Miftahuddin, Ajat Sudrajat, Danar Widiyanta, Ita Mutiara Dewi, Kuncoro Hadi, Raymizard Alifian Firmansyah
This article develops a thesis by Adrian B. Lapian and contextualizes the Islamic rule in Java that stimulated the movement of the sea people to turn their backs on the sea. It critiques conventional historiography that focuses only on heroic stories. Using critical maritime history studies, this article presents a re-reading of the political narrative of Sultan Agung's expansion into North and East Java. The history of Java is not only about political power and conflicts between Javanese kingdoms in the 17th century, but also about expansion, social problems, socio-political domination, and the erasure of collective memory of maritime culture. Therefore, this research attempts to write history with an alternative perspective to examine the "movement towards the sea" in Java, which has implications for the formation of an agrarian society. As a result of strengthening the legitimacy of royal power in the 16th-17th centuries, various violent incidents occurred in northern and peripheral Java. Under the pretext of expanding power and attempting to attack Batavia, this event was normalized, which becomes a phenomenon of historiographical problems in writing history, particularly regarding the minimal discussion about the oppression of the Javanese Maritime community under the political domination of Mataram (Sultan Agung). © 2025, Universitas Negeri Semarang. All rights reserved.
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
