Demak Sultanate

A third external force comes into play with the arrival of the Portuguese in the archipelago.

They reach the rich and expanding Melaka, on the Malay Peninsula, in 1509 and seek trading rights there.

Some in Melaka's cosmopolitan trading community want to accept them (perhaps as a counterweight against Sultan Mahmud's controversial imperial policies), but others do not, heightening existing political tensions.

When the Portuguese return 1511 commanded by the more demanding Alfonso de Albuquerque, they defeat Melaka militarily, soon establishing themselves in the trading ports of Banten (western Java) and Ternate (Maluku), and contacting the much reduced Majapahit kingdom at Kediri in eastern Java.

These events do not, as is sometimes suggested, mark the beginning of Western colonial rule, or even European primacy, in Indonesia; that lies far in the future.

Rather, the "Western intrusion" is at this stage merely one dynamic bound up, in often unpredictable ways, with many others.

Thus, the final days of Majapahit, weakened by internal division, are determined by Trenggana, the half-Chinese Muslim ruler of its former vassal port Demak, who in 1527 conquers Kediri for reasons that had as much to do with economic and political rivalry (with Banten, the Portuguese, and Majapahit's remnants) as they do with religious struggle (with both Christianity and Hindu-Buddhist ideology).

The rulers of the crumbling Majapahit empire have found themselves unable to control the rising power of the Sultanate of Malacca in the western part, which in the mid-fifteenth century had begun to gain effective control of the Malacca Strait and to expand its influence to Sumatra.

Girisawardhana, son of Kertawijaya, who had assumed power in 1456, had died ten years later and been succeeded by Singhawikramawardhana.

In 1468, Prince Kertabhumi had rebelled against Singhawikramawardhana, styling himself king of Majapahit.

Singhawikramawardhana had responded by moving the kingdom’s capital further inland to Daha (the former capital of Kediri kingdom), effectively splitting Majapahit, under Singhawikramawardhana in Daha and …

…Bhre Kertabumi in Trowulan.

Singhawikramawardhana had continued his rule until he was succeeded by his son Ranawijaya in 1474.

Several other former Majapahit vassals and colonies had begun to release themselves from Majapahit domination and suzerainty, but Kertabhumi manages to reverse this trend.

He has allied Majapahit with Muslim merchants, giving them trading rights on the north coast of Java, with Demak as its center; in return he asks for their loyalty to Majapahit.

This policy has boosted the Majapahit treasury and power but has weakened Hindu-Buddhism as its main religion because Islam spreads faster.

Hindu-Buddhist followers' grievances later pave the way for Ranawijaya to defeat Kertabhumi.

Dates for the end of the Majapahit Empire range from 1478 to 1517.

In 1478, Ranawijaya’s army, under general Udara (who will later become vice-regent), had breached Trowulan defenses and killed Kertabhumi in his palace.

Demak had sent reinforcements under Sunan Ngudung, who later died in battle and was replaced by Sunan Kudus, but the reinforcements came too late to save Kertabumi although they manage sto repel Ranawijaya’s army.

This event is mentioned in the Trailokyapuri (Jiwu) and Petak inscriptions,in which Ranawijaya claims that he already defeated Kertabhumi and reunited Majapahit as one kingdom.

Ranawijaya rules from 1474 to 1498 with the formal name Girindrawardhana, with Udara as his vice-regent.

This event leads to war between the Sultanate of Demak and Daha, as Demak rulers are descendants of Kertabhumi.

A turning point comes in 1498, when Girindrawardhana is deposed by his vice regent, Udara.

After this coup, the war between Demak and Daha subsides, with some sources saying Raden Patah left Majapahit alone as his father had done before, while others said Udara agreed to become a vassal of Demak, even marrying Raden Patah's youngest daughter.

A large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royalty move east to…

… the island of Bali, where Majahapit had founded a colony in 1343.

The refugees have probably fled to avoid Demak’s retribution for their support for Ranawijaya against Kertabhumi.

The sultan of Demak launches a counterattack in 1511 against the encroaching Portuguese merchant-warriors, who repulse the attempt.

Raja Muzaffar Shah, the son of Mahmud Shah, the defeated sultan of Malacca, erects an independent sultanate at Perak, near the Siamese border.

The Muslim emerging Muslim forces of northern Java seaports finally defeat the remnants of East Java’s Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit kingdom with the fall of Daha, crushed by Demak in 1517.

Demak comes under the leadership of Raden (later crowned as Sultan) Patah, who is acknowledged as the legitimate successor of Majapahit.

According to Babad Tanah Jawi and Demak tradition, the source of Patah's legitimacy was because their first sultan, Raden Patah, was the son of Majapahit king Brawijaya V with a Chinese concubine.

Another argument supports Demak as the successor of Majapahit; the rising Demak sultanate is easily accepted as the nominal regional ruler, as Demak is the former Majapahit vassal and located near the former Majapahit realm in Eastern Java.