had diminished.

In contrast, the Dutch seemed successfully in making inroads into these areas and they took these minor rajas under the company’s protection.
Kingdom of Aceh

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

History of Kutai Kingdom

Kutai Kingdom is divided into two periods:
Kutai Martapura (350-400)
Kutai Kertanagara beginning around 1300

Kutai Martapura Kingdom was established in 400 AD under the king of Mulawarman Naladewa. Kutai Martapura is believed to be the oldest Hindu Kingdom in Indonesia, whose capital located in Muara Kaman.

The two successive kings of Kutai were Aswawarman and Mulawarman. They were descendents of the indigenous king, Kundunga.

Inscriptions in stone of found in east Kalimantan at a place now called Muara Kaman attest to this history as Brahmans erected stone memorial to express their gratitude and respect for the great king’s kindness, king of Mulawarnan who ruled from late in the fourth century.  The stone inscribed in Sanskrit, using the Pallava script and dated to around the 4th century.

Kutai demonstrates an early transition to Brahmanism, as Mulawarman reportedly staged scarifies and represented fabulous gifts to his recently settled Brahmans. These Brahmans probably had come from India or may have been Austronesian who had voyaged to India for their religious training.

Islam spread mainly along the coast but as there were no active missionary efforts people in the interior kept their traditional belief systems.

Sultanate of Kutai Kertanagara was established on the coasts near the town of Pamarangan. This sultanate was supposedly founded by refugees from the Javanese state of Singasari who had arrived late in the 13th century and converted the local inhabitant to Islam.

Under the reign of Aji Pangeran Sinum Panji Mendapa (1605-1635), Kutai Martapura was integrated into the expanding Sultanate Kutai Kertanagara in 1630 AD.
History of Kutai Kingdom

The Ancient Kingdom of Patani

Pattani, a small kingdom on the eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula, subject to Siam. In the 15th century this Malay Kingdom was prosperous trading port on the gulf coast side of the peninsula.

Ancient Pattani included parts of modern day Malaysia as well as the Thai provinces of Patani, Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun.

In Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa, relates the fantastic tale of Raja Merong Mahawangsa whose father descended from a jinni and mother form the demigods and who conducted a diplomatic missions from the ruler of Byzantium.

In the old voyages the capital of Patani was usually spoken of as Pattani or some travelers and geographers known only as Tani.

In one old story was that the news was reached that Pattani was a fine country. Upon to hear that, son of the king of Siam invaded it with a large army, killed the raja of the country and reduced all the inhabitants to subjection.

His astrologers were then commanded to select a suitable site for a new city, which they did, fixing a new place by the seashore where a fishermen resided who had a son called Tani.

The king approved the site and named it as the ‘father of Tani’ or Pa’ Tani.

In the second half of the eight century the Sailendra rulers of the Sri Vijaya kingdom extended their influence up to the peninsula to absorb Langkasuka. Patani developed as one of the centers of the Sailendra’s empire, even rivaling Palembang, the Sailendra capital, in splendor and wealth.
Patani remained a center of Sailendra influence until the Cholas, from southern India, overran the peninsula in the eleventh century.

The first muslim king name Sultan Ismail Shah. His real name Piatu Antara. Before him, was Raja Kurub Maha Chan.

Islam was introduced to Patani in 1457 during the reign of the third prince, Piatu Antara, converted by a man of Pasai named Sheikh Syed, who cures the prince of a deadly disease, on condition that he will embrace Islam.

Patani then was center of Islamic teachings and Malay culture in the northern Malay Peninsula. It had the ability to protect itself militarily against Siam or at least to wage powerful revolts that were inspired by Islamic and teachings.

Known in Europe as the Kingdom of Patani, it was a flourishing trading centre in the 16th an 17th centuries.

A series of wars between Thais and Patani took place in the 17th and 18th century, finally resulting in the outright conquest of Pattani.
The Ancient Kingdom of Patani