Aceh Sultanate Keurajeun Acèh Darussalam كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام
← 1496–1903 →
Flag
Extent of Aceh Sultanate during the reign of Iskandar Muda, 1608–1637.
Capital	Kutaraja or Bandar Aceh Darussalam (modern Banda Aceh)
Language(s)	Acehnese, Malay, Arabic
Religion	Islam
Government	Monarchy
Sultan
- 1496–1528	Ali Mughayat Syah
- 1874–1903	Muhammad Daud Syah
History
- Coronation of the first Sultan	1496
- Aceh War	1903
Currency	Native gold and silver coins

This article is part of the History of Indonesia series
See also: Timeline of Indonesian History
Prehistory
Early kingdoms
Kutai (4th century)
Tarumanagara (358–669)
Kalingga (6th–7th century)
Srivijaya (7th–13th centuries)
Sailendra (8th–9th centuries)
Sunda Kingdom (669–1579)
Medang Kingdom (752–1045)
Kediri (1045–1221)
Singhasari (1222–1292)
Majapahit (1293–1500)
The rise of Muslim states
Spread of Islam (1200–1600)
Sultanate of Ternate (1257–present)
Malacca Sultanate (1400–1511)
Sultanate of Demak (1475–1548)
Aceh Sultanate (1496–1903)
Sultanate of Banten (1526–1813)
Mataram Sultanate (1500s–1700s)
European colonisation
The Portuguese (1512–1850)
Dutch East India Co. (1602–1800)
Dutch East Indies (1800–1942)
The emergence of Indonesia
National awakening (1908–1942)
Japanese occupation (1942–45)
National revolution (1945–50)
Independent Indonesia
Liberal democracy (1950–57)
Guided Democracy (1957–65)
Start of the New Order (1965–66)
The New Order (1966–98)
Reformasi era (1998–present)
v t e

The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam (Acehnese: Keurajeun Acèh Darussalam; Jawoë: كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام), a Sultanate centered in the modern day Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present Banda Aceh.

At its peak it was a formidable enemy of the Sultanate of Johor and Portuguese-controlled Malacca, both on the Malayan Peninsula, as all three attempted to control the trade through the Strait of Malacca and the regional exports of pepper and tin with fluctuating success. In addition to its considerable military strength, the court of Aceh became a noted center of Islamic scholarship and trade.

Foundation and rise[link]

Masjid Raya Baiturrahman, Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque.

Aceh's origins are unquestionably Cham, as the Champa king Syah Pau Kubah sent his son Syah Pau Ling to rule over Aceh when the capital Vijaya in 1471 AD, was sacked by the Vietnamese Le Dynasty. Acehnese language is the only other non-Chamic language in the 11 language Aceh-Chamic languages group.

The ruler of Aceh converted to Islam in the mid-15th century.^[1] The Sultanate was founded by Ali Mughayat Syah, who began campaigns to extend his control over northern Sumatra in 1520.^[2] His conquests included Deli, Pedir, and Pasai, and he attacked Aru. His son Alauddin al-Kahar (d.1571) extended the domains farther south into Sumatra, but was less successful in his attempts to gain a foothold across the strait, though he made several attacks on both Johor and Malacca,^[3] with the support along with men and firearms from Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire.^[1] The Ottoman Empire sent a relief force of 15 Xebecs commanded by Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis.

On 21 June 1599 a Dutch captain, Cornelius Houtman arrived at "Acheen" aboard the Lioness as the first of three planned voyages to the East Indies. The crew stayed for three months acquiring pepper and other spices. Crew member John Davis claims the party was subsequently attacked by the local warlord with the loss of 68 dead and captured.^[4]

Internal dissension in the Sultanate prevented another powerful Sultan from appearing until 1607, when Iskandar Muda came to the position. He extended the Sultanate's control over most of Sumatra. He also conquered Pahang, a tin-producing region of the Malayan Peninsula. The strength of his formidable fleet was brought to an end with a disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629, when the combined Portuguese and Johor forces managed to destroy all his ships and 19,000 troops according to Portuguese account.^[5][6] Aceh forces was not destroyed, however, as Aceh was able to conquer Kedah within the same year and taking many of its citizens to Aceh.^[6] The Sultan's son in law, Iskandar Thani, former prince of Pahang later became his successor. During his reign Aceh focused on internal consolidation and religious unity.

By the 17th century, large number of Shias from the Bahmani Sultanate of India and the Safavid Persia arrived in Southeast Asia, including Aceh, where converted many local Muslims into Shiism. Many port cities such as Pariaman became Shia. Today, Aceh has the largest concentration the Shias in Indonesia, where they form majorities in many parts of the old kingdom.

After the reign of Sultan Iskandar Thani, Aceh was ruled by a series of female Sultana. Aceh's previous policy of taking hostage from conquered kingdoms' population^[6] made them eager to seek independence, the results were Aceh's control weakened while regional rulers gained effective power. The Sultan ultimately became a largely symbolic title.^[7] By the 1680s, a Persian visitor could describe a northern Sumatra where "every corner shelters a separate king or governor and all the local rulers maintain themselves independently and do not pay tribute to any higher authority."^[8]

Culture and economy[link]

Aceh saw itself as heir to Pasai, the first Islamic state in Southeast Asia, and succeeded Islamic missionary work of Malacca after it was conquered by the Roman Catholic Portuguese. It was called the "porch of Mecca," and became a center of Islamic scholarship, where the Qur'an and other Islamic texts were translated into Malay.^[1] Its notable scholars included Hamzah Pansuri, Syamsuddin of Pasai, Abdurrauf of Singkil, and the Indian Nuruddin ar-Raniri.^[9]

Aceh gained wealth from its export of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, betel nuts,^[10] and, once it conquered Pahang in 1617, tin. Low interest rates and the use of gold currency strengthened its economy.^[11] It was always somewhat fragile economically, however, because of the difficulty in providing enough surplus food to support the military and commercial adventures of the state.^[12] As Aceh lost political cohesion in the 17th century, it saw its trading importance yielded to the Dutch East India Company, who became the dominant military and economic power in the region following the successful siege of Malacca in 1641.^[8]

Later years and conquest by the Dutch[link]

Tuanku Muhammad Daudsyah Johan Berdaulat, the last Sultan of Aceh.

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, Koh Lay Huan – the first Kapitan Cina of Penang, had good contacts with the English-and-French-speaking Sultan of Aceh, Jauhar al-Alam.^[13] The Sultan allowed Koh to gather pepper plants in Aceh to begin pepper cultivation in Penang. Later, about 1819, Koh helped Sultan Jauhar al-Alam put down a rebellion by Acehnese territorial chiefs.^[13][14]

In the 1820s, as Aceh produced over half the world's supply of pepper, a new leader, Tuanku Ibrahim, was able to restore some authority to the Sultanate and gain control over the "pepper rajas" who were nominal vassals of the Sultan by playing them off against each other. He rose to power during the Sultanate of his brother, Muhammad Syah, and was able to dominate the reign of his successor Sulaiman Syah (r. 1838–1857), before taking the Sultanate himself, under the title Sultan Ali Alauddin Mansur Syah (1857–1870). He extended Aceh's effective control southward at just the time when the Dutch were consolidating their holdings northward.^[15]

Britain, heretofore guarding the independence of Aceh in order to keep it out of Dutch hands, re-evaluated its policy and concluded the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of Sumatra, which allowed for Dutch control throughout Sumatra in exchange for concessions in the Gold Coast and equal trading rights in northern Aceh. The treaty was tantamount to a declaration of war on Aceh, and the Aceh War followed soon after in 1873. As the Dutch prepared for war, Mahmud Syah (1870–1874) appealed for international help, but no one was willing or able to assist.^[16]

In 1874 the Sultan abandoned the capital, withdrawing to the hills, while the Dutch announced the annexation of Aceh. He eventually died of cholera, as did many combatants on both sides, but the Acehnese proclaimed a grandson of Tuanku Ibrahim Sultan. The local rulers of Acehnese ports nominally submitted to Dutch authority in order to avoid a blockade, but they used their income to support the resistance.^[17]

However, eventually many of them compromised with the Dutch, and the Dutch were able establish a fairly stable government in Aceh with their cooperation, and get the Sultan to surrender in 1903. After his death in 1907, no successor was named, but the resistance continued to fight for some time.^[18]

Lineage[link]

See also[link]

Indonesia portal

• History of Indonesia
• The spread of Islam in Indonesia
• Ottoman expedition to Aceh

Notes[link]

References[link]

• J.M. Barwise and N.J. White. A Traveller’s History of Southeast Asia. New York: Interlink Books, 2002.
• M.C. Ricklefs. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.

See also[link]

• The History of Sumatra by William Marsden, c. 1800

Frederick De Houtman
Portrait by David de Meyne in 1617
Born	1571 Gouda, Holland, Seventeen Provinces
Died	21 October 1627(1627-10-21) Alkmaar, Holland, Dutch Republic
Nationality	Dutch
Occupation	Explorer

Frederick de Houtman (Gouda, 1571 – Alkmaar, 21 October 1627), or Frederik de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who sailed along the Western coast of Australia en route to Batavia, nowadays known as Jakarta in Indonesia.

Biography[link]

Frederick de Houtman was born in 1571 in Gouda, Holland, Seventeen Provinces.

He assisted fellow Dutch navigator Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser with astronomical observations during his first expedition from Holland to the East Indies in 1595-1597.

During subsequent expeditions he added further stars to the list of those observed by Keyser. Between them the constellations at the bottom of this article are credited to them as discoverers.

Monument for Cornelis and Frederik de Houtman in Gouda, Netherlands

De Houtman was the elder brother of Cornelis de Houtman who in a second expedition in 1598-1599 was killed. Frederick was imprisoned by the Sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra, but made good use of his two years in prison by studying the local Malay language and making astronomical observations.

In 1603, after his return to Holland, Frederick published his stellar observations in an appendix to his dictionary and grammar of the Malayan and Malagasy languages.^[1]

In 1619 he, in the VOC ship Dordrecht and Jacob d'Edel, in another VOC ship Amsterdam, sighted land on the Australian coast near present-day Perth which they called d'Edelsland. After sailing northwards along the coast he encountered and only narrowly avoided a group of shoals, subsequently called the Houtman Abrolhos. Houtman then made landfall in the region known as Eendrachtsland which previous explorer Dirk Hartog had encountered. In his journal, Houtman identified these coasts with Marco Polo's land of Beach, or Locach, as shown on maps of the time such as that of Conrnelis van Linschoten.^[2]

De Houtman died on 21 October 1627 in Alkmaar, Holland, Dutch Republic.

See also[link]

• History of Western Australia

References[link]

1. ^ Fr. de Houtman, Spraeck ende woord-boeck, in de Maleysche ende Madagaskarsche talen, met vele Arabische ende Turcsche woorden. Inhoudende twaelf tsamensprekeninghen inde Maleysche, ende drie in de Madagaskarsche spraken, met alderhande woorden ende namen, ghestela naer dordre vanden A.B.C. alles int Nederduytsch gestellt: noch zijn hier byghevoecht de declinatien van vele vaste Sterren, staende ontrent den Zuyd-pool (Amsterdam: Jan Evertsz. Cloppenburch, 1603) online link.
2. ^ Letter of Commandeur Frederik de Houtman to the Chamber Amsterdam, 7 October 1620, Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague, 982, 1620 II, fol147-151, fol.148r; quoted in P. A. Leupe, De Reizen der Nederlanders naar het Zuidland of Nieuw-Holland in de 17e en 18e eeuw, Amsterdam, G. Hulst van Keulen, 1868, p.29, 32; cited in Frederik Willem Stapel, De Oostindische Compagnie en Australië, Amsterdam, P.N. van Kampen, 1937, pp.11 en 28.

• "VOC Historical Society Inc: The exploration and mapping of the Australian coastline in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries". http://www.voc.iinet.net.au/voyages.html. Retrieved 2006-04-09. 
• Ian Ridpath's Star Tales
• Knobel, E. B., "On Frederick de Houtman's catalogue of southern stars, and the origin of the southern constellations",Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 77, p. 414-432. (ADS)