Jambi Sultanate

The Jambi Sultanate, also known as Djambi, was a Malay sultanate centred on the Batanghari River in what is now Jambi province, Indonesia. Jambi had been part of the Majapahit Empire and broke away in the early sixteenth century; the sultanate itself was established around 1615. Its rulers grew wealthy from pepper, gold and timber exports, and by 1616 Jambi was one of the largest ports on Sumatra. The state was decentralised, with the sultan claiming the land and its resources while governing the Malay core through a council of nobles; the nine rivers of the interior enjoyed considerable autonomy. Jambi fought a long rivalry with Johor in the seventeenth century, and the conflict, together with Dutch interference, contributed to its decline. In 1688 the Dutch East India Company deposed Sultan Ingalaga and divided the state between rival rulers. Jambi became a vassal of Pagaruyung in the eighteenth century, and the Dutch gradually tightened their control in the nineteenth. The last sultan was killed in 1904, and the territory was absorbed into the Dutch East Indies. Its legacy survives in the mosque and archaeological remains of Muara Jambi.