custom house
Banten in the fifth century was part of Tarumanagara kingdom. A stone inscription, called Prasasti Cidanghiang, coming from Tarumanagara era can be found at Lebak area at the bank of Cidanghiang river, in Pandeglang Regency, Banten.
debus from banten
The Prasasti Cidanghiang, found in 1947, contains 2 lines of poetic sentences in Sanskrit written in Pallava characters. The inscription proclaims Purnawarman as the standard for rulers around the world.
After Tarumanagara power declined, probably due to series of invasions from Srivijaya kingdom, all Tarumanagara territory, including Banten, was controlled by Kingdom of Sunda. Based on travel records of Prince Bujangga Manik, a Hindu Sundanese monk who visited all of the holy Hindu sites in Java Island and Bali Island at the beginning of the sixteenth century AD, in his lontar manuscripts, which are saved in Bodleian Library of Oxford University of England since the 16th century, Banten was part of Kingdom of Sunda.
In this era of the Kingdom of Sunda, Banten became one of very important ports of the kingdom. Portuguese historical record tells that Kingdom of Sunda with great city of Dayo Pakuan Pajajaran (currently Bogor city), the town and lands and port of Banten, the port of Pontang, the port of Cigede, the port of Tangaram (Tangerang), the port of Sunda Kalapa, and the port of Cimanuk are justly governed.
In 1524/1525, Sunan Gunung Jati from Cirebon Sultanate (former vasal Kingdom of Sunda) together with Demak Sultanate armies seized port of Banten from the control of Kingdom of Sunda, and established Banten Sultanate affilialting to Demak Sultanate. Islam preachers have penetrated and introduced people the peaceful way of life of Islam and as result many people in the region embraced Islam as their belief.During 1552-1570, Maulana Hasanudin ruled as the first Sultan of Banten.
Banten then become a part of West Java province in 1925 when Dutch Colonial established West Java province, the first province in Indonesia, referring to a statement from Staatblad number 378.In the present day, the area of Sultanate of Banten is a province.
The province was established on 17 October 2000 through the Law Number 23/2000, but the peak of celebration to the establishment happened on 4 October 2000 when tens of thousands of citizen of Banten came to the People's Representative Council (DPR) building at South Jakarta, at the same time as the plenary meeting of the parliament to authenticate the law of forming the Province of Banten.
debus from banten
Traditional dance
