Tatar Sunda in the Currents of Islamization and Colonial Rule

The fall of Pakuan Pajajaran in 1579 opened a new chapter in the history of Tatar Sunda. The region was no longer governed by a single major kingdom but instead experienced a division of influence among the Banten Sultanate in the west, Mataram in the Priangan interior, and later the VOC as a European colonial power.

Islamization developed through trade networks, preaching activities, elite marriages, and the influence of sultanates. Banten grew into an important center of Islam and international trade. During the reign of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, Banten was even known as a power that opposed the VOC monopoly.

In the Priangan region, political transformation took place through a deeper system of colonial control. The VOC implemented the Prianganstelsel, an obligation requiring local regents to deliver coffee yields to the colonial government. This system altered the economic structure of Sundanese society, turning the Priangan interior into a colonial commodity-producing region.

In the early nineteenth century, Governor-General Daendels constructed the Great Post Road, or Grote Postweg. This infrastructure connected Anyer to Panarukan and passed through Tatar Sunda. The construction of this road accelerated colonial military, administrative, and economic mobility, but it also caused great suffering among local communities due to forced labor.

This chapter illustrates how Tatar Sunda transformed from a kingdom-based region into a colonial space controlled through trade, bureaucracy, infrastructure, and commodity exploitation.