Cirebon

Cirebon is a port on the north coast of Java, where Sundanese and Javanese worlds meet. Once a small coastal settlement, it became the seat of an Islamic sultanate and a centre of trade and religious learning. Its name is associated with the little shrimp called rebon, gathered along the coast and used to make shrimp paste. The city's royal palaces preserve the memory of its ruling houses.

Local chronicles trace Cirebon's growth to the fifteenth century, when the settlement of Caruban attracted people from the coast and the interior. Sunan Gunungjati is traditionally credited with establishing its independence from the Sunda kingdom in 1482 and spreading Islam in western Java. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Cirebon prospered as a port and centre of Islamic scholarship. In 1677 the ruling house divided: the princes of Kasepuhan and Kanoman held separate palaces and domains, while Wangsakerta maintained a court devoted to learning. Dutch influence subsequently grew, and a further succession dispute produced the Kacirebonan line in 1807.