The
Sultanate of Demak was
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
state located on
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
's north coast in
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, at the site of the present day city of
DemakDemak is a main town in Central Java, Indonesia. It is the capital of Demak Regency and the location of the former Sultanate of Demak, briefly the strongest power on the island of Java....
. A port fief thought to have been founded in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, it was influenced by
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
brought by
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
and
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
traders. The sultanate played an important role in the
establishment of Islam in IndonesiaIslam is thought to have first been adopted by peoples of the Indonesian archipelago sometime during the eleventh century, although Muslims had visited the archipelago early in the Muslim era. By the end of the 16th century, Islam, through conversion, had surpassed Hinduism and Buddhism as the...
; the new religion's influence manifest by the
Great Demak MosqueMasjid Agung Demak is one of the oldest mosques in Indonesia, located in the center town of Demak, Central Java Indonesia...
reportedly built by the Wali Songo (the 'Nine Saints').
Origins
Demak’s origins are uncertain although it was apparently founded in the last quarter of the fifteenth century by a Muslim, known variously as Raden Patah or Pate Rodin or Jin Bun. There is evidence that he had
ChineseThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People who reside in and hold citizenship of the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China . This definition stems from a legal perspective...
ancestry and perhaps was named Cek Ko-po. He is thought to have died
c. 1504. Raden Patah’s son, or possibly his brother, led Demak’s brief domination in Java. He was known as Trenggana, and later Javanese traditions say he gave himself the title Sultan. It appears that Trenggana had two reigns—
c 1505–1518 and
c 1521–1546—between which his brother in law, King Yunnus of
JeparaJepara is a small town in the province of Central Java, Indonesia.Jepara is on the north coast of Java, north-east of Semarang, not far from Mount Muria. It is also the main town of the district of Jepara, which has a population of about 1 million.-History:...
occupied the throne.
One of Wali Songo,
Sunan AmpelSunan Ampel was one of Wali Songo, who spread Islam in Java. He can be considered a focal point of the wali songo, because several of them were descended from him and/or studied with him....
was the teacher (and father-in-law) of Raden Patah and had great influence on the philosophy of the sultanate.
Babad Tanah JawiBabad Tanah Jawi , is a generic title for a large number of manuscripts written in Javanese language. Their arrangements and details vary, and no copies of any of the manuscripts are older than the eighteenth century....
(Javanese chronicles) record him as having befriended Brawijaya, the last king of Majapahit who took him as an adopted son.
Conquests
Trenggana spread Demak’s influence east and west and
c 1527, during his second regin, he conquered the last Javanese Hindu-Buddhist state, Majapahit of
East JavaEast Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and also includes neighboring Madura and islands to the east of it, as well as the Bawean islands...
. Majapahit had been in decline since the later fifteenth century and was in an advanced state of collapse at the time of the Demak’s conquest. Majapahit's heirlooms were brought to Demak and adopted as Demak's royal icons. Demak was able to subdue other major ports and its reach extended into some inland areas of
East JavaEast Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and also includes neighboring Madura and islands to the east of it, as well as the Bawean islands...
that are not thought to have been Islamised at the time. Although evidence is limited, it is known that Demak's conquests covered much of Java:
TubanTuban is a town located on the north coast of Java, approximately 100 km west of Surabaya, the capital of East Java. Tuban is surrounded by Lamongan in the east, Bojonegoro in the south and Rembang, Central Java in the west....
, an old Majapahit port mentioned in Chinese sources from the eleventh century, was conquered
c. 1527;
Raden Patah was succeeded by Pati Unus (1518 - 1521), known best for his two attempts in 1511 and 1521 to seize the port of
MalaccaMalacca is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The capital is Malacca Town...
from the control of
PortuguesePortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
. This campaign attempt ended with a loss of the King's life.
The King's brother-in-law, Trenggana (1522 - 1548), crowned by Sunan Gunung Jati (one of the Wali Songo), became the Third and the greatest King of Demak. He conquered the Hindu based resistance in
Central JavaCentral Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java. The province of Central Java is 32,548.20 km2 in area; approximately a quarter of the total land area of Java...
,
BantenBanten is a province of Indonesia, located at the western end of Java Island. Banten has an area of 9,160.7 km² and population of 9,782,900 Banten was established in October 2000 after being separated from West Java province. The capital of the province is Serang.- History :Banten in the fifth...
,
Sunda KelapaSunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta located on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. "Sunda Kalapa" is the original name, and it was the main port of Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran. The port is situated in Penjaringan sub-district, of North Jakarta, Indonesia...
(which was renamed
JayakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
). His campaign ended when he was killed in Panarukan, [East Java] in 1548.
Javanese legends of Demak
Later Javanese chronicles provide varying accounts of the conquest, but they all describe Demak as the legitimate direct successor of Majapahit although, they do not mention the possibility that by the time of its final conquest, Majapahit no longer ruled. The first 'Sultan' of Demak, Raden Patah, is portrayed as the son of Majapahit's last king by a Chinese princess who was exiled from the court before Patah's birth. The chronicles conventionally date the fall of Majapahit at the end of the fourteenth Javanese calendar, a time when changes of dynasties or courst was though to occur. Although these legends explain little about the actual events, they do illustrate that the dynastic continuity survived Islamisation of Java.
Decline
The death of the strong King sparked the civil war of succession between the King's younger brother, Sekar Seda Lepen; and the King's son, Prince Prawoto; all two were killed in this civil war; and finally Sekar's son, Arya Penangsang won the throne.
Arya Penangsang soon faced heavy opposition from his own vassals due to his unlikeable character, and soon was dethroned by a coalition of vassals led by Jaka Tingkir, Lord of
BoyolaliBoyolali is a regency in the eastern part of Central Java province in Indonesia. Its capital is Boyolali.-Geography:The capital also named as Boyolali and lies 27 km to the west from Solo.The regency covered an area with approximately 1,015.10 km²...
, who had kinship with the King Trenggana. Jaka Tingkir assumed the role as the King but he moved all the Demak heirlooms and sacred artifacts to Pajang, then he ended the Demak Kingdom history when he founded his new kingdom: the
Kingdom of PajangThe Kingdom of Pajang was founded by Hadiwijaya or Jaka Tingkir, Lord of Boyolali. His father was son-in-law of King Trenggana of Demak Kingdom....
.
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