The Sultanate of Aceh was a sultanate centered in the modern area of Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, which was a major regional power in the 16th and 17th centuries, before experiencing a long period of decline. Its capital was Kutaraja, the present 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. A sultan (Arabic: سلطان) is an Islamic monarch ruling under the terms of shariah. ... Aceh (IPA pronunciation: , pronounced approximately Ah-Cèh, but with [e], not [ei] at the end) is a special territory (daerah istimewa) of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island of the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ... Location of Banda Aceh Banda Aceh is the provincial capital and largest city of Aceh, Indonesia, located on the island of Sumatra at , with an elevation of 21 m. ... State Motto: Kepada Allah berserah (English: all hopes is to God (Allah) Capital Johor Bahru Royal Capital Pasir Pelangi Sultan Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj Chief minister Dato Abdul Ghani Othman Area 19,984 km² Population 3. ... State motto: Bersatu Teguh State anthem: Melaka Maju Jaya Capital Malacca Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Mohd Khalil Yaakob  - Ketua Menteri Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam History    - Malacca Sultanate 13th century   - Portuguese control 24 August 1511   - Dutch control 1641   - British control 17 March 1824   - Japanese Occupation 1942-1946... The Malay Peninsula (Malay: Tanah Melayu) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. ... This wide-angle map of south-east Asia shows that the Strait is the most direct route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. ... Binomial name Piper nigrum L. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. ... General Name, Symbol, Number tin, Sn, 50 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous gray Atomic mass 118. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Quran, its principal scripture, whose followers, known as Muslims (مسلم), believe God (Arabic: الله ) sent through revelations to Muhammad. ...

Foundation and Rise

The ruler of Aceh converted to Islam in the mid-15th century.^[1] The sultanate was founded by Ali Mughayat Syah, who began campaigns to extend his control over northern Sumatra in 1520.^[2] His conquests included Deli, Pedir, and Pasai, and he attacked Aru. His son Alauddin al-Kahar 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,^[3] with the support along with men and firearms from Suleiman's Ottoman Empire.^[1] Map of Pasai. ... Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (November 6, 1494 – September 5/6, 1566); in Turkish Süleyman , (nicknamed the Magnificent in Europe and the Lawgiver in the Islamic World, in Turkish Kanuni) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 and successor to Selim I. He was... Motto: دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299-1326) Bursa (1326-1365) Edirne (1365-1453) Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–1922 Mehmed VI...

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, and conquered Pahang, a tin-producing region on the Malayan Peninsula. The strength of his formidable fleet was brought to an end with a disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629, when the Portuguese managed to destroy all his ships and 19,000 troops.^[4] This marked the end of Aceh's military might, and in the reigns of subsequent sultans regional rulers gained effective power, and the sultan ultimately became a largely symbolic title.^[5] 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."^[6] Iskandar Muda (1583?[1] - December 27, 1636[2]) was the twelfth sultan of Aceh, under whom the sultanate achieved its greatest territorial extent, and was the strongest power and wealthiest state in the western Indonesian archipelago and the Strait of Malacca. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Kuantan Royal Capital Pekan Sultan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Chief Minister Dato Seri Adnan Yaakob Area 35,964 km2 Population  - Est year 2005 1,372,500 State anthem Pahang State Anthem Pahang (Jawi: Ú¨Ù‡Ú ) is the largest state on Peninsular Malaysia, occupying the huge Pahang...

Culture and economy

Aceh saw itself as heir to Pasai, the first Muslim state in Southeast Asia, and continuing the missionary work of Malacca after it was conquered by the infidel Portuguese. It called itself the "veranda of Mecca," and became a center of Islamic scholarship, where the Qur'an and other Islamic texts were translated into Malay.^[1] Its notable scholars included Hamzah Pansuri, Syamsuddin of Pasai, Abdurrauf of Singkil, and the Indian Nuruddin ar-Raniri.^[7] A verandah is a large balcony on the level of a ground floor. ... This article is about the city in Saudi Arabia. ... The Qurān [1] (Arabic: ‎, literally the recitation; also called The Noble Quran; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and Al-Quran), is the central religious text of Islam. ... The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ...

Aceh gained wealth from its export of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, betel nuts,^[8] and, once it conquered Pahang in 1617, tin. Low interest rates and the use of gold currency strengthened its economy.^[9] 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.^[10] However, as it lost political cohesion in the 17th century, it saw its trading importance yielding 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.^[6] Species About 100 species, including: Myristica argentea Myristica fragrans Myristica malabarica The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. ... Binomial name Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merrill & Perry A single dried clove flower bud Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, syn. ... Binomial name Areca catechu Linnaeus Areca nut, or pinang, more commonly known as betel nut, is the seed of the betel palm or Areca catechu, a species of palm tree which grows throughout the Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. ... Dutch colonial possessions, with the Dutch East India Company possessions marked in a paler green, surrounding the Indian Ocean plus Saint Helena in the mid-Atlantic. ...

Conquest by the Dutch

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 sultan 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.^[11] 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.^[12] A Raja (sometimes spelled Rajah) is a king, or princely ruler from the Kshatriya / Rajput lineages. ... Gold Coast may refer to: // Gold Coast (British colony), British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa Brandenburger Gold Coast, former German colony Danish Gold Coast, former Danish colony Dutch Gold Coast, former Dutch colony Portuguese Gold Coast, former Portuguese colony Swedish Gold Coast, former Swedish colony Gold... The Aceh War (also Achinese War) took place from 1873-1904 between the Netherlands and the people of Aceh in Sumatra as the Dutch attempted to colonize this independent state on the northern-most tip of Sumatra. ...

In 1874 the sultan abandoned the capital, withdrawing to the hills, while the Dutch announced the annexation of Aceh. The sultan died of cholera, as did many combatants on both sides, but the Acehnese proclaimed a grandson of Tuanku Ibrahim sultan. The rulers of Acehnese ports nominally submitted to Dutch authority in order to avoid a blockade, but they used their income to support the resistance.^[13] 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. ^[14] Cholera is a water-borne disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is typically ingested by drinking contaminated water, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ...

List of sultans

• 1496-1528 Ali Mughayat Syah
• 1528-1537 Salahuddin
• 1537-1568 Alauddin al Qahhar
• 1568-1575 Husain Ali Riayat Syah
• 1575 Muda
• 1575-1576 Sri Alam
• 1576-1577 Zainal Abidin
• 1577-1589 Alauddin Mansur Syah
• 1589-1596 Buyong
• 1596-1604 Alauddin Riayat Syah Sayyid al-Mukammil
• 1604-1607 Ali Riayat Syah
• 1607-1636 Iskandar Muda
• 1636-1641 Iskandar Thani
• 1641-1675 Ratu Safiatuddin Tajul Alam
• 1675-1678 Ratu Naqiatuddin Nurul Alam
• 1678-1688 Ratu Zaqiatuddin Inayat Syah
• 1688-1699 Ratu Kamalat Syah Zinatuddin
• 1699-1702 Badrul Alam Syarif Hashim Jamaluddin
• 1702-1703 Perkasa Alam Syarif Lamtui
• 1703-1726 Jamal ul Alam Badrul Munir
• 1726 Jauhar ul Alam Aminuddin
• 1726-1727 Syamsul Alam
• 1727-1735 Alauddin Ahmad Syah
• 1735-1760 Alauddin Johan Syah
• 1750-1781 Mahmud Syah
• 1764-1785 Badruddin
• 1775-1781 Sulaiman Syah
• 1781-1795 Alauddin Muhammad Daud Syah
• 1795-1815 Alauddin Jauhar ul Alam
• 1815-1818 Syarif Saif ul Alam
• 1818-1824 Alauddin Jauhar ul Alam (second time)
• 1824-1838 Muhammad Syah
• 1838-1857 Sulaiman Syah
• 1857-1870 Mansur Syah
• 1870-1874 Mahmud Syah
• 1874-1903 Muhammad Daud Syah

Iskandar Muda (1583?[1] - December 27, 1636[2]) was the twelfth sultan of Aceh, under whom the sultanate achieved its greatest territorial extent, and was the strongest power and wealthiest state in the western Indonesian archipelago and the Strait of Malacca. ...

Notes

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.