The exceptional circumstance, that the geographically so limited area of the D.I. Jogjakarta is a separate Dearah in the Indonesian Republic can be explained by its history. In the course of the Javanese history there existed side by side several states of various sizes in the island of Java; the hegemony now rested with one, now was assumed by another. At the time when many European merchants among whom Portuguese, Spaniards and Englishmen came to the East to trade on Java the state of New Mataram was rising. In 1596 the first Dutchmen came to Java. In 1619 the Dutch trading company, called United East Indies Company founded a staple town for its commodities on the site of present day Djakarta in a sort of no-man’s land between the rising state of New Mataram in the east and east and Bantam in the west. It was the state of \new mataram that dominated in Central-and East-Java in the course of the next few centuries.
Sultan Agung, the ruler of New Mataram, made an unseccessful attack on the first base of the U.E.I.C. In 1628 – 29. After the death of this Sultan an arrangement was arrived at with his successor and the U.E.I.C. In which a boundary with the state of Mataram was fixed. It was the corporation’s purpose to trade, and it only ventured to take possession of land when its interests made this desirable. The history of the contact between Mataram and the U.E.I.C. Is a story of progressive retrenchment of the Mataram territory.
In 1677 the bridgehead around Djakarta was extended to the eastat the expense of Mataram’s territory. The next year the U.E.I.C. Also obtained a bridgehead at Semarang and Djepara. In 1681 Tjirebon too,became dependent on the U.E.I.C. Same as Banten in 1682.
In 1705 Sunan Pakubuwono I, the Fourth prince after sultan Agung,was compelled by circumstances to cede to the U.E.I.C. Part of the westerly side of the state and the east part of the island of Madura,Sunan Pakubuwono II brought himself to cede in 1746 the whole of the north coast, the remaining part of the island of Madura, also Surabaja and the entire coastal region surrounding the whole state.
In fact only central-Java remained. The next few years a struggle developed between the prince of Mataram, the eight prince since sultan Agung, and his uncle Pangeran Mangkubumi. We are given the following representation of the reason for this struggle by the Javanese chronicle “Mangkubumi”: In Mataram were some revolutionaries who caused much commotion in the state.
The prince was supposed to have promised some territory to him who succeeded in freeing the country from these rebels. Pangeran Mangkubumi did so. However, he did not receive the promised reward. Angered by, what he was convinced of, was a broken promise, Mangkubumi left the court on the 19th of May 1746. In 1746 a civil war began, which did not end until 1755 with the divisin of the state of Mataram into the following two parts:
Jogjakarta and Surakarta
In this division the country was divided according to the number of families.
Both princedoms comprised an equal number of families.
Thus the whole of them consisted of a jig-saw puzzle of enclaves. This situation brought about a return of peace and quiet in Central-Java. The prince of Jogjakarta bore the title of Sultan Hamengkubuwono. He built his kraton in Ajogja. The place then obtained the name of Ngajogjakarta adiningrat.1
The authority over the remaining part of the island of Java after the liquidation of the Dutch Trading company in the last few years preceding the turn of the century passed to the Dutch government. The latter had to make way for the English in 1811.
First reduction of the territory of Jogjakarta.
During the administration of the Englishman lieutenant-governor Raffles (1811 – 1816 ) in Java the two princedoms of Jogjakarta and Surakarta were persuaded in 1812 to cede large parts of their territories to the English.
Second reduction.
In the year 1813 Raffles appointed in the princedom of Jogjakarta a prince called Pangeran Paku Alam, who was independent of the Sultan. He gave him part of the region of Jogjakarta as a hereditary princedom. Pangera Paku Alam was a son of Sultan Mangkubumi, the first prince of Jogjakarta.
Third reduction.
The fifth prince of Jogjakarta, Sultan Hamengkubuwono v, became Sultan at the age of two. His two guardians one of whom was his uncle Pangeran Diponegoro, in 1825 waged a war against the government, which was Dutch againat the time. Not until five years later did this war lead to the imprisonment of Pangeran Diponegoro, which meant the end of it. Sultan Hamengkubuwono V of Jogjakarta lost a large part of his territory to the Dutch government in the course of this war.
On October 4, 1830, Jogjakarta was given the boundaries it still has.The territory of the pangeran Paku Alam was also fixed anew at this date.
After the declaration of the Republic Indonesia the princedom of Paku Alam was included in the administration of the Daerah Istimewa Jogjakarta. Three enclaves of other former princedoms, which were situated within the boundaries of the Daerah Istimewa Jogjakarta, were in 1958 in corporated in the D.I. Jogjakarta.
At the head of the Daerah Istimewa Jogjakarta is Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, assisted by the vice-head Pangeran Paku Alam VIII. Both reside in the capital Jogjakarta.
- The name of Jogjakarta is derived from AYODHYA, the capital of the Kosalastate. The Kosala’s were a powerful people that I lived in India in the 12th -10th century B.C. according to the Hindu tradition. The Dosala capital Ayodhya is supposed to have been situated N W of Benares. The story of the Kosala’s is described in the Ramayana. [↩]