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Sultanate of Jambiكسلطانن جمبي‎ Kesultanan Jambi
1615–1904
Flag of the Sultan and war flag of Jambi Coat of arms
Status	Disputed by Kingdom of Siam and Dutch East India Company (1615–1682) Sovereign state (1682–1904)
Capital	Tanah Pilih
Common languages	Malay Javanese (court language) Jambi Malay
Religion	Sunni Islam
Demonym(s)	Jambian/Jambinese
Government	Monarchy
Sultans
• 1615–1643	Sultan Abdul Kahar (first)
• 1900–1904	Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin (last)
History
• Established	1615
• Disestablished	1904
Population
• 1852 estimate	60,000
Currency	Tin coins
Preceded by Succeeded by Sultanate of Malacca Dutch East Indies
Today part of	Indonesia

The Jambi Sultanate (Jawi:كسلطانن جمبي‎, romanized: Kesultanan Jambi), alternatively known as Djambi, was a sultanate that was centered in the modern-day province of Jambi in Indonesia. The Dutch conquered the sultanate and killed its last ruling sultan in 1904. The state's founder was Datuk Puduko Berhalo.

History

In the 7th century, there was an early reference to a Malay Kingdom based in Jambi, which was eventually absorbed into the Srivijaya empire as an autonomous trading community or a subject-region. An account associated the early history of the sultanate with the Islamization of Sumatra, citing that these two events roughly coincided in the fifteenth century.

Jambi was part of Majapahit from the mid-14th century until it broke away in the early 16th century. The sultanate's access to natural resources as well as its strategic location, particularly its proximity to the Strait of Malacca, allowed it to flourish and be involved in international trade. By 1682, Jambi was disputed as a vassal state between the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Kingdom of Siam.

The Jambi Sultanate was involved in the Brunei Civil War by selling gunpowder to Muhyiddin (the future sultan of Brunei), who would later defeat Abdul Hakkul Mubin in Pulau Cermin. In the aftermath of the conflict, Jambi would become a destination for Brunei's troops.

In the 17th century, Jambi was extremely prosperous. By 1616, it was known as the second-largest Sumatran port after Aceh, and this prosperity continued until the 1670s.

Jambi-Johor War

Jambi took advantage of the Acehnese invasion of Johor to seize Tungkal, a disputed district on the border with Johor. Despite a 1629 Johorese attempt to seek its' return, Tungkal remained under Jambian sovereignty until a pro-Johorese rebellion forced them out in 1655. Eventually, it was decided that Jambi and Johor should settle their disagreements through marriage. In 1659, the Raja Muda of Johor, Raja Ibrahim, who himself was the son of a Jambi princess and a previous sultan, was married to the daughter of the Jambi sultan. Their marriage would be a happy one. During his year-long stay in Jambi, he encouraged the Sultan to break from Mataram's overlordship, which would allow Johor and Jambi to come to a long-term peace arrangement.

The Sultan of Johor, Abdul Jalil, became distrustful of Raja Ibrahim and the Jambi elite. He sent a fleet which extradited Raja Ibrahim from Jambi in September 1660. He feared Raja Ibrahim as a potential threat to his position, who could possibly be supported by the combined forces of Jambi and Mataram, and sought Dutch assistance if such a conflict ever arose. This suspicion was likely fueled by the Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil of Johor, a close confidant of the Sultan, who stood to directly benefit from the conflict.

In May 1665, a Jambian embassy demanded that Raja Ibrahim be allowed to return to his bride, or obtain a divorce. Soon afterwards, in 1666, conflict broke out between Jambi and Palembang. Raja Ibrahim came to Jambi's assistance and gathered his forces to attack Palembang. Raja Ibrahim and Jambi's fleets, however, got into a disagreement near Lingga. A battle broke out between the two sides, which ignited the conflict. The Dutch tried to mediate between the two sides; however they were unable to come to an agreement.

The war would be marked by Jambian and Johorese attempts to control the seas, "marked by an occasional show of force by either side against the other's capital". Although Johorese and Jambian forces would sometimes engage in pitched battles, the main aspects of the war were the constant daily attacks on shipping by pirates on both dies. As Johor and Jambi were both trading entrepots, and became prominent due to their ability to keep neighboring waters safe, these piratical activities were far more detrimental than any show of force made by the other side. In essence, the goal was to cut the other off from port revenues and eliminate their position as trade hubs by attacking any shipping in the nearby waters (including neutral parties), and decreasing their prestige.

In May 1667, a Johorese fleet destroyed the fishing huts and orchards at the mouth of the Jambi River, and later destroyed huts and a Dutch warehouse in Jambi. In August 1669, they again made a show of force at the mouth of the Jambi river, threatening future assaults. The Dutch fruitlessly tried to broker agreements between the two sides, as the conflict decreased revenue they were gaining from trade. In August 1670, Jambian forces raided Indragiri and Tungkal, taking 917 slaves in the process. The Johorese responded to this attack by burning kampongs and inflicting a defeat on Jambi downriver in January 1671. Groups of Orang Laut, led by Sekam, deserted Johor and assisted the Jambians in attacking Johorese shipping. Abdul Jalil, threatened by Sekam, demanded his extradition to Johor. As the Dutch were allies of both Johor and Jambi, they desperately wanted to seek a peace arrangement. During the next round of peace negotiations, Abdul Jalil demanded that Jambi send envoys to Johor to explain themselves, in effect seeking Jambi's submission. Jambi was rightfully insulted, and attacks on both sides continued.

On April 4, 1673, while the Pangeran Ratu was away in Palembang preparing for a marriage between a Palembang princess and his son, Pangeran Dipati Anom, Anom led a surprise attack on Johor's capital. The city was burned and depopulated, with its' population and many of Johor's elites fleeing to the jungle. The Bendahara of Johor was captured and taken back to Jambi as a war prize, along with other Johorese and some foreign merchants. Jambi also took advantage of the destruction to attack Rokan, Bengkalis, and Indragiri (although Indragiri managed to hold its' own). The Johorse quickly recovered, with the Laksamana of Johor as a main rallying point for resistance. In late 1673, the Laksamana's forces inflicted a resounding defeat on Jambi. By 1674, Jambi was soon forced on the defensive, dealing with repeated Johorese assaults and with few allies able to assist them. As a result, Jambi soon turned to Makassarese refugees to aid them in the conflict.

With the defeat of the Gowa Sultanate by the Dutch in 1669, many royal Makassarese refugees fled across the archipelago and into Jambi and Palembang. This inflow of refugees would only be increased, as Arung Palakka's rule would become oppressive and very intrusive in the politics of the local kingdoms. The Jambi royal family had links with Southern Sulawesi, as the ruler of Jambi, Anom Ingalaga, had a Makassarese wife, Karaeng Fatimah. His mother was also from Makassar.

Sultan Ingalaga honored the Makassarese and gave their leader, a sister of Karaeng Fatimah, Daeng Mangika, the title of Pangeran Sutadilaga. The Makassarese would be equals to the Jambi ruler and would not be governed by Jambian law. However, this arrangement was inherently unstable and was bound to collapse. The continual flow of Makassarese and Buginese to Daeng Mangika from other regions of the archiplelago, such as in Java after the Trunajaya Rebellion, made the ruler of Jambi feel threatened and worsened relations between the two.

In May 1679, the Johorese launched an attack on Jambi with 300 ships. During the Johorese invasion, Daeng Mangika deserted Sultan Ingalaga, claiming that he did not fulfill the arrangement and treated him more like a governor than a ruler. With the assistance of Daeng Mangika and 300 Makassarese soldiers, they were able to break the Jambian blockade of the river, leaving Jambi's capital exposed. The Pangeran Dipati Anom was forced to pay the Laksamana 10,000 rijksaalders, two metal cannons, and compensate Johor by returning the gold and people taken from Jambian raids. Jambi was also forced to send two noble hostages to ensure the continued payment of these reparations. On October 17, 1679, Daeng Mangika fled to Palembang with his followers. In 1680, he would participate in a combined expedition with Palembang against Jambi, but was killed in action, ending Makassarese attempts to form a permanent base in the region.

The conflict between Jambi and Johor caused Jambi to lose it's position as a major pepper-producing port and go on the decline. By the end of the century, Jambi would be split in two: Lower Jambi based in Tanah Pilih and supported by the VOC, and Upper Jambi under the influence of the ruler of Pagaruyung. Although reunited in the early 18th century, the sultanate had become extremely weakened with the decline of trade. The Jambi Sultanate would become a vassal to Pagaruyung by the end of the 18th century.

Downfall and Dutch annexation

In the late 19th century the sultanate was slowly annexed by the Dutch, with the sultan degraded to a puppet ruler. This culminated in 1833 with the invasion of the Dutch-controlled Palembang by Jambi's Sultan, Mohammad Fakhruddin, which gave the Dutch the pretext to finally gain control of Jambi, forcing the sultan to accede to their authority and provide significant economic concessions.

In 1855, Sultan Taha ascended to the throne of Jambi. He was a young and energetic sultan. However, by this time the Dutch had become more and more demanding. In 1858, an expedition was launched that deposed Sultan Taha within a day. He fled upstream into the region of Upper Jambi, while his uncle, Ahmad Nazaruddin, became the new ruler of Jambi. This divided Jambi into two competing areas: Upper and Lower, restoring a divide that had not existed since the early 18th century.

Lower Jambi would be governed by a succession of Dutch-controlled shadow rulers (Jawi: سلطان بايڠ‎, romanized: sultan bayang). Some of these rulers were: Ahmad Nazaruddin from 1858 to 1881, Mohildin from 1882 to 1885, and Zainuddin from 1886 to 1899. In 1899, Sultan Zainuddin was forced to abdicate, but the Jambian nobility refused to elect a new sultan. The resident of Palembang, as a result, took on the position of "Sultan" until 1903, when the sultanate was annexed into the Palembang Residency. The killing of Sultan Taha in 1904 marked the end of the Jambi Sultanate.

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Society and population

As a society, Jambi has a history of being an entrepot and a trading center that is open to outsiders. This is demonstrated in the way Jambi families easily incorporate outsiders, particularly men as well as foreigners (e.g. Chinese and Arab traders) through marriage into the Jambi womenfolk. For instance, a Jambi pengiran (prince) adopted a Dutch official as his son, resulting to kinship obligations between the Dutch and the royal family. The Melayu population was extremely diverse, whose identities were based on suku (lineage groups), usually identified with a certain district headed by local elites.

The Jambian court was heavily influenced by Javanese culture, partly out of desire to ally with Mataram. There is evidence of Jambian coins written in Javanese, which contrasts with the surrounding Malay states (which made coinage in Jawi). Javanese was spoken as a court language well into the 18th century.

Jambi was very sparsely populated. An 1852 estimate put the population at around 60,000. The marshy, low-level Eastern Jambi was almost entirely uninhabited.

Administration

The Jambi Sultanate's structure was quite decentralised, similar to concentric power circles than a rigid hierarchy. The Sultan owned all lands and in Jambi, in addition to mineral and forest resources. The rights to the lands could be granted or taken away by the Sultan, and a proportion of the yield had to be delivered to him. Land access was traditionally regulated by Adat.

Regions like Sungai Tenang, Serampas, and (since the mid-18th century) Kerinci, functioned autonomously and the Jambi Sultanate had little influence in these areas. However, there is evidence of Jambi sultans writing edicts of land grants in Serampas. These lands and other regions of highland Jambi were major economic centers for pepper, and later gold.

Gallery

• Letter from the Sultan of Jambi containing his credentials
• Engraving of the sultan's residence (1893)
• Surrender of the Crown Prince of the Sultanate of "MartaNingrat", Djambi (Jambi), in Sumatra before the Dutch residency official O.L. Helfrich, who takes the insignia in reception (March 26, 1904)
• Photograph of the Sultan, Ahmad Nazaruddin (1858-81) taken during a Royal Netherlands Geographical Society expedition from 1877 - 1879, by Daniël David Veth.

References

1. "Jambi Arms". www.hubert-herald.nl. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
2. "Indonesian Traditional States part 1". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
3. Arabic: Zābaj, the pronunciation of the Hokkien dialect is close to the characters 三佛齊 used in the Chinese sources for the country. See G. Schlegel: Catatan Geografis, XVI: Negara-Negara Lama…; T'oung Pao (Ser. ke-2), 2 (1901), pp. 107–138
4. ^ Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth (2018). Sumatran Sultanate and Colonial State: Jambi and the Rise of Dutch Imperialism, 1830–1907. Cornell University Press. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-5017-1938-7.
5. Gentle Janus, Merchant Prince at Google Books
6. Asrul, Nurul Nadhirah Ahmad (2017-12-11). "Warkah Kesultanan Brunei yang tertua". Warkah Kesultanan Brunei yang tertua. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
7. ^ Perdana, Aditya Bayu (2022-09-02). "A Jambi Coin with Kawi Inscription from Indonesia: Re-examination of a coin type formerly attributed to Siak". Indonesia and the Malay World. 50 (148): 358–369. doi:10.1080/13639811.2022.2123155. ISSN 1363-9811.
8. ^ Andaya, Leonard Y. (1971). The Kingdom of Johor, 1641-1728: A Study of Economic and Political Developments in the Straits of Malacca. Cornell University. pp. 81–129.
9. ^ Andaya, Leonard Y. (1995). "The Bugis-Makassar Diasporas". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 68 (1 (268)): 119–138. ISSN 0126-7353.
10. ^ Gallop, Annabel Teh (2018). "A Medieval Solution to an Early Modern Problem? The Royal Animal Seals of Jambi". The Medieval Globe. 4 (1): 73–98. ISSN 2377-3553.
11. Brown, Iem (2009). The Territories of Indonesia. London: Routledge. p. 268. ISBN 978-1-85743-215-2.
12. ^ Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth (July 1993). "Rivals and Rituals in Jambi, South Sumatra (1858–1901)". Modern Asian Studies. 27 (3): 573–591. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00010891. ISSN 1469-8099.
13. ^ Janowski, Monica; Kerlogue, Fiona (2007). Kinship and Food in South East Asia. Copenhagen: NIAS Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-87-91114-93-9.
14. ^ Steinebach, S. (2013). ""Today we occupy the plantation, tomorrow Jakarta." Indigeneity, land and oil palm plantations in Jambi". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
15. ^ Locher-Scholten, Elsbeth; Jackson, Beverley (2004). Sumatran Sultanate and Colonial State: Jambi and the Rise of Dutch Imperialism, 1830–1907. Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/j.ctv1nhp7b. ISBN 978-0-87727-736-1.
16. Andaya, Barbara Watson (1993). To Live as Brothers: Southeast Sumatra in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-1489-2.
17. Kunz, Yvonne; Steinebach, Stefanie; Dittrich, Christoph; Hauser-Schäublin, Brigitta; Rosyani, Ir.; Soetarto, Endriatmo; Faust, Heiko (2017-08-01). "'The fridge in the forest': Historical trajectories of land tenure regulations fostering landscape transformation in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia". Forest Policy and Economics. Forest sector trade. 81: 1–9. doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2017.04.005. ISSN 1389-9341.
18. ^ Znoj, Heinzpeter (1998). "Sons versus Nephews: A Highland Jambi Alliance at War with the British East India Company, ca. 1800". Indonesia (65): 97–121. doi:10.2307/3351406. ISSN 0019-7289.
19. Bonatz, Dominik; Miksic, John; Neidel, J. David (2009-03-26). From Distant Tales: Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Highlands of Sumatra. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-0784-5.

• Former sultanates
• Precolonial states of Indonesia
• Former countries in Southeast Asia