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15th century Sultanate in Java
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The Sultanate of Cirebon (Indonesian: Kesultanan Cirebon, Pegon: كسلطانن چيربون, Sundanese: ᮊᮞᮥᮜ᮪ᮒᮔᮔ᮪ ᮎᮤᮛᮨᮘᮧᮔ᮪) was an Islamic sultanate in West Java founded in the 15th century. It is said to have been founded by Sunan Gunungjati, as marked by his letter proclaiming Cirebon's independence from Pajajaran in 1482, although the settlement and the polity had been established earlier in 1445. Sunan Gunungjati also established the Sultanate of Banten. It was one of the earliest Islamic states established in Java, along with the Sultanate of Demak.
The sultanate's capital lay around the modern-day city of Cirebon on Java's northern coast. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the sultanate thrived and became a major regional centre of trade and commerce, as well as a prominent centre of Islamic learning. The sultanate split into three royal houses in 1677, and a fourth split off in 1807, each with their own separate lines of descent and kratons; Kraton Kasepuhan, Kraton Kanoman, Kraton Kacirebonan, and Kraton Kaprabonan. They remain today, performing ceremonial duties.
There are several suggestions concerning the origin of the name "Cirebon". According to Sulendraningrat, who based it on the Babad Tanah Sunda script, and Atja who based it on the Carita Purwaka Caruban Nagari script, Cirebon was at first a small hamlet built by Ki Gedeng Tapa, which eventually developed into a bustling port village named Caruban (Sundanese for "mixture"), because the port town was a melting pot settled by immigrants from various ethnic groups, religions, languages, customs, and livelihoods.
Another theory suggests that the town's name is derived from rebon, the Sundanese word for small shrimp that live in the area. Initially, a common livelihood in the settlement was fishing and collecting rebon along the coast, making shrimp paste or petis udang from it. The term for water used in shrimp paste manufacturing (belendrang) is cai rebon (Sundanese for "rebon water"), which later gave its name to the town as Cirebon.
Most of the history of the Cirebon Sultanate comes from a Javanese chronicle known as a Babad. Several notable chronicles which focused on the history of Cirebon are Carita Purwaka Caruban Nagari and Babad Cerbon. Foreign sources also mentioned Cirebon, such as Tomé Pires' Suma Oriental, written in 1512–1515. The later period of the sultanate is documented in colonial sources of the Dutch East Indies. Other than recording its own history, one of the royal houses of Cirebon, especially Keraton Keprabonan led by the Wangsakerta princes, also actively recorded and researched the history of Java by collecting old manuscripts.
The village of Muara Jati was in the coastal area around the port of Cirebon and was part of the Sunda Kingdom, as stated in the travel records of Prince Bujangga Manik, a Hindu Sundanese hermit who visited several Hindu sites in Java and Bali in the late 15th century or early 16th century. The border of the Sunda Kingdom in the west is the Sunda Strait and in the east is the Cipamali River (present-day kali Brebes) and Cisarayu River in Central Java. During this time, Muara Jati was located around 14 kilometres north of modern-day Cirebon. The transformation from a small Hindu coastal fishing village into a thriving Muslim port began with the rule of Ki Ageng Tapa.
Ki Ageng Tapa (also known as Ki Ageng Jumajan Jati) was a wealthy merchant living in the village of Muara Jati. He was appointed as port master of Muara Jati fishing village by the Sunda king in Kawali, Galuh, located further inland south of Muara Jati. The thriving port town attracted Muslim traders. Ki Gedeng Tapa and his daughter, Nyai Subang Larang, are said to have been converted to Islam. His daughter studied at Quro pesantren (Islamic school) in the Karawang area.
The West Java region including Muara Jati belonged to the Sunda Kingdom, with its capital in Pakuan Pajajaran. The Sunda King Prabu Jayadewata or Sri Baduga Maharaja, popularly known as King Siliwangi, was married to Nyai Subang Larang and had three children; Prince Walangsungsang born in 1423, Princess Rara Santang (Syarifah Mudaim) born in 1426, and Prince Kian Santang (Raden Sangara) born in 1428.
Although Prince Walangsungsang was the first-born son of the king, he did not earn the right of a crown prince of Pakuan Pajajaran because his mother, Nyai Subang Larang, was not the prameswari (queen consort). Another reason was probably because of his conversion to Islam, probably influenced by his mother, Subang Larang, who was a Muslim woman. The state's religion was Sunda Wiwitan (Sundanese ancestral religion), Hinduism and Buddhism. It was his half-brother, King Siliwangi's son from his third wife Nyai Cantring Manikmayang, who was chosen as crown prince, and who later ascended to the throne as King Surawisesa.
In 1442 Prince Walangsungsang married Nyai Endang Geulis, daughter of Ki Gedheng Danu Warsih from the Gunung Mara Api hermitage. Walangsungsang, with his sister Rara Santang, wandered around several hermitages to study spiritualism. At Gunung Amparan Jati they met an ulama, Sheikh Datuk Kahfi from Persia. Walangsungsang, Rara Santang, and Endang Geulis, learned Islam from him. The Sheikh asked the Prince to open a new settlement in the area southeast of Gunung Jati (today the Lemahwungkuk area). Walangsungsang was assisted by Ki Gedheng Danusela, Ki Gedheng Danu Warsih's younger brother. The new settlement was called Dukuh Alang-alang. By clearing the forests, he established a new settlement on 8 April 1445.
People of this new settlement elected Danusela as their new kuwu (village chief), later referred to as Ki Gedeng Alang-alang. He appointed Raden Walangsungsang as his deputy, titled Pangraksabumi. However Ki Gedeng Alang-alang died two years later in 1447.
After Ki Gedeng Alang-Alang died in 1447, Walangsungsang was appointed as the ruler of the town and established a court, and assumed a new title as Prince Cakrabuana. The coastal port village attracted settlers from overseas as well as inland and formed a thriving village renamed Caruban, which means "mixture" in Sundanase to describe the compositions of its settlers. Two years after its establishment, a record dating from 1447 showed that the settlers of Caruban at that time were 346 people (182 men and 164 women), composed of various ethnic backgrounds; 196 Sundanese, 106 Javanese, 16 Sumatran, 4 Malaccan, 2 Indian, 2 Persian, 3 Siamese, 11 Arabs, and 6 Chinese settlers.
After undergoing the hajj, Prince Cakrabuana changed his name to Haji Abdullah Iman. He built a thatched hut and a tajug pavilion called Jalagrahan and expanded it with the name Pakungwati Palace. Today there are pendopos (pavilions) located in front of Kasepuhan Palace, establishing his court in Cirebon, making him the founder of Cirebon. After the death of Cakrabuana's grandfather, Ki Gedeng Tapa (Ki Gedeng Jumajan Jati), Cakrabuana received an inheritance; the Singapura settlement located north of Caruban was merged and incorporated into the Caruban realm. The fortune from the inheritance was used to expand the Pakungwati Palace. His father King Siliwangi sent his envoy Tumenggung Jagabaya and Raja Sengara (Cakrabuana's younger brother), to bestow Prince Carkrabuana with the title Tumenggung Sri Mangana. Cirebon grew into a thriving port and Cakrabuana sent tribute to the main court of Sunda Pajajaran.
The early period of the Cirebon Sultanate was commonly identified as the Pakungwati period which refers to the Pakungwati Palace, a Javanese-style compound consisting of a series of pendopos (pavilions) enclosed within red brick walls and gates in the typical Majapahit style of architecture. The Pakungwati compound is located north of Keraton Kasepuhan and is today incorporated within the Kasepuhan compound. During the Pakungwati period, the Cirebon Sultanate was a unified kingdom under one monarch. He was the first king of Cirebon, ruled from his palace of Pakungwati, and actively spread Islam to the people of Cirebon and West Java.
Meanwhile, Rara Santang during her hajj pilgrimage met Sharif Abdullah of Egypt and got married. She changed her name to Syarifah Mudaim and in 1448 bore a son Sharif Hidayatullah. In 1470 Syarif Hidayatullah went abroad to study at Mecca, Baghdad, Champa, and Samudra Pasai. Later he came home to Java. He learned from Sunan Ampel in East Java, served in the Demak court, and later came back to Cirebon. He asked his uncle, Tumenggung Sri Mangana (Cakrabuana) to establish an Islamic school in Caruban or Carbon.
After his resignation in 1479, Cakrabuana was succeeded by his nephew, Sharif Hidayatullah (1448–1568), the son of Nyai Rara Santang and Sharif Abdullah of Egypt. He married his cousin, Nyi Mas Pakungwati daughter of Cakrabuana and Nyai Mas Endang Geulis. He is popularly known with his posthumous name, Sunan Gunung Jati; he ascended the throne as Sultan Carbon I and resided in Keraton Pakungwati.
In 1482 Sharif Hidayatullah sent a letter to his grandfather King Siliwangi, stating that Cirebon refused to pay tribute to Pajajaran. Cakrabuana had always paid Pajajaran tribute to acknowledge Sunda overlordship over Cirebon. By doing this Cirebon proclaimed itself as a sovereign independent state. The Cirebon independence proclamation was marked with Chandrasengkala (chronogram) Dwa Dasi Sukla Pakca Cetra Masa Sahasra Patangatus Papat Ikang Sakakala, which corresponds to 2 April 1482. Today, the day is marked by the anniversary of Cirebon Regency.
By 1515, Cirebon was established as an Islamic state. In the Suma Oriental, written in 1512–1515, Tomé Pires, a Portuguese explorer reported:
First the king of Çumda (Sunda) with his great city of Dayo, the town and lands and port of Bantam, the port of Pomdam (Pontang), the port of Cheguide (Cigede), the port of Tamgaram (Tangerang), the port of Calapa (Kelapa), and the port of Chemano (Chi Manuk or Cimanuk), this is Sunda, because the river of Chi Manuk is the limit of both kingdoms.
Now comes Java and we must speak of the kings within the hinterland. The land of Cheroboam (Cherimon), the land of Japura, the land of Locarj (Losari), the land of Tateguall (Tegal), the land of Camaram (Semarang), the land of Demaa (Demak), Tidumar (Tidunan), the land of Japara (Jepara), the land of Ramee (Rembang), the land of Tobam (Tuban), the land of Cedayo (Sedayu), the land of Agasij (Grisee or Gresik), the land of Curubaya (Surabaya), the land of Gamda, the land of Blambangan, the land of Pajarucam (Pajarakan), the land of Camtã, the land of Panarunca (Panarukan), the land of Chamdy, and when its ended we will speak of the great island of Madura.
According to the report, Cirebon was identified as Cheroboam or Cherimon. In 1515 Cirebon was no longer under the authority of the Hindu Sunda Kingdom, but rather identified as Java's north coast port. It referred to Cirebon as an established Muslim state, just like those of Demak and Gresik.
After the news of the Portuguese-Sunda alliance in 1522 became known, Gunungjati nevertheless asked the Demak Sultanate to send troops to Banten. It was likely his son, Hasanudin, who commanded this military operation in 1527, just as the Portuguese fleet was arriving on the coast at Sunda Kelapa, to capture these towns.
Gunungjati had Hasanudin named king of Banten by the Sultan of Demak who, in turn, offered Hasanudin his sister's hand in marriage. Thus a new dynasty and a new kingdom was created. Banten became the capital of this kingdom, and was held as a province under the Sultanate of Cirebon.
Under Gunungjati, the Sultanate of Cirebon enjoyed rapid growth and rose to become a prominent kingdom in the region. The thriving coastal port city became the centre of trade as well as an Islamic learning and dissemination center. The port town attracted traders from Arabia to China. Gunungjati is believed to be the founder of the dynasty that ruled both the Sultanate of Cirebon and Banten. He is also credited as the proselytiser of Islam in West Java. Ulamas from his court and mosque spread Islam to inland Majalengka, Kuningan, Kawali (Galuh), as well as the neighbouring coastal ports of Sunda Kelapa, and Banten.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Sultanate of Cirebon”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.