Agung

Agung (died 1645) was the third sultan of the Mataram dynasty of central Java who brought his domain to its greatest territorial and military power.

In the early years of Sultan Agung’s reign, he consolidated the sultanate by subduing the autonomous trade-based coastal states of Padang and Tuban in 1619; Banjermasin, Kalimantan, and Sukadana in 1622; Madura in 1624; and Surabaya in 1625. Because the country’s economy was based on agriculture, Agung, who was openly contemptuous of trade, maintained no significant naval forces. Dutch troops had conquered Jacatra (now Jakarta) in 1619 and established there a base they named Batavia. In 1629 the sultan’s forces attacked the city in an effort to drive out the Europeans, but superior Dutch naval forces maintained the Dutch position. This was the last major threat to the Dutch position in Java until after World War II.

After failing to conquer Batavia, Agung turned against the Balinese, then controlling Balambangan in East Java, in a “holy war” against infidels. His campaign was successful in Java, but he was unable to extend his power to the island of Bali itself. Bali thus retained its identity as a Hindu state in the midst of the predominantly Muslim states of the archipelago. Internally Agung introduced reforms to bring the judicial system more in line with Qurʾānic precepts and reformed the tax system. By the mid-18th century, however, the Dutch were sufficiently strong to put an end to Mataram supremacy by bringing about a division of the realm into two lesser kingdoms centring on Surakarta and Jogjakarta.