Atale from Bali

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Hi all,

I am back with a new AAR. This time with a tale from the small Hindu state of Mataram in Indonesia (for some reason I end up playing with the smaller states in this game rather then the large empires available)

Dyluk

 

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A Tale form Bali I - the reign of Vikramavardhama

A tale from Bali

The reign of Vikramavardhama (1419-1429)

The Hindu empire of Mataram lies in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago. It is a remainder of a larger Hindu empire called the Majapahit Empire (1294-1389) that once spread over all the larger islands (Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan). In 1419 it is confined to eastern Java (Surabaya) and the island of Bali.

Muslim traders from Arabia have entered the archipelago in the mid 7th century and created the Muslim states of Atjeh, the northern tip of Sumatra, Brunei, the northern part of Kalimantan and Makassar, the southern part of Sulawesi, in the mid 13th through the late 14th centuries. Other regions of the archipelago are mostly pagan, consisting of small tribes scattered all over the islands. To the far west, on the Asian mainland, there is the Muslim kingdom of Malacca. The Mataram have not explored the regions beyond those borders in 1419.

On Java there are two other major cities – provinces with a relatively high population density. They are Jakarta and Bandung in western Java. But both provinces cannot be considered as independent nations as such because they lack a ruling nobility. In real life both cities did have an independent ruling nobility but I guess for game balance that fact was ignored. To the east lies the sparsely populated island of Flores, both Java and Flores will make excellent places for future colonization efforts.

The Hindu have little technologies and their traders cast hasn’t developed ships big enough yet to sent traders to Malacca and expend trade in the Hindu empire. Also their farmers cast hasn’t learned how to make effect weapons and/or cavalry yet so all military forces are relatively primitive. On the other hand, the Hindu empire isn’t in worse shape then their Muslim counterparts because no one in the archipelago has exceeded land or naval tech 0 yet.

As early as August 15th 1419 Brunei declared was upon the Mataram empire. Though Vikramavardhama was a cunning diplomat, he failed to get foreign support as the other Muslim states Malacca, Atjeh and Makassar would not ally with him against Brunei. The war itself lasted for 7 years, until July 15th 1426, and in the end it was a small success for the Hindu empire. The Muslims tried to invade Java several times but continued to be beaten by the Hindu armies. The Hindu on the other hand invaded Brunei in the spring of 1420 and eventually captured the province of Sabah on December 30th 1425. Brunei was besieged as well, but the unhealthy jungle of Kalimantan rapidly decimated their forces. In July 1426 an peace arrangement was made, Brunei paid the Hindu a sum of money (58 ducats) and the Hindu left again.

Though territorial expansion by war hasn’t been possible yet, the Hindu did manage to colonize Jakarta and Flores (both in 1422) paving the way for more colonies in the future. On December 31st Vikramavardhama died of old age and his son Suhita became king on January 1st 1429.

Dyluk

 

[Bismarck]

Small nations are good though...

I've never read an AAR on an indian minor.... so I am very interested....

M

 

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Wow. When I set a trend, I really set a trend, huh?

Good stuff here Dyluk. Be nice to those Brunei Darussalamis, they're a great bunch of people, not at all warlike or unpleasant (ahem...)

And, uh, Bismarck? Mataram is an Indonesian minor, rather than an Indian minor... but hey, you were within a couple of thousand miles...

 

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Nice to read a Mataram AAR..hmm..shouldn´t they be muslim?...

 

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The Mataramis are the one Hindu nation in the Indonesian Archipelago. Probably some deep-rooted historical reason for it all...

 

[Bismarck]

Originally posted by Ariel
Wow. When I set a trend, I really set a trend, huh?

Good stuff here Dyluk. Be nice to those Brunei Darussalamis, they're a great bunch of people, not at all warlike or unpleasant (ahem...)

And, uh, Bismarck? Mataram is an Indonesian minor, rather than an Indian minor... but hey, you were within a couple of thousand miles...

When I was typing my message someone was talking to me in a rather loud and angry voice... and you know how the mind does weird things... like shortening indonesian to indian by the sound in mind alone... because even the 12th word of the AAR is indonesian... so I couldn't have messed up my geography that bad...

I don't consider Brunei a minor in the region either.... especially when commanded by you Ariel....

M

 

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A Tale form Bali II - the reign of Suhita

A tale from Bali II

The reign of Suhita (1429-1447)

Suhita’s long reign is a very crucial one for the Mataram empire. This period is dominated by the ongoing colonization efforts of Java, Flores, Sumbawa and Kalimantan, as well as the first attempts of Portuguese traders to establish a foothold in the Archipelago.

In August 1429 the small island of Sumbawa, just east of Bali, is colonized using lend money. Unlike his father, Suhita wants to conduct an active policy in colonizing the other islands surrounding Bali. With the help of the Traders (the third cast in the Balinese Hindu system) he finances several colonization projects using loans to get the necessary funds. The Sumbawa project was a success as well as the Flores project. Both the Sumbawa as the Flores colonies received the city status in the mid 1430s.

The colonization of Java proves to be more difficult. Though the initial attempts to colonize western Java (Jakarta) had started in the early 1420s, the Jakarta colony had difficulties expanding. This is also caused by the hostile native forces of Bandung and Sunda in the mid-west and far west of Java respectively. In 1431 an expedition is mounted to punish the hostile Sunda natives for the destruction of the Mataram colony there in 1430. This expedition (the First Java Expedition) ends in a complete failure. The Hindu forces get beaten by the Sunda in spring 1431 and have to flee to Jakarta. The Jakarta nobility, seeking for a way to get rid of the Hindu colonizers, revolt in May 1431: destroying both the expeditionary forces as well as the Jakarta colony!

Suhita needs a success to prevent the traders from pulling the plug out off his colonization politics and mounts a second expedition to western Java (The Second Java Expedition). This one proves to be more successful, the Sunda are made extinct in early 1434 and in September 1434 a colony was successfully established in Sunda. Jakarta was colonized again a month later after the Jakarta nobles were massacred by the expeditionary forces, only a handful of indigenous Jakarta people stayed alive and joined the Jakarta colony in early 1440 when se became a small city. Sunda was made a city in 1441 thus concluding the colonization of West Java.

The colonization of west Java did cause great concern in Surabya (East Java). The Surabay priests were not all happy with the influx of so many (pagan) natives in the empire. On June 1st 1441 the priest initiated a revolt against the Mataram and started to lay siege to the city. Luckily the (loyal) expeditionary forces were quick to respond and quelled the revolt a month later. To prevent such rebellion in the future, Suhita passed some resolutions in which he tightened the Hindu cast system in favor of Christian and Confucian religions.

Bandung proved to be a more difficult area to colonize. The Bandung nobles had a large army of approximately 15,000 men, while the Hindu armies never exceeded the 5,000 men at that time. Still the Hindu were able to launch a successful campaign against the rebellious Bandung in the mid 1430s (the Third Java Expedition from 1435-1437). The expedition had various success but in 1437 the Bandung nobles finally gave in and a permanent colony was established thus uniting Java under the rule of the Mataram. Bandung became a city in 1444, four years after the first Portuguese traders were sighted in Indonesian waters.

The Portuguese were trying to set up some trading posts all over the archipelago but the natives were frightened of their pale appearances and strange looking ships, resulting in little success for them to get a foothold in Indonesia. Suhita distrusted them as well but realized that a strong and unified Indonesian nation was the only way to keep them out. So far he had continued his father’s foreign politics to try and establish an alliance with the Muslim states in the archipelago but with no success. He did manage to marry some of his daughters to ruling families of Atjeh, Brunei, Malacca and Makassar to keep relations with them in perfect order and reducing the change of war. On the other hand, the small Muslim states are not to keen on allying themselves with each other as well, so if war breaks out, the Hindu would have to face only one enemy at the time….

Brunei however had not forgotten the war that Suhita’s father Vikramavardhama had fought with them from 1419-1426 and was looking for revenge (relations with Brunei never exceeded the –100 through out 1426-1445). Suhita knew that war between the two states was immanent. After the colonization of Java had been completed in 1444, the Hindu began to look for other suitable colonization sites. Several attempts were made to colonize the southern tip of Sumatra (Palembang) in the period 1442 – 1445 but none of those attempts was successful. This was mostly caused by the Muslim rulers in Palembang who didn’t want a Hindu king as ruler. The jungle of Sulawesi (to the east and north of Makassar) were not appealing for Hindu settlers either. Besides the fact that natives there were very aggressive against foreign invaders as the Portuguese found out on more then one occasion. On top of that, a small colony would be very difficult to defend against Makassar Muslims in case they’d attack it. The southern tip of Kalimantan was the logical choice to start a new colony.

There were enough adventurous Hindu’s who were willing to make the trip (I got the ‘rush of colonists’ event twice in the period 1440-1447) and so colonization efforts began to colonize Kalimantan (both Bandjarmasin and Selatan provinces) in mid 1444. The attempts to colonize the provinces were successful and in June 1445 the Hindu had even managed to colonize the Kalimantan province more to the north. This brought us in direct contact with Brunei however as Kalimantan province shares its borders with Saba province that is under Brunei control. The sultan of Brunei reacted immediately and declared war upon the Mataram on July 9th 1445.

The Hindu didn’t have many forces on Kalimantan and so the initative came form Brunei. The Mataram lost control of the Kalimantan province to Brunei as early as September 1445 but they managed to keep the two southern provinces by repelling the Brunei invaders. An attack was launched on both Sabah and Brunei by an invasion from the sea in early 1446 but with no success. The remainder of the year 1446 was spend by the Mataram to rebuild their forces. Suhita however was now an old men and the intensive task of managing an army was more then his old body could bare. In October 1446 Suhita collapsed and died two months later….

The court of Denpassar (Bali) mourned the passing of her leader and king who had given Mataram back most of its former glory. The eldest son of his third wife (the Balinese kings all had harems) Keravijaya was installed as new ruler.

 

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A Tale from Bali III

reign of Keravijaya (1447 – 1451)

Keravijaya’s reign has been short in comparison to his father’s, he was important however for Mataram’s history because of his successful campaign against Brunei and his colonization efforts of Makassar.

After Keravijaya was installed as king he gave command to his loyal commander and chief Safi of the Hindu fleet and Kalimantan expeditionary forces. Safi also tried to two–way attack against Brunei by performing amphibious attacks on both Brunei and Sabah provinces. He had more success then his predecessors and the Hindu began to lay siege to Sabah and Brunei on February and April 1448 respectively.

The Brunei forces were scattered and quickly annihilated in mid 1448 after which both sieges went by pretty uneventful. On December 30th 1448 the Hindu captured Sabah and Brunei fell on October 26th 1449. The Brunei sultan tried to bribe his way out of his precarious situation by offering large sums of money and Sabah but Keravijaya was determined to end the Muslim threat on Kalimantan once and for all. On January 11th 1450 a peace treaty was signed between Mataram and Brunei making Brunei a vassal of the Mataram and giving the Hindu control over both Sabah and Kalimantan province. The Mataram now were in full control of Java, Bali, Flores, Sumbawa and Kalimantan.

During the period 1447-1451 Keravijaya continued the colonization politics of both his grandfather and his father by colonizing Sarawak in 1449 and Minado in December 1450, thus adding to the Mataram dominant influence over the archipelago.

For the second time in five year however great sadness came to the court of Denpassar as Keravijaya died of a disease (probably typhus) on January 31st 1451, just after returning form Kalimantan where he had completed the long peace talks with Brunei. His younger brother Rajasavardhana will now rule the Mataram empire. of course technicly Keravijaya 'died' on December 31st 1450 but since that doesn't fit with the peace talks with Brunei I posponed his death a month

 

[Bismarck]

Well, that could just be due to a different calendar... yeah, that's the ticket...

M

 

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A Tale form Bali IV - the reign of Rajasavardhana

A tale from Bali IV

The reign of Rajasavardhana (1451-1453)

Rajasavardhana is the last of the kings that directly descend from the ‘old’ cast of Kings.
The Balinese Hindu system knows four casts, The Priests (cast 1), The Kings (cast 2), The Traders (cast 3) and The Farmers (cast 4). This system is far more simple then the complicated cast system they now in India (with many more casts) and still exists today on Bali.

The period of 1451-1453 is best described as a period of consolidation. The map (see link below) shows what the Mataram empire looks like in early 1451. Though she now controls a vast area, most cities are mere colonies with no more then a 1,000 or so inhabitants. The new colony Mindanao in the north (established in February 1451) even holds only a 100 new settlers from Java. That colony and the one in Palawan is lost in early 1452 as the local Filipino locals rise up against the Hindu settlers.

Expansion to the north proved to be very difficult and to make matters worst, the Portuguese finally managed to establish a trading post in Sulawesi in late 1451. The Hindu established relations with them and learned more about their home province called ‘Tago’. The Mataram sent a trader to that far off region and actually managed to start a business over there.

On April 28th 1452 Moktar, the commander and chief of the Kalimantan expeditionary forces, became prime minister for Rajasavardhana. He managed to improve relations with Brunei (through some gifts it went up to +150 or so) but was unsuccessful in preventing Brunei and Makassar becoming allies.

Troublesome times were up ahead for the Mataram empire as their enemies allied themselves and foreign invaders established a foothold in their realm. But the greatest danger came from within the empire itself. The court of Denpassar became more and more divided over the course that needed to be followed for the future. Rajasavardhana wasn’t a very capable king and he relied mostly on Moktar for his policies. His other two brothers, all with their own ambitions, wanted to get rid of Moktar and Rajasavardhana and rule the empire for themselves. In the autumn of 1452 they lured Rajasavardhana in a trap and murdered him. The Interregnum had began…

Map of Mataram in 1451

 

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A Tale form Bali V - The Interregnum

A tale from Bali V

The Interregnum (1453-1456)

In Europe, when a king was murdered, usually a period of great instability followed. In Indonesia, quarrels between royals were fought out amongst themselves without the great political instability that plagued Europe in similar events. Of course, without a powerful centralized authority at the helm, local authorities assumed control resulting in increased corruption (inflation) and reduced production efficiency.

Though Rajasavardhana had a harem of several wives he didn’t have a son and thus no heir to the throne. Rajasavardhana’s two younger brothers immediately quarreled over the throne after his death. Adrar (the elder of the two brothers) managed to kill his younger brother Kafi and assumed control over Bali, Java, Sumbawa and Flores. Meanwhile, Moktar remained in command of the Kalimantan expeditionary forces and remained a threat to Ardar because he didn't regonize his claim of the throne. In the east, in the Sulawesi province of Salabanka, a Chinese prince named Huyang assumed control over the city.

Chinese traders have always been present in the Indonesian archipelago and some cities, like Salabaka, had large Chinese communities. The Chinese control most of the trade in this region and do not intervene with the (Indonesian) politics. Huyang is different in the way that he converts himself to the Hindu fate and assumes the name of Huyang Purvavisea (‘the converted one’). He now also seeks to become king of the Mataram empire. This stalemate continued much throughout this period because none of the three pretenders to the throne in Bali managed to gain the upper hand.

Moktar dies in battle on October 15th 1454 when suppressing an uprising in Sabah. His son Moktar II assumes control over the Kalimantan troops and announces that his family will no longer seek to hold the throne in Denpassar. In stead he’ll help to get rid of the tyrant Ardar by helping Huyang. The two allies finaly manage to get rid of Ardar in 1455 and Huyang is made king of Mataram in late 1455.

Besides the internal struggle, very little had changed. Moktar II managed to slaughter all the natives in late 1454 and the Mataram establish a colony there in early 1455. Minado colony is expanded to a city of 900 inhabitants in late 1456. The Portuguese manage to expand their trading post in Sulawesi to 20 traders (level 2) and the Mataram manage to get more traders to Tago to generate more income.

 

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A Tale form Bali VI - the reign of Huyang Purvavisea

A Tale from Bali VI

The reign of Huyang Purvavisea (1456-1466)

Huyang is an important monarch despite his mediocre skills (3-3-2) . During his ten year reign, the small Muslim states of Makassar and Brunei are annexed and the colonization of Sumatra begins.

After the political chaos of the Interregnum, Huyang Purvavisea assumed control over all of the Mataram territories. His leadership immediately was challenged when a series of revolts broke out in Sabah (October 1456 and again in April 1457). Though recently concerted from their pagan believes to the true Hindu fate, the priests from Sabah didn’t think Huyang was ‘Indonesian’ enough to rule the empire.

Huyang origins from Sulawesi and knows the Makassar Sultanate well enough to understand its threat. The Sultan has not only made a pact with Brunei to defend themselves from the Hindus but was also gradually building up his forces in Makassar to launch a possible counterattack into Mataram territory. Huyang knows this from his vast network of Chinese traders and on February 11th 1458 he declares war on the Makassar – Brunei alliance.

This war was an easy victory for the powerful Hindu troops, mostly thanks to their strong naval power. Brunei was attacked from Sabah and the province fell on May 25th 1459. The Sultan was beheaded and the sultanate annexed that same day. All of Kalimanatan was now in Mataram hands. Makassar had fallen into the hands of the Hindus a month earlier on april 11th 1459. Now all of central Indonesia was in Mataram hands, except for the province of Sulawesi where the Portuguese still had a trading post.

After these military success Huyang wanted to continue the territorial expansion in northern direction again like the kings of the previous dynasty had attempted before him. In1461 an unsuccessful colonization attempt was made on Palawan, the colony grew to a 100 colonists but when a second shipment of colonists was brought in the aggressive natives killed all the settlers. A year later another unsuccessful colonization attempt was made, this time on the Sumatran provinces of Palembang and Jambi. On both occasions the fierce natives killed the Hindu settlers on sight.

Huyang decided to launch a punishment expedition to Sumatra to quell the local natives and pave the way for colonization. This campaign was mounted in 1463-1464 and is called the First Sumatra Expedition. The troops massacred the natives of Palembang province and reduced the native population of Jambi considerably. In May 1464 the Jambi warlords united and drove the expedition forces out again. Nevertheless, the operation was a success as in that same month a new colony in Palembang was founded. The colonization of Sumatra had begun.

The last two years of Huyang’s reign were marked by further growth of the Palembang colony and some Muslim uprisings in Makassar and Brunei provinces. To counter this religious turmoil Huyang issued new religious laws. Muslim and Hindu believes are now regarded equally important to the state.

Huyang died in 1466, also without an heir to the thrown. However Huyang had foreseen that he wouldn’t have offspring of his own and before his death he appointed Bhre Pandan, the high priest of Dempassar, as his successor. Bhre had very little experience in matters of state but he did have several children. Huyang wanted to appoint a new king who could be succeeded by a next of kin and start a new dynasty, rather then a man of state.

Bhre Pandan was installed as new king of Mataram on January 1st 1467.

 

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A Tale form Bali VII - the reign of Bhre Pandan Solar

A Tale from Bali VII

The reign of Bhre Pandan Solar (1467-1477)

Brhe Pandan Solar (the upper priest) was in all accounts a very mediocre ruler of the Mataram (stats: 2-2-2 just as the Interregnum) . During his reign a second expedition was mounted to Sumatra and the first expedition to Palawan took place. He also is responsible for the reformation of the army (techlevel increased to level 2 during his reign) as well as maintaining the (new) bloodline of the Balinese kings.

As with the installation of Huyang in 1456, the priests of Sabah rebelled against the new monarch (January 1466). This time not because he wasn’t of Indonesian origin but because Bhre was a member of the cast of Priests and not of the cast of Kings. They felt he had betrayed his believes and thus rose up in arms against him. Bhre responded quickly to this rebellion and massacred the priests of Sabah in March 1466, quelling the rebellion and installing a new order of (Balinese) priests instead.

This harsh punishment of the priest cast led to great disturbances among the priests all over the archipelago. On Bali the priests secretly began to predict against Bhre, on August 16th 1468 it led to a revolt on Bali. Records of that time show it to be ‘an unprovoked revolt’ but recent study on the matter shows us that it was no less then an attempt of the priest cast to over through the government of Bhre. Bhre fled just in time to Surabaya on Java and ordered the Javanese regiment to Bali. The rebellion was crushed but because Bhre feared more revolts if he punished the priests of Bali, not to mention the anger of the gods, he left the priests unharmed.

The shockwave of the massacre on Sabah wasn’t coming to an end however. In 1470 the peasants of Surabaya revolted against Bhre, again on incitement of the local priest cast. Though the rebellion was also crushed, the priests continued to predict against Bhre’s regime. It led to great unhappiness amongst the peasantry throughout 1470 - 1471 and in July 1471 another revolt broke out. This time is were the peasants of Brunei who revolted against Bhre. This rebellion wasn’t only caused by the unhappiness of the priests though, but also by the fact that the religious tolerance edicts of 1466 created by Huyang were not respected in this Muslim province. Though this rebellion was also put down (October 1471) Bhre needed to find a way to end the feud between him and the priests.

He managed to instate the tolerance edict of 1466 again in September 1472 and formally apologized to the priest and the gods by offering 700 chicken, 500 piglets and 250 bulls to the mother god in the temple of Dempassar. The feud between the priests and the nobles of Bali had ended. The tolerance edicts were not respected all throughout the empire though, Muslim unhappiness came to an outburst in late 1472 in Brunei and again in 1476 in Makassar. Still, given the religious unrest that happened in the period 1466-1472, these were minor (and only local) incidents.

Besides his internal struggle, Breh tried to expand the Mataram territory on both Java and the Filipinos. In the autumn of 1473 an expedition was mounted to Palawan to prepare the island for colonization. The hostile Palawan natives drove the Hindu back however so this expedition had no success. A similar expedition to Mindanao was postponed for the time being.

Colonization efforts on Sumatra also had a setback. On March 11th 1474 the natives of Jambi destroyed the Mataram colony there. Palembang however was turned into a city in the early 1470s. The destruction of the Jambi colony led to the second Sumatra expedition of 1474. Though initially driven back, the Mataram expeditionary forces managed to kill the remaining Jambi locals in October 1474. A new colony was founded in Jambi on March 6th 1475. All in all, the period of Bhre’s reign didn’t see any territorial expansion of the Mataram empire.

During the final years of Bhre’s reign he hired Pram Gu, a famous Balinese architect, painter and sculptor, to build the Kraton of Surabaya (1476). He also reformed the land army in early 1477 (upgrade to level 2) as well as promoting trading efforts and increasing the infrastructure (upgrade of infrastructure and trade to level 2). He also managed to pay off the old loans used by Suhita in the 1430s to funds the first colonization efforts in Flores and Sumbawa. He became seriously ill in the summer of 1477 and left his matters of state to his third son Raden Patah Senapati. Bhren died in September 1478 after which Raden prepared himself to the task of becoming leader of the Mataram empire. Raden was officially installed as king on January 1 st 1478.

Though not at all a great leader, Bhre Pandan Solar did contribute to the construction of the Mataram empire by internal reforms that proved helpful in later years. Though most historians see only the installation of his son Raden Patah Senapati as his greatest achievement.

 

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A Tale form Bali VIII - the reign of Raden Patah Senapati

A tale from Bali VIII

The reign of Raden Patah Senapati (1478-1517)

Raden Patah Senapati is arguably the most important king of the Mataram Empire of the 15th century. A celebrated diplomat and a great warrior (stats 8-3-8) he is responsible for the annexation of Atjeh and the colonial expansion in both eastern and northern direction. During this period the Mataram successfully explored and colonized the Filipino islands and the eastern part of the Indonesian archipelago. Raden also manages to convert the Brunei heretics to the true Hindu fate and establish a good relationship with other Asian powers (Nippon and the Dei Viet to name a few) as well as the Portuguese colonists of Sulawesi.

Raden Patah Senapati began his reign with a reformation of the naval forces (increase to level 2 February 1478) recruiting additional sailors and soldiers for the Mataram fleet in Brunei. This however brought the Muslim sailors and captains in Brunei up in arms against him as they felt they had to carry the burden of this reformation. A full scale revolt broke out in Brunei on March 1st 1478 with (Muslim) peasants siding with the revolting sailors. Raden was quick to respond however and the revolt was put down in blood that same month by the loyal Kalimantan (land) regiment. They killed all the Muslim rioters, even burning down several Muslim places of worship and Muslim religious life never restored in Brunei from this brute Hindu operation. Most Muslims left or turned to Hindu believes and by the end of 1480 Hindu became the official religion of this region. A similar ‘spontaneous’ conversion had happened in Sabah (way back in the 1450s) so Kalimantan was now a full Hindu island.

In the period 1478-1479 the Jambi colony was expanded and achieved ‘city status’ in Spring 1479. Raden knew that the last Muslim Sultan in the archipelago (Atjeh) would attack the colony if he had change, in fact he was surprised that he hadn’t attacked the weak colony much earlier. The latter was probably due to several wars Atjeh fought with various, unknown, nations on the Asian mainland in the period 1460-1480. Still, Raden thought that attack was the best defense in this case and he ordered troops from Surabaya to the Sumatran province of Jambi to prepare for battle as Meanwhile a small expeditionary force was created in Palembang. The aim of Raden was to attack Atjeh both from land, with an invasion from Jambi into Riau, and sea, with an amphibious invasion of Ajeh province.

This attack, of course similar to the Brunei campaign of Keravijaya (1447-1450) proved to be very effective yet again. Mataram officially declared war on Atjeh on February 2 1480 and the plans were set in motion. Atjeh was unprepared for this attack, their Riau regiment was easily defeated in late February 1480 and the Ajeh regiment was quick to surrender to the invasion a month later. The Hindu began to lay siege to the Atjeh cities and successfully captured Riau in March 1481, Ajeh was captured in August 1482. Raden dictated a simple peace, Riau was surrendered to Mataram and the sultan of Atjeh became his vassal. The Mataram now controlled all of Sumatra and gained a bonus! The Muslim traders form Atjeh had a vast network of Asian ports where they conducted their business, that knowledge now became available to the Mataram and a whole new (Asian) world opened up to them…

Many (smaller) Asian powers now contacted the Mataram and Raden was able to arrange a series of weddings between Mataram and the ruling families of Ayutthaya, Assam and Taungu over the period February – May 1482. though the court of Dempassar was overwhelmed with these new discoveries, contact with other Muslim powers such as Bengal flared Muslim hopes up again in Makassar. The Makassar Muslim fundamentalists took control of the city on July 1st 1483 as the major had to flee to Bali to save his live. Raden acted swiftly and ordered the Sumatran expeditionary forces to Makassar, ‘purifying’ the city of Muslim hard line elements in November that year.

Meanwhile, Hindu traders began to expand trade both in Tago as well as in Shanghai, a city in China now visible to the Mataram. Both expansions of their trade were successful and their trading income grew accordingly. Over the period 1482-1517 the Hindu traders managed to get the maximum amount of traders out to the centers of trade in Shanghai, Tago and Malacca.

Atjeh meanwhile began a war against the Ayutthaya kingdom (November 1483). Raden feared this would impair our relations with them because Atjeh is our vassal after all. Luckily Atjeh made peace in early 1484. Still Raden found Atjeh to be a very unstable (Muslim) element in the vicinity of his realm. In the period 1483-1493 he tried to improve relations with Atjeh and eventually annex them politically but he didn’t see any signs that the sultan was willing to join his realm. In fact, things were getting worst as Hindu traders were harassed by Muslims on the market of Ajeh in September 1493. Raden was outraged (as were most Hindu and Chinese traders in the archipelago) and he immediately cancelled the vassal status of Atjeh (causing great unrest amongst the nobles) and declared war again. The Riau regiment marched straight towards Ajeh, eliminated the Muslim army there and lay siege to the city. In January 1496 Ajeh finally fell into Mataram hands. The sultan was beheaded and Ajeh was annexed by the Mataram empire: all of the western Indonesian isles were now in the hands of the Mataram.

After the annexation of Atjeh, a golden age began for the Mataram. Raden Patah Senapati stimulated art and opened a artistic center in the Kraton of Salabanka in 1499. (an ‘unexpected invention here turned out to be a fine arts center’) He also abolished some taxes to please the artisans in 1484 thus creating a very stimulating environment for them in the Mataram empire.

The age of exploration also began for the Mataram as Raden hired the Muslim trader Wessera to explore the waters around the known parts of the archipelago. Wessera was the first to explore these regions in his travels (1486-1498):
June 1487 Timor (successfully colonized in August 1487)
August 1487 Timor Sea
February 1488 Tanimbar Islands
July 1488 Arafuan
September 1488 New Guinea Coast
November 1488 Sa of Banda, Sorong and Ceram (the latter was successfully colonized in March 1490)
June 1489 Sorong Strait
August 1489 Biak Bay
February 1490 Sea of Ternate
May 1490 Philippine Sea
October 1490 Sulu Sea
December 1490 Gulf of Leyte and Mindoro
March 1491 Coast of Luzon and Luzon
October 1491 – January 1492 South China Sea
February 1493 Palau Island
April 1494 North Philippine Sea
May 1494 Samar
March 1495 Manilla Bay
June 1495 Paracel Islands
March 1496 South Timor Sea
October 1496 – March 1497 Australian Sea
June 1497 Central Indian Ocean

The Filipino islands proved difficult to colonize. In the early 1490s some trading posts were setup from Luzon to Mindanao but hostile natives destroyed them all except the one in Luzon (Luzon was successfully turned into a full city in 1517). Raden of course wanted to colonize the other isles as well and mounted several expeditions to Mindanao who eradicated the native tribes there in the early 1510s. Mindanao was then successfully colonized in the period 1511-1516. The other Filipino isles were left to be for the time being as these expeditions were costly and their success varied a lot. However with Luzon successfully turned into a city of 7,000 inhabitants (here the local tribes were willing to convert to the Hindu religion and join the Mataram colony) a firm base was established from where the other isles could be colonized.

The success of Wessera were so great that Raden hired another explorer in January 1516 (Kufra but I’ll tell more about his travels in part X).

Meanwhile Raden increased his relations with his Portuguese neighbors. He settled several boundary disputes with the traders on Sulawesi and even sent an emissary to the Portuguese court to present a gift to the king of Portugal. Though the Mataram gained very little from these efforts, the improved relations proved to be very helpful for Raden’s son and heir Pengeran Sabrang Lar.

Raden Patah Senapati did have to deal several times with rebellious nobles. The ongoing trade brought great wealth to the Hindu cast of Traders (cast 3), it was not uncommon for a ‘simple’ trader to become wealthy by trading spices in China or Malacca. The nobles (the cast of kings: cast 2) sometimes found that there wealth was significantly smaller then that of some traders. This lead to local uprisings in Bandung and Makassar in the period 1490-1510. Also, some Athjeh nationalists revolted against Raden throughout this period. Raden managed to settle the issue with the nobles by restoring some old rights to their cast in December 1517.

However, Raden was an old men and the intensive talks with the nobles had taken much of his health. Raden died quietly in his sleap on December 22nd 1517. His son Pengeran Sabrang Lar was now to continue the reign of the Second Dynasty…

 

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A tale from Bali IX - An overview of the period 1419-1517

A tale from Bali IX

A look at the history of the Mataram in the period 1419-1517
With the death of Raden Patah Senapati a century has passed and it is time to evaluate.

The Hindu have come a long way from being a small state in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago, controlling only Bali and Surabaya, to the 23 provinces of the Mataram empire that Raden left by his death in late 1517. The Mataram are a fun nation to play with, though they’re leaders and king are horrible (Vikramavardhama and Raden Patah Senapati being the only kings with states better then 3-3-3 or worse).

The Hindu fate gets a stab penalty and that really hurts when becoming a larger empire and your stab drops because of a meteorite sighting or something similar nasty. The internal policies of the Mataram have been heavily towards colonization and trade (I have +2 colonists and +4 traders each year) and that really helps when colonizing your surroundings.

The colonies and cities of the Indonesian archipelago all are situated in areas filled with ‘spices’ ‘sugar’ ‘coffee’ and ‘cotton’. These commodities are in demand in the early 1500s and I expect them to be more in demand in the years to come so trading and production income should become a lesser problem over the years. Though it took me well after the 1470s to get a reasonable annual income (in 1517 app. 120 ducats annually and 40 ducats monthly income).

Your direct adversaries (Muslim states) are all very weak and easily overthrown. I found the major Asian powers such as Malacca and China to be indifferent of me so I have kept my armies small (no bigger then 12,000 men).

I have been extremely lucky with random events (I have not met any events that are Mataram specific, but who knows) and my colonization efforts (the first failed attempt to colonize happened in the mid 1430s). I got 2 ‘unexpected inventions’ 2 explorers, several excellent years and gifts to the state and 2 spontaneous conversions of heretics these past 100 years…

So with the Mataram empire in its golden age I am anxious to see how the next 100 years will progress

Dyluk

 

[Bismarck]

So are we dyluk... so are we...

M

 

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A Tale form Bali X - The reign of Pengeran Sabrang Lar

A Tale from Bali X

The reign of Pengeran Sabrang Lar (1518-1520)

Lar means ‘unlucky one’ and Pengeran Sabrang Lar certainly wasn’t very lucky in comparison this father. His very short reign knows only two highlights, the alliance between the Mataram and Portugal and the successful exploration of New Guinea.

Pengeran begins his reign with a great opportunity, created mostly by his father though, in January 1518 the Portuguese wish to ally themselves with the Mataram. The alliance is not at all surprising. Portugal had been given the ‘rights’ of all territories east of Africa, with the exception of the Filipino islands, by the treaty of Tordesillas in 1502. This treaty settled things between the colonial powers of Spain and Portugal but didn’t prevent Portugal from being dragged into a series of European wars in the period 1505-1517.

Nations such as Venice, the Papal States and Naples continued to wage war with and against them in various short lived alliances. The Portuguese wanted to pursuit a more active colonial policy and with the European wars going on that simply slowed them down. In November 1517 another war with the Papal States against Venice and her allies gave the Portuguese the opportunity to break their alliance with the Pope and seek out more profitable alliance. Relations with the Mataram at that time were excellent, they were perfectly positioned as a base of operations in Asia and had some troops and a navy to support theirs, the Portuguese didn’t have to think twice….The Mataram also welcomed this opportunity. Portugal had shown to be a very powerful naval power with advanced technology. The Mataram would need such a powerful ally when dealing with states such as China and Malacca.

Besides this joyful event, not much else happened during the very short reign of Pengeran Sabrang Lar. Kufra, the Muslim explorer hired by his father in 1516, finished his trip around New Guinea in 1520 successfully (more on that later).

Pengeran was a great lover of elephants. He had special stables build for his 12 events at the Kraton of Dempassar. In the autumn of 1520 he took 6 of them for a tour around the palace gardens. Legend has it that a severe thunder storm broke out and the elephants began to panic. Pengeran was unable to stay seated on his elephant, fell and was trembled by the six of them. There was very little left of him to cremate as is a custom with Hindu’s. For this bizarre accident he is called ‘Lar’ or unlucky one…

His younger brother Pengeran Sutan Trangann assumed the throne in the spring of 1521.

Map of the Mataram Empire in 1518

 

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A Tale form Bali XI - The reign of Pengeran Sutan Trangann

A Tale from Bali XI

The reign of Pengeran Sutan Trangann (1521-1545)

Pengeran Sutan Trangann continued the (golden) age of exploration and colonization for the Mataram. Pengeran Sutan Trangann completes the conquest of the Filipino isles and successfully charts and colonizes the Indian subcontinent. The Mataram make contact with their Hindu ‘nephews’ in India and expanded their trading network. The alliance with Portugal proves to be short lived, but during his reign the Mataram get a Hindu ally (and vassal) in return.

Pengeran Sutan Trangann continues the aggressive colonization politics of his predecessors. Sutan launches a series of expeditions to Mindoro to conquer the (extremely) hostile natives there. In the period 1521 – 1522 two of such expeditions were launched from Luzon and by May 1522 there weren’t many natives left to counter the colonization efforts of the Mataram. In November of that year a permanent colony was finally established in Mindoro, thus concluding the conquest of the Filipino isles. The island of Samar was colonized some months later (April 1523).

Sutan was a skilled diplomat and a great administrator (stats 5-9-3). During his reign he reforms both the land army (1540) and the navy (1542). He also improves the infrastructure of the Mataram empire (in 1539). In May 1522, to celebrate the conquest of the Filipino’s, he organized a great royal hunt inviting many Asian heads of states, as well as the Portuguese colonists. During this event, relations between the Mataram and her neighbors were greatly improved. China led her claims on the Filipino isles go and Malacca settled her issues with her Dei Viet neighbors. China also announced that she would guarantee the independence of the Mataram empire (China continued to guarantee the independence of the Mataram empire all throughout the 16th century).. Sutan’s star as international diplomat had certainly risen sky high after this event.

As promised here is more on the voyage of exploration of Kufra. After exploring the New Guinea coast in 1516-1520, Kufra unsuccessfully tried to find a way to the continent known as ‘America’ to the Portuguese (they still refuse to share their explorations with the Mataram). During his attempts he successively discovers:

July 1522 Caroline Islands
October 1522 Melanesian Sea
December 1522 Micronesian Sea
February 1523 Mariana Sea
May 1524 Mariana Islands
July 1524 Ryukyu Islands
October 1524 Eastern China Sea
January 1525 Sea of Taiwan
March 1525 Strait of Luzon
January 1526 Iwo Jima Sea
March 1526 Setto Inland Sea
January 1528 Tinian Sea

During his last voyage on the Tinian Sea, Kufra died of exhaustion and of the disappointment not having found America… nevertheless, he did manage to find several shortcuts for the sea routes to Japan. Sutan is not at all convinced that another continent such as America exists, he is far more interested in finding a way to the spice route to India and Arabia.

To this end he hires the Chinese trader and explorer Minya (August 1532). Between 1532 and 1544 Minya discovers:

April 1533 Central Indian Ocean
September 1533 Bay of Bengale
November 1533 Northern Bay of Bengale
January 1534 Gulf of Bengal
October 1534 Ganges Delta
January 1535 Coast of Orissa, Palakimedi
(a colony was successfully established here in July 1535)
April 1535 Coast of Coromandel, Pondicherry
June 1535 Comorin Cape
July 1535 Vijayanagar
(the Mataram immediately established relations with the Hindu King of Vijayanagar)
July 1535 Bangalore
August 1535 Madras
September 1536 Coast of Trincomalee
December 1536 Coast of Malabar, Trivandrum
March 1537 Lacquedive Islands
August 1537 Madurai
December 1537 Coast of Gujarat
February 1538 Gulf of Indus, Baluchistan
May 1538 Cochin
November 1538 Mangalore
July 1539 Kutch
October 1539 Mascate Coast
May 1540 Colombo
September 1540 Ceylon Sea
December 1541 Kalat
February 1542 Straits of Ormuz
April 1542 Persian Gulf, Bahrein, Oman, Mascate
June 1542 Al Kharam, Quatar
(because some colonists form Russia had established themselves here, the Mataram also found out about Russia)
July 1544 Andaman Sea

On his way back to India, Minya died of old age. He is believed to buried on the shores of Palakimedi because his sailors couldn’t bring themselves to through him overboard…Minya’s discoveries hurled the Mataram empire forward in their topographical understanding of the world, but most importantly in their ability to expand their trade and their territory!

The Hindu Vijayanagar King is very taken with Sutan and the two kings arrange a marriage between the two families in 1535. The extend of their friendship is brought to higher levels in 1536 when the Mataram form a military alliance with Vijayanagar. The alliance with the Portuguese had been shortlived as they ended the pact in 1523. This friendship results in the king of Vijayanagar becoming the vassal of Sutan in January 1542. The Mataram are then presented with the Vijayanagar map of India giving them a great insight of how the Indian subcontinent looks like.

Colonization of India is not at all easy however. Though the colonization of Palakimedi is successfully achieved in the early 1540s, other attempts of the Mataram to colonize the Indian subcontinent are all met with fierce opposition of native warlords. Between 1535 and 1546 no less then 18 (!) unsuccessful attempts were made by the Mataram to colonize southern India. It was clear to Sutan that a large expeditionary force would be required to deal with the warlords, before India could be successfully colonized.

The expansion of the empire also brought some instability in the Indonesian archipelago itself. The cast of the Priests demanded that the complex Indian cast system would not be imposed on Indonesian isles, but that the ‘true’ Indonesian system was imposed on the Indian continent instead. Sutan succumbed to their wishes but in reality the two systems remained to exists alongside each other. The nobility also demanded that their religious rights would be protected against those of Indian nobles resulting in several smaller revolts on Bali and Riau. But on both occasions the rebellions were easily put down. Here, in the end, Sutan also choose to let both feudal systems (the Indian and the Indonesian) to exist alongside each other. The merchants did get more opportunity now when export licenses were granted to both Indian and Indonesian traders for spices and coffee. By now the Mataram where the largest spice producing nation in the world and the demand for spices was steadily growing.

Sutan’s only son Aria Pangiri was a little too young when is father died in 1545 at the age of only 14. His Muslim uncle Pengeran Sultan Prawata became regent in 1546.

 

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A Tale form Bali XII - The regency of Pengeran Sultan Prawata

A Tale from Bali XII

The regency of Pengeran Sultan Prawata (1546)

Having a Muslim on the throne of the Hindu Mataram empire might be seen as a sign that the Hindu and Muslims had come to terms with each other. The truth is far different however. With the first colonization attempts of India under way, the vast majority of the Mataram inhabitants are Hindu. Only in the former Muslim states of Atjeh (Ajeh and Riau provinces) and Makassar, the Muslims had the upper hand. In all other areas of the Indonesian archipelago Hindu was the dominant religion. Though some of the nobles, such as Sultan Prawata, were Muslim, mostly traders and clerks belonged to this religion. By all means Sultan Prawata was an outsider at the court of Dempassar!

His reign lasted a little less then a year and was filled with controversy. Like his predecessor, Sultan Prawata tried to colonize India with no success. Sultan Prawata is the first Mataram ruler to sent out an expedition force to India to try to end the uprisings of the local warlords. The preparations for this expedition start in early 1516 and in June the Mataram army arrives in Pondicherry. The warlords attack the intruders three times but in the end they were beaten. However, these attacks caused great attrition in the Mataram ranks, and the expedition had to retreat to Yanam (a Vijayanagar province). Here some Hindu rebels tried to get rid of a Muslim ruler. However the (Hindu) expedition was ordered to attack the rebels anyway in order to keep good relations with the Vijayanagar vassals. The attack was a big disaster as the Mataram army sided with the rebels, leaving the Muslim colonel Al Jassad with no other option then to flee…

When this news reached Bali all hell broke lose! The (Hindu) philosopher Ufa Nijud blamed everything on the Muslim Sultan and demanded that he would step down and let Sutan’s son Aria Pangiri rule immediately, despite his young age. Sultan Prawata had Ufa arrested and locked up but that didn’t help his situation. The Hindu nobles openly started to side with the philosopher and also began to demand that Aria would reign. The situation became dangerously volitle as the Java regiment was ordered to Bali by some Hindu nobles…it looked like a civil war was eminent. Luckily for the Mataram Empire, Sultan Prawata knew that he couldn’t count on the (Hindu) armies and that a civil war could be explained as an open invitation for the Europeans to ‘set things straight’. Sultan Prawata backed down in late 1546 and Aria Pangiri was crowned king at the age of only 15. The Hindu nobles had won a significant battle over the Muslim minority in the Mataram Empire.....