Aceh Sultanate

Aceh Sultanate Keurajeuën Acèh Darussalam كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام
← 1496–1903 →
Flag
Extent of Aceh Sultanate during the reign of Iskandar Muda, 1608–1637.
Capital		Kutaraja or Bandar Aceh Darussalam (modern Banda Aceh)
Languages		Acehnese, Malay, Arabic
Religion		Islam
Government		Monarchy
Sultan
-	1496–1528	Ali Mughayat Syah
-	1874–1903	Muhammad Daud Syah
History
-	Coronation of the first Sultan	1496
-	Aceh War	1903
Currency		Native gold and silver coins

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The Sultanate of Aceh, officially the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam (Acehnese: Keurajeuën Acèh Darussalam; Jawoë: كاورجاون اچيه دارالسلام), was a Sultanate centered in the modern day Indonesian province of Aceh. It was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present-day Banda Aceh.

At its peak it was a formidable enemy of the Sultanate of Johor and Portuguese-controlled Malacca, both on the Malayan Peninsula, as all three attempted to control the trade through the Strait of Malacca and the regional exports of pepper and tin with fluctuating success. In addition to its considerable military strength, the court of Aceh became a noted center of Islamic scholarship and trade.

Foundation and rise

Aceh early history is unclear, but it was likely founded by the Cham people. The Acehnese language is one of the 10 languages of the Aceh-Chamic language group. In 1471, the Champa king Syah Pau Kubah sent his son Syah Pau Ling to rule over Aceh when the capital Vijaya, was sacked by the Vietnamese Le Dynasty.

The ruler of Aceh converted to Islam in the mid-15th century. The Sultanate was founded by Ali Mughayat Syah, who began campaigns to extend his control over northern Sumatra in 1520. His conquests included Deli, Pedir, and Pasai, and he attacked Aru. His son Alauddin al-Kahar (d.1571) extended the domains farther south into Sumatra, but was less successful in his attempts to gain a foothold across the strait, though he made several attacks on both Johor and Malacca, with the support along with men and firearms from Suleiman the Magnificent's Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire sent a relief force of 15 Xebecs commanded by Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis.

On 21 June 1599 a Dutch captain, Cornelius Houtman arrived at "Acheen" aboard the Lioness as the first of three planned voyages to the East Indies. The crew stayed for three months acquiring pepper and other spices. Crew member John Davis claims the party was subsequently attacked by the local warlord with the loss of 68 dead and captured.

Internal dissension in the Sultanate prevented another powerful Sultan from appearing until 1607, when Iskandar Muda came to the position. He extended the Sultanate's control over most of Sumatra. He also conquered Pahang, a tin-producing region of the Malayan Peninsula. The strength of his formidable fleet was brought to an end with a disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629, when the combined Portuguese and Johor forces managed to destroy all his ships and 19,000 troops according to Portuguese account. Aceh forces was not destroyed, however, as Aceh was able to conquer Kedah within the same year and taking many of its citizens to Aceh. The Sultan's son in law, Iskandar Thani, former prince of Pahang later became his successor. During his reign Aceh focused on internal consolidation and religious unity.

After the reign of Sultan Iskandar Thani, Aceh was ruled by a series of female Sultana. Aceh's previous policy of taking hostage from conquered kingdoms' population made them eager to seek independence, the results were Aceh's control weakened while regional rulers gained effective power. The Sultan ultimately became a largely symbolic title. By the 1680s, a Persian visitor could describe a northern Sumatra where "every corner shelters a separate king or governor and all the local rulers maintain themselves independently and do not pay tribute to any higher authority."

Culture and economy

Aceh saw itself as heir to Pasai, the first Islamic state in Southeast Asia, and succeeded Islamic missionary work of Malacca after it was conquered by the Roman Catholic Portuguese. It was called the "porch of Mecca," and became a center of Islamic scholarship, where the Qur'an and other Islamic texts were translated into Malay. Its notable scholars included Hamzah Pansuri, Syamsuddin of Pasai, Abdurrauf of Singkil, and the Indian Nuruddin ar-Raniri.

Aceh gained wealth from its export of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, betel nuts, and, once it conquered Pahang in 1617, tin. Low interest rates and the use of gold currency strengthened its economy. It was always somewhat fragile economically, however, because of the difficulty in providing enough surplus food to support the military and commercial adventures of the state. As Aceh lost political cohesion in the 17th century, it saw its trading importance yielded to the Dutch East India Company, who became the dominant military and economic power in the region following the successful siege of Malacca in 1641.

Later years and conquest by the Dutch

Tuanku Muhammad Daudsyah Johan Berdaulat, the last Sultan of Aceh.

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, Koh Lay Huan – the first Kapitan Cina of Penang, had good contacts with the English-and-French-speaking Sultan of Aceh, Jauhar al-Alam. The Sultan allowed Koh to gather pepper plants in Aceh to begin pepper cultivation in Penang. Later, about 1819, Koh helped Sultan Jauhar al-Alam put down a rebellion by Acehnese territorial chiefs.

In the 1820s, as Aceh produced over half the world's supply of pepper, a new leader, Tuanku Ibrahim, was able to restore some authority to the Sultanate and gain control over the "pepper rajas" who were nominal vassals of the Sultan by playing them off against each other. He rose to power during the Sultanate of his brother, Muhammad Syah, and was able to dominate the reign of his successor Sulaiman Syah (r. 1838–1857), before taking the Sultanate himself, under the title Sultan Ali Alauddin Mansur Syah (1857–1870). He extended Aceh's effective control southward at just the time when the Dutch were consolidating their holdings northward.

Britain, heretofore guarding the independence of Aceh in order to keep it out of Dutch hands, re-evaluated its policy and concluded the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of Sumatra, which allowed for Dutch control throughout Sumatra in exchange for concessions in the Gold Coast and equal trading rights in northern Aceh. The treaty was tantamount to a declaration of war on Aceh, and the Aceh War followed soon after in 1873. As the Dutch prepared for war, Mahmud Syah (1870–1874) appealed for international help, but no one was willing or able to assist.

In 1874 the Sultan abandoned the capital, withdrawing to the hills, while the Dutch announced the annexation of Aceh. He eventually died of cholera, as did many combatants on both sides, but the Acehnese proclaimed a grandson of Tuanku Ibrahim Sultan. The local rulers of Acehnese ports nominally submitted to Dutch authority in order to avoid a blockade, but they used their income to support the resistance.

However, eventually many of them compromised with the Dutch, and the Dutch were able establish a fairly stable government in Aceh with their cooperation, and get the Sultan to surrender in 1903. After his death in 1907, no successor was named, but the resistance continued to fight for some time.

Lineage

Sultan Ali Mughayat Syah's tomb in Banda Aceh

Sultan tomb complex from era before Iskandar Muda in Banda Aceh

Sultan Iskandar Muda's tomb in Banda Aceh

A complex of tomb of Acehnese sultan from Bugis descendant in Banda Aceh

Sultan of Aceh	Reign
Ali Mughayat Syah	1496–1528
Salahuddin	1528–1537
Alauddin al Qahhar	1537–1568
Husain Ali I Riayat Syah	1568–1575
Muda	1575
Sri Alam	1575–1576
Zainal Abidin	1576–1577
Alauddin II Mansur I Syah	1577–1589
Buyong	1589–1596
Alauddin III Riayat Syah Sayyid al-Mukammil	1596–1604
Ali II Riayat Syah	1604–1607
Iskandar Muda	1607–1636
Iskandar Thani	1636–1641
Ratu Safiatuddin Tajul Alam	1641–1675
Ratu Naqiatuddin Nurul Alam	1675–1678
Ratu Zaqiatuddin Inayat Syah	1678–1688
Ratu Kamalat Syah Zinatuddin	1688–1699
Badrul Alam Syarif Hashim Jamaluddin	1699–1702
Perkasa Alam Syarif Lamtui Syah Johan Berdaulat	1702–1703
Jamal ul Alam Badrul Munir	1703–1726
Jauhar ul Alam Aminuddin	1726
Syamsul Alam	1726–1727
Alauddin IV Ahmad Syah	1727–1735
Alauddin V Johan Syah	1735–1760
Mahmud I Syah	1760–1781
Badruddin Syah	1764–1785
Sulaiman I Syah	1775–1781
Alauddin VI Muhammad I Daud Syah	1781–1795
Alauddin VII Jauhar ul Alam	1795–1815
Syarif Saif ul Alam	1815–1818
Alauddin VII Jauhar ul Alam (second time)	1818–1824
Muhammad II Syah	1824–1838
Sulaiman II Syah	1838–1857
Mansur II Syah	1857–1870
Mahmud II Syah	1870–1874
Muhammad III Daud Syah Johan Berdaulat	1874–1903

See also

• History of Indonesia
• The spread of Islam in Indonesia
• Ottoman expedition to Aceh

References

• J.M. Barwise and N.J. White. A Traveller’s History of Southeast Asia. New York: Interlink Books, 2002.
• M.C. Ricklefs. A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994.

See also

• The History of Sumatra by William Marsden, c. 1800