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Sultanate of Cirebon

Muslim state in West Java, 1447–1679

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Through Islam and Sultan

The sultanate's capital lay around the modern-day city of Cirebon on Java's northern coast. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the sultanate thrived and became a major regional centre of trade and commerce, as well as a prominent centre of Islamic learning. The sultanate split into three royal houses in 1677, and a fourth split off in 1807, each with their own separate lines of descent and kratons; Kraton Kasepuhan, Kraton Kanoman, Kraton Kacirebonan, and Kraton Kaprabonan. They remain today, performing ceremonial duties.

Etymology

There are several suggestions concerning the origin of the name "Cirebon". According to Sulendraningrat, who based it on the Babad Tanah Sunda script, and Atja who based it on the Carita Purwaka Caruban Nagari script, Cirebon was at first a small hamlet built by Ki Gedeng Tapa, which eventually developed into a bustling port village named Caruban (Sundanese for "mixture"), because the port town was a melting pot settled by immigrants from various ethnic groups, religions, languages, customs, and livelihoods.

Another theory suggests that the town's name is derived from rebon, the Sundanese word for small shrimp that live in the area. Initially, a common livelihood in the settlement was fishing and collecting rebon along the coast, making shrimp paste or petis udang from it. The term for water used in shrimp paste manufacturing (belendrang) is cai rebon (Sundanese for "rebon water"), which later gave its name to the town as Cirebon.

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