Not to be confused with Japanese people.

Javanese people
Wong Jawa, Tiyang Jawi

Notable Javanese people; from top to bottom: top row: Raden Wijaya, Tribhuwana Tunggadewi, Gajah Mada, Diponegoro, Raden Saleh. middle row: Pakubuwono X, Kartini, Sukarno, Suharto, Sudirman. bottom row: Anggun C. Sasmi, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Dian Sastrowardoyo.
Total population
approximately 85 million (2009 census)
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia: 84.1 million Central Java: 30.6 million East Java: 27.5 million Lampung: 4.2 million West Java: 3.9 million North Sumatra: 3.7 million Yogyakarta: 3 million Jakarta: 2.9 million South Sumatra: 1.9 million Riau: 1.2 million Banten: 1.0 million East Kalimantan: 0.7 million Malaysia: 1 million Suriname: 275,000 New Caledonia: 5,000 Netherlands: 150,000-300,000
Languages
Javanese, Indonesian, Malay (mainly by the diaspora in Malaysia and Singapore), Dutch (used only by those living in Netherlands and Suriname)
Religion
Predominantly Islam. Minorities of Kejawen, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
other Native Indonesians, such as: Sundanese, Madurese, Balinese, Sri Lankan Malays,[1] Cape Malays,[2] Malays

The Javanese (Javanese Ngoko: Wong Jawa, Krama: Tiyang Jawi;^[3] Indonesian: suku Jawa)^[4] are an ethnic group native to the Indonesian island of Java. At approximately 85 million people (as of 2009^[update]), they form the largest ethnic group in Indonesia. They are predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of the island. There are also significant populations in most Provinces of Indonesia, in Malaysia, Singapore and also Suriname in South America.

Today, majority of the Javanese people identify themselves as Muslims. Because the Javanese civilization has been influenced for more than a millennia of interactions between the native animism and the Indian Hindu—Buddhist culture, there are traces of their influences in the Javanese history, culture, traditions and art forms. The Javanese are said to be rigid and tight upper lipped in their social interactions with mannerism and Javanese etiquette held high, but today the rules are more relaxed.

History[link]

The Prambanan temple complex, built by Sanjaya dynasty.

Like most Indonesian ethnic groups, including the Sundanese of West Java, the Javanese are of Austronesian origins whose ancestors are thought to have originated in Taiwan, and migrated through the Philippines,^[5] reaching Java between 1,500BCE and 1,000BCE.^[6]

Ancient Javanese kingdoms[link]

Hindu and Buddhist influences arrived through trade contacts with the Indian subcontinent. ^[7] Hindu and Buddhist missionaries arrived in 5th century. These Hinduism, Buddhism and Javanese faiths blended into a unique local philosophies.^[5]

The cradle of Javanese culture is commonly described as being in Kedu and Kewu Plain in the fertile slopes of Mount Merapi as the heart of Medang i Bhumi Mataram kingdom.^[8] Earliest dynasties, Sanjaya and Sailendra has their power base there.^[9]:238-239

Center of Javanese culture and politics was moved to eastern part of the island when Mpu Sindok (r. 929-947) moved the capital of the kingdoms eastward to the valleys of Brantas River in the 10th century CE. The move was most likely caused by volcanic eruption of Merapi and/or invasion from Srivijaya.^[9]:238-239

Javanese adapted many aspects of Indian culture, such as Ramayana epic.

The major spread of Javanese influence occurred under King Kertanegara of Singhasari in late 13th century. The expansionist king launched major expeditions to Madura, Bali in 1284,^[10] Borneo and most importantly to Sumatra in 1275.^[9] Following the defeat of Melayu Kingdom, Singhasari controlled trade in Strait of Malacca.

Singhasari dominance was cut short in 1292 by Kediri's rebellion under Jayakatwang, killing Kertanegara. However, Jayakatwang reign as king of Java soon ended as he was defeated by Kertanegara's son-in-law, Raden Wijaya with the help of invading Mongol troops in March 1293.

Raden Wijaya would later established Majapahit near the delta of Brantas River in modern-day Mojokerto, East Java. Kertanegara policies would later be continued by the Majapahits under King Hayam Wuruk and his minister Gajah Mada.^[10]

Kingdoms of Java actively involved in spice trade in the sea route of Silk Road. Although not a major spice producer itself, they were able to stockpile spice by trading it with rice, of which Java was a major producer.^[11] Majapahit is usually regarded as the greatest of these kingdoms. It was both an agrarian and a maritime power, combining wet-rice cultivation and foreign trade.^[12] The ruin of their capital can be found in Trowulan.

Javanese sultanates[link]

Sultan Amangkurat II of Mataram (upper right) watching warlord Untung Surapati fighting Captain Tack of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). ca 1684 AD.

Islam gain their foothold in port towns on Java northern coast such as Gresik, Ampel Denta (Surabaya), Tuban, Demak and Kudus. The spread and proselytizing of Islam among Javanese people was traditionally credited to Wali Songo.^[13]

Following succession disputes and civil wars, Majapahit power collapsed. Java underwent major changes as Islam spread. After the collapse of Majapahit, its various dependencies and vassals broke free.^[14] Sultanate of Demak became the new strongest power, gaining supremacy among city-states on the northern coast of Java.^[15] Apart from Javanese city-states, it also gained overlordship of ports of Jambi and Palembang in eastern Sumatra.^[15] Demak played major role opposing the newly arrived colonial power, the Portuguese. Demak twice attacked the Portuguese following their capture of Malacca. They also attacked alliance between Portuguese and the Sunda Kingdom, establishing in process the Sultanate of Banten.

Demak was succeeded by Kingdom of Pajang and finally Sultanate of Mataram. The center power moved from coastal Demak, to Pajang in Blora, and later further inland to Mataram lands in Kotagede near present day Yogyakarta. Mataram Sultanate reach its peak of power and influence during the reign of Sultan Agung Hanyokrokusumo in 1613-1645.

Colonial Java[link]

In 1619 the Dutch established their trading headquarter in Batavia. Java slowly fell to the Dutch East India Company, which would also eventually control most of Maritime Southeast Asia. The internal intrigue and war of succession, added with Dutch interference has caused Mataram Sultanate to disintegrate into Surakarta and Yogyakarta. The further separation of Javanese realm marked by the establishments of Mangkunegaran and Pakualaman princedom. Although the real political power in those days actually lies in colonial Dutch, The Javanese kings in their keratons still hold their prestiges as the center of Javanese realm, especially in and around Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

Dutch rule was briefly interrupted by British rule in early 19th century. While short, the British administration led by Stamford Raffles, was a significant, and included re-discovery of Borobudur. Conflict with foreign rule was exemplified by the Java War between 1825 and 1830, and the leadership of Prince Diponegoro.

Like the rest of Dutch East Indies, Java was captured by the Empire of Japan during World War II. With Japan defeat, independence was proclaimed in the new Republic of Indonesia.

Republic of Indonesia[link]

After 1945, when the Indonesian independence was proclaimed, the last free Javanese sultanates, represented by the Sultan of Yogyakarta, the Sultan of Surakarta and Prince of Pakualaman made a declaration they would become part of the Republic of Indonesia.

Yogyakarta and Pakualam were later unified to form the Yogyakarta Special Region and the sultan became the Governor of Yogyakarta and the Prince of Pakualaman as the vice-governor; both were responsible to the President of Indonesia. The Special Region of Yogyakarta was created after the independence war ended and legalized on August 3, 1950. Surakarta was later absorbed as part of the Central Java province.

Migrations[link]

An illustration of a ship on a Borobudur relief.

Javanese were probably involved in Austronesian migration to Madagascar in the first centuries CE. While the core culture of the migration is most closely related with Ma'anyan of Borneo, a portions of Malagasy language is derived from loanwords from Javanese language.^[16]

Since Hindu kingdoms period, Javanese merchants settled at many places in the archipelago.^[9]:247 In late 15th century, following the collapse of Majapahit and rise of Muslim principalities on the northern coast of Java, many Hindu nobilities, artisans and courtiers migrated to Bali,^[10] where they would contribute to the refined culture of Bali. Other who refused to convert to Islam retreated to Tengger mountain, retaining their Hindu religions and became the Tenggerese people.

In the conflicts during the transitions of power between Demak, Pajang and Mataram in late 16th century, some Javanese migrated to Palembang in southern Sumatra. There they established a sultanate and formed a mix of Malay and Javanese culture.^[17] Palembang language is a dialect of Malay language with heavy influence of Javanese.

During the reign of Sultan Agung (1613–1645), Javanese began to established settlements in coastal West Java around Cirebon, Indramayu and Karawang. These Javanese settlements originally commissioned by Sultan Agung as rice farming villages to support the Javanese troops logistic on his military campaign against Dutch Batavia.

The Javanese also present in Peninsular Malaya since early times. ^[18] Link between Java and Malacca was important during spread of Islam in Indonesia, when religious missionaries were sent from Malacca to seaports in northern coast of Java.^[12]

Large migration to Malay Peninsular occurred during colonial period mostly from Central Java to British Malaya from 1880 to 1930, migration from other parts of Java and secondary migration from Sumatra also taken place during this period. They migrated to seek a new life away from the Dutch colonists who ruled Indonesia at that time. Today the they live throughout Peninsular Malaysia and mainly concentrated in parts of Perak, Johor, Selangor, and Kedah. ^[19]

Javanese merchant also present in the Moluccas as part of spice trade. Following Islamization of Java, they spread Islam in the islands, with Ternate being a Muslim sultanate circa 1484.^[20] Javanese merchants also converted coastal cities in Borneo to Islam.^[21] The Javanese thus played important part in transmitting Islam from western part to the eastern part of the Archipelago with trades based from northern coast of Java.

Javanese migrant workers in Suriname. ca. 1940

New migration pattern emerged during colonial periods. During the rise of VOC power starting in the 17th century, many Javanese were exiled, enslaved or hired as mercenaries to Dutch colonies of Ceylon in South Asia and Cape colony in South Africa. These included princes and nobilities which lost their dispute with the Company and exiled along with their retinues. These, along with exiles from other ethnicities like Bugis and Malay become the Sri Lankan Malay^[1] and Cape Malay,^[2] ethnic groups respectively. Other political prisoners were transported to closer places. For example Prince Diponegoro and his followers were transported to North Sulawesi, following his defeat in Java War in early 19th century. Their descendants are well known as Jaton (abbreviation of "Jawa Tondano"/Tondano Javanese).

Major migrations started during Dutch colonial period under Transmigration programs. The Dutch needed many laborers for their plantations, moved many Javanese under the program as contract workers, mostly to other part of the colony in Sumatra. But the Dutch also to sent the Javanese workers to Suriname in southern Americas. Today approximately 15% of Suriname population is of Javanese descent.

The Transmigration program that was created by the Dutch was continued following the Independence. The significant Javanese population can be found in Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta) area, Lampung, South Sumatra and Jambi provinces. Several paguyuban (traditional community organization) were formed by these Javanese immigrant, such as "Pujakesuma" (abbreviation of Indonesian: Putra Jawa Kelahiran Sumatera or Sumatra-born Javanese).

Social structure[link]

The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz in the 1960s divided the Javanese community into three aliran or "streams": santri, abangan and priyayi. According to him, the Santri followed an orthodox interpretation Islam, the abangan was the followed a syncretic form of Islam that mixed Hindu and animist elements (often termed Kejawen), and the priyayi was the nobility.^[22]

But today the Geertz opinion is often opposed because he mixed the social groups with belief groups. It was also difficult to apply this social categorisation in classing outsiders, for example other non-indigenous Indonesians such as persons of Arab, Chinese and Indian descent.

Social stratification is much less rigid in northern coast area, which is much more egalitarian.

Language[link]

Javanese alphabet.

Javanese is a member of the Austronesian family of languages and is closely related to, but distinct from, other languages of Indonesia.^[23] It is notable for its great number of nearly ubiquitous Sanskrit loans, found especially in literary Javanese.^[24] This is due to the long history of Hindu and Buddhist influences in Java.

Most Javanese in Indonesia are bilingual fluent in Indonesian and Javanese.^[25] In a public poll held circa-1990, approximately 12% of Javanese used Indonesian, around 18% used both Javanese and Indonesian, and the rest used Javanese exclusively.

The Javanese language was commonly written with the a script descended from the Brahmi script, natively known as Hanacaraka or Carakan. Upon Indonesian independence it was replaced with a form of the Latin alphabet.

While Javanese was not made an official language of Indonesia, it has the status of 'regional language' for communication in the Javanese-majority regions. The language also can be viewed as an 'ethnic language' because it is one of the defining characteristics of the Javanese ethnic identity.^[23]

Culture[link]

See Javanese culture

Names[link]

Javanese do not usually have family names or surnames. Many have just a single name. For example, Sukarno or Suharto. Javanese names may come from traditional Javanese languages, many of which are derived from Sanskrit. Names with the prefix Su-,which means good, are very popular. After the advent of Islam, many Javanese began to use Arabic names, especially coast populations, where Islamic influences are stronger. Commoners usually only have one-word names, while nobilities use two-or-more-word names, but rarely a surname. Due to the influence of other cultures, many people started using names from other languages, mainly European languages. Christian Javanese usually use Latin baptism names followed by a traditional Javanese name.

Some people use a patronymic. For example, Abdurrahman Wahid's name is derived from his father's name (Wahid Hasyim) who was an independence fighter and minister. In turn, Wahid Hasyim's name was derived from that of his father: Hasyim Asyari, a famous cleric and founder of the Nahdlatul Ulama organization.

See also[link]

• List of Javanese people
• Javanese in Singapore
• Javanese Surinamese

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Kuncaraningrat. (1985) Javanese culture Singapore: Oxford University Press.