Kutai

Kutai is the name of a historical region and kingdom in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the middle reaches of the Mahakam River. Local tradition traces it to Martadipura, said to have been founded around 399, though the earliest inscriptions belong to the seventh century. The kingdom was known in Chinese records as a source of gold, birds' nests and precious woods, and its rulers drew wealth from trade between Borneo's interior and coastal ports. By the fourteenth century the region was claimed by the Javanese empire of Majapahit, yet local dynasties persisted along the island's rivers. Around 1300 the Kartanegara line established itself as the leading power in Kutai, and in the sixteenth century it converted to Islam. In the seventeenth century the ruler took the title Sultan of Kutai Kartanegara and moved his court to Tenggarong, while the older Martadipura rulers survived as a shadow dynasty on the coast. Dutch expansion into Borneo in the nineteenth century brought the sultanate under colonial control, and the last sultan was removed during the Dutch intervention of 1844-1845.