Mataram Sultanate

The Sultanate of Mataram was the last great independent Javanese kingdom before Dutch colonization, ruling from the interior of central Java from 1586 into the eighteenth century. Panembahan Senopati ended Pajang and laid its foundations at Kota Gede, and his grandson Sultan Agung, reigning 1613 to 1645, made it a gunpowder empire: after storming rich Surabaya he commanded most of Java and Madura with vassals in Palembang, Sukadana and Jambi, counted with Aceh and Makassar among the gunpowder empires of Southeast Asia. Agung's death began the long bleeding. The Madurese revolt of 1677 sacked the court and killed Amangkurat I in exile, and his son bought the Dutch East India Company's muskets to win back the throne, starting the fatal pattern of princes paying for VOC armies with treaties and ports. Court moved from Karta to Plered to Kartasura while real power moved to Batavia, leaving Mataram a gilded client of the Company.