The history of West Java is a story of trade, spices, and the rise and fall of powerful kingdoms. West Java was the first contact point for the Dutch and earlier it was one of the first regions to come into contact with Indian traders and their culture.

Ancient stone writings record Hinduism as being one of the forerunning religions especially during the reign of King Purnawarman of Taruma. In the 17th century Taruma was destroyed by the powerful Buddhist kingdom of Sriwijaya.

Hinduism only reasserted itself along with Buddhism when the Pajajarans ruled the area, who are now better known for their construction of the first trading settlement on the site of Old Batavia, near Jakarta.



The first half of the 16th century saw the military expansion of Demark and in 1524 Muslim power first made itself felt in West Java. Demark’s leader, Sunan Gunungjati, captured the port of Banten and Sunda Kelapa. He later became the first king of Cirebon.

Banten was the maritime capital of the only Muslim state to remain independent of the Javanese power, Mataram, but today this capital is little more than a fishing village.

After the fall of Melaka in 1511, Chinese, Arabs and Indians made Banten their home and it rapidly became a major trading post using the Sunda Straits as the main trading route, thus avoiding the Portuguese who traded along other Indonesian coasts at the time.
 

Gunungjati’s successor, Hasanuddin spread Banten’s authority to the district of Lampung in south Sumatra. His son, Maulana Yusuf, conquered the Hindu kingdom of Pajajaran in 1579 an in do doing, carved out a slice of Sunda as Banten’s own domain.

Towards the end of the 16th century Banten was ‘discovered’ by Europeans and in 1596 the Dutch made their first appearance in Banten. Then by 1600 the English had established the East India Trading post and two years later the Dutch formed the VOC, a counterpart company. Banten became the centre of fierce Anglo-saxon competition which chased the Dutch away and they then seized Jakarta instead, making Batavia their capital.

Hostilities reached their peak with the accession to the throne of Banten’s greatest ruler,  Sultan Agung in 1651. With the help of European captains Agung established an excellent trading network. HE defied the VOC and Mataram on more than one occasion before civil war led to Dutch intervention and his eventual capture in 1683.

By the end of the 17th century Dutch power was back in control. It was closer to Batavia but, more importantly, much of the land in the area was ceded to the Dutch by Mataram in return for military aid, while in Central and East Java the kingdoms became Dutch protectorates.



Today, as in many areas of Indonesia, tourism has now become one of the major sources of income for the people of the area and it certainly has much to offer the visitor from well run hotels, to interesting places to see and numerous activities in which to partake that finds visitors returning, time and time again. Come and ‘discover’ it for yourself…you won’t be disappointed.