Dompu Sultanate

Origins

Dompo is listed in the Javanese Nagarakretagama among the dependencies of Majapahit, and an expedition to it is recorded in the mid-14th century. The register dates the sultanate from 1545, when its rulers are said to have adopted Islam, influenced by Makassar and Bima.

Rule and society

Dompu was an agricultural state of rice and horses, whose people spoke the Bima language. It lived in the shadow of its larger neighbour Bima and of Gowa, and from the 17th century of the Dutch East India Company, which made treaties with the Sumbawa rulers. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 devastated the region, destroying the neighbouring kingdoms of Tambora and Pekat.

Decline and legacy

Dompu remained a self-governing state under Dutch rule into the 20th century. After Indonesian independence the sultanates of Sumbawa were dissolved, Dompu becoming a regency of West Nusa Tenggara in 1958.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.