Iskandar Muda

Iskandar Muda (born 1590—died Dec. 27, 1636) was the sultan of Aceh in northern Sumatra under whom the region achieved its greatest territorial expansion and an international reputation as a centre of trade and of Islamic learning.

When Iskandar Muda began his reign in 1607, he immediately undertook a series of naval actions that won for him effective control over the northwestern portion of the Indonesian archipelago. His overlordship included all major ports on the west coast of Sumatra and much of the east coast, as well as Kedah, Perak (with its tin), and Pahang on the Malay Peninsula. He seriously threatened the Portuguese position in Melaka, but an alliance of smaller powers, including Portuguese Melaka, Johor (Johore), and Patani (now part of Thailand), built a fleet that crushed Aceh in a naval battle near Melaka in 1629. The economic basis of Aceh’s position was the spice trade, and these conflicts grew out of Aceh’s attempt to consolidate a monopoly over the pepper trade.

During the reign of Iskandar Muda eminent Islamic writers such as the Sufi mystics Hamzah Fansuri and Sjamsuddin dari Pasai, as well as their enemy Nūr ud-Dīn ibn Ali al-Rānīri, made Aceh an important centre of scholarship. In addition, Iskandar Muda’s system of law and administration served as a model for other Islamic states of the archipelago. After the Sultan’s death, however, Aceh’s fortunes declined with the military defeat suffered in 1629, the increasingly aggressive Dutch presence in the area, particularly after their capture of Melaka in 1641, and Aceh’s failure to produce another outstanding leader.