Selaparang Kingdom

Origins

Selaparang was one of several Sasak principalities on Lombok, centred in the east of the island near the coast facing Sumbawa. Its early history is known mainly from Sasak tradition and the Babad Lombok. The register's founding date of 1300 is approximate, and the kingdom is said to have been subject to Majapahit in the 14th century.

Rule and society

Islam reached Selaparang in the 16th century, traditionally through preachers sent by Sunan Prapen of Giri Kedaton in Java. The kingdom had ties with Makassar and with Sumbawa across the strait, and its people farmed rice and traded horses and cotton.

Decline and legacy

From the 17th century Balinese princes of Karangasem expanded into western Lombok. Selaparang allied with Sumbawa against them but was defeated, and around 1740 it fell. Lombok remained under Balinese rule until the Dutch conquest of 1894, and Selaparang's memory endures in Sasak identity.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.