万丹苏丹

The Banten Sultanate (Sundanese: ᮊᮞᮥᮜ᮪ᮒᮔᮔ᮪ ᮘᮔ᮪ᮒᮨᮔ᮪, كسلطانن بنتن, Kasultanan Banten) 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, it was overshadowed by Batavia and was finally annexed to the 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

Prior to 1526, a settlement called Banten was situated about ten kilometres inland from the coast on the Cibanten River, in what is today a suburb of Serang town. It was known as Banten Girang, meaning "Upper Banten" owing to its location. This town previously was a native Hindu Sundanese principality that was held under the Kingdom of Sunda.

Growth

Initial expansion of Hasanuddin

Sultan Hasanuddin planned on reviving 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.……

Later period

After conflict with the Dutch over the pepper trade in 1619, the Dutch East India Company Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen took the port of Jayakarta from Banten. He founded Batavia (now Jakarta) on the ruins of this Javanese town, which became the centre of VOC operation and a serious rival for Banten, later contributing to its decline.……

The loss of Jayakarta and the rise of Dutch Batavia

In 1619, the mercurial VOC Governor General J.P.……

Economy

The sultanate's economy was built mainly upon its most important commodity; pepper, thus its international trade mainly consists of this product. At least since the 13th century, the Chinese record Zhu Fan Zhi mentioned that area of both sides of Sunda Strait with its main port of Sin-t'o (Sunda) – which probably refer to the port of Banten, was famous as the producer of excellent pepper.……

Religion

The desire to spread the faith of Islam was possibly one of the main reason behind Demak's decision to capture Banten in 1527, and supplant the ancient Hindu Sunda Kingdom with a new Islamic kingdom. Although, a more pragmatic reason was more possible; a geopolitical move to prevent Muslim's rival; the Catholic Christian Portuguese in Malacca to ever established their base in Java.……

Culture

Attesting to Bantam's renown in Europe is Henry Fielding's play The Author's Farce at whose conclusion the protagonist's problems are neatly solved when he is suddenly informed that he is "The Prince of Bantam", and that as the old "King of Bantam" has died he is to inherit the throne. Fielding and his London audience clearly conceived of "Bantam" as a prosperous country of which it was a great fortune to become the monarch.

List of sultans of Banten

Syarif Hidayatullah or Sunan Gunung Jati from Sultanate of Cirebon

• Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin or Prince Sabakinking 1552 – 1570
• Sultan Maulana Yusuf or Prince Pasareyan 1570 – 1585
• Sultan Maulana Muhammad or Prince Sedangrana 1585 – 1596

Sultan Abu al-Mafakhir Mahmud Abdulkadir or Pangeran Ratu 1596 – 1647

Sultan Abu al-Ma'ali Ahmad 1647 – 1651

Sultan Abu al-Fath Abdul Fattah or Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa 1651 – 1683