Sultanate of Banjar or Sultanate of Banjarmasin was a sultanate located in what is today the South Kalimantan Province of Indonesia. For most of its history, its capital was at Banjarmasin.
History
The founder of the sultanate, Raden Samudra, was of royal lineage of the Kingdom of Negara Daha. He escaped from the Kingdom of Daha to the Barito River area, because his safety was in danger, and established a new kingdom at Banjarmasin. With help from Mangkubumi Aria Taranggana, Raden Samudra converted to Islam on 24 September 1526, changing his name to Sultan Suriansyah. Banjar at first paid tribute to the Sultanate of Demak. That state met its demise in the mid-16th century, however, and Banjar was not required to send tribute to new power in Java, the Sultanate of Pajang. Banjar rose in the first decades of the 17th century as a producer and trader of pepper. Soon, virtually all of the southwest, southeast, and eastern areas of Kalimantan island were paying tribute to the sultanate. Sultan Agung of Mataram, who ruled north Java coastal ports such as Jepara, Gresik, Tuban, Madura and Surabaya, planned to colonise the Banjar-dominated areas of Kalimantan in 1622, but the plan was cancelled due to inadequate resources. In the 18th century Prince Tamjidullah I successfully transferred power to his dynasty and set Prince Nata Dilaga as its first Sultan with Panembahan Kaharudin Khalilullah. Nata Dilaga became the first king of the dynasty as Tamjidullah I in 1772, on the day of his accession calling himself Susuhunan Nata Alam. The son of Sultan Muhammad Aliuddin Aminullah named Prince Amir, a grandson of Sultan Hamidullah, fled to the Pasir, and requested the help of his uncle Arung Tarawe. Amir then returned and attacked the Sultanate of Banjar with a large force of Bugis people in 1757, and tried to retake the throne of Susuhunan Nata Alam. Fearing the loss of his throne and the fall of the kingdom to the Bugis, Susuhunan Nata Alam requested the assistance of the Dutch East India Company, who dispatched a force under Captain Hoffman. The combined force defeated the Bugis, sending Amir to flee back to Pasir. After a long time, he tried to meet with Barito Banjar nobles, who disliked the VOC. Following this, Amir was arrested and exiled to Sri Lanka in 1787, and Banjar became a Dutch protectorate. The Dutch increased their presence in the 19th century, taking territory from the sultanate and interfering in the appointment of its rulers. Resistance led to the Banjarmasin War and the abolition of the sultanate in 1860. Afterwards, the area was governed by regents in Martapura and in Amuntai. The regency was finally abolished in 1884. The last claimant to the throne died in 1905.
