The Sultanate of Mataram was the last major independent Javanese kingdom on the island of Java before it was colonised by the Dutch. It was the dominant political force radiating from the interior of Central Java from the late 16th century until the beginning of the 18th century.
Kota Gede, the former capital of the Mataram Sultanate, founded in 1582 by Sutawijaya (Panembahan Senapati).
Siege of Batavia by Sultan Agung in 1628
Jousting in Mataram, 1676.
Sultan Amangkurat II of Mataram (upper right) watching warlord Untung Surapati fighting Captain Tack of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). ca 1684 AD.
The Javanese are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the central and eastern part of the Indonesian island of Java. With more than 100 million people, Javanese people are the largest ethnic group in both Indonesia and in Southeast Asia as a whole. Their native language is Javanese, it is the largest of the Austronesian languages in number of native speakers and also the largest regional language in Southeast Asia. The Javanese as the largest ethnic group in the region have dominated the historical, social, and political landscape in the past as well as in modern Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
A Javanese bride and groom wearing their traditional garb
Samudra Raksa, a 2003 reconstruction of the 9th century Borobudur ship.
A perahu with outrigger, Central Java, between 1924 and 1932.
Cross-section of an outrigger boat, between 1863 and 1900.