Majapahit

Majapahit was a Hindu-Buddhist empire based in eastern Java that, at its height, held influence across much of the Indonesian archipelago and parts of the Malay world. It was founded by Raden Wijaya, who exploited the arrival of a Mongol expedition sent by Kublai Khan to turn against the rival kingdom of Kediri and then expel the Mongols. The empire reached its peak in the fourteenth century under Hayam Wuruk and his chief minister Gajah Mada, who is said to have sworn to unite the archipelago. The court poem Nagarakretagama gives a detailed account of this period. Weakened by succession disputes and the rise of Muslim coastal sultanates, it declined in the early sixteenth century, and its heritage remains important in Indonesian national identity.

Open on the timeline