The Luso-Sundanese padrão is a

padrão A ''padrão'' (literally "standard") (, '' standard''; plural: ) is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. They were often ...

commemorating a treaty between the kingdoms of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and Sunda, better known as the Luso-Sundanese Treaty of Sunda Kalapa.

History

Because of the growing Islamic force in Demak and

Cirebon Cirebon (, formerly rendered Cheribon or Chirebon in English) is a port city on the northern coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is the only coastal city of West Java, located about 40 km west of the provincial border with Central J ...

, the Hindu King of Sunda, Sri Baduga, sought assistance from the Portuguese at

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

. He sent his son, Crown Prince Prabu Surawisesa, to Malacca in 1512 and again in 1521 to invite the Portuguese to sign a peace treaty, trade in pepper and build a fort at his main port of Sunda Kalapa. By 1522, the Portuguese were ready to form a coalition with the Sundanese king to gain access to the profitable pepper trade. The commander of the fortress of Malacca at that time was Jorge de Albuquerque. In 1522, he sent a ship, the ''São Sebastião'' under Captain Henrique Leme, to Sunda Kalapa with valuable gifts for the king of Sunda. One written source detail the concluding of the treaty: the original Portuguese document of 1522, with the text of the treaty and the signatures of the witnesses. According to that source, the Portuguese were welcomed warmly by the former crown prince, now King Prabu Surawisesa Jayapercosa (or King Surawisesa of Pajundan, also called ''Ratu Sang Hyang'', Portuguese: ''Ratu Samian''); Barros called him King Samião. The Portuguese were allowed to build a fortress at the mouth of the Ciliwung River, where they could load

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

to their ships. The King also pledged to give 1000 sacks (more than 20 tons) of black pepper each year to the Portuguese. The treaty was executed in two copies, one for the king of Sunda, one for the king of Portugal; each was signed on August 21, 1522. The Sundanese king's deputies were the chief

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Padam Tumangu (''Honourable Tumenggung''), the mandarins Sangydepaty (''Sang Adipati'') and Benegar (''

Bendahara Bendahara ( Jawi: ) was an administrative position within classical Malay kingdoms comparable to a vizier before the intervention of European powers during the 19th century. A bendahara was appointed by a sultan and was a hereditary post w ...

'' or treasurer), and the shahbandar (harbourmaster) of the land, named Fabian. "On the said day", the mandarins and other honorable men, together with Henrique Leme and his entourage, went to the mouth of the river, where the fortress would be constructed, on the "land called Sunda Kalapa", where they erected a memorial stone, called a ''

'', in what is now the Tugu subdistrict of North Jakarta. It was a Portuguese custom to set up a padrão (memorial stone) when they discovered a new land. The padrão, now called the Luso-Sundanese padrão, is kept in the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

. Because of troubles in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Portuguese India The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

, the Portuguese had failed to keep their promise to come back the following year to construct the fortress. They did not return to the Java Sea until November 1526, when they arrived in six ships from Bintan under the command of

Duarte Coelho Duarte Coelho Pereira ( – ) was a nobleman, military leader, and colonial administrator in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. He was the first Donatario (Lord Proprietor) of the captaincy of Pernambuco and founder of Olinda. Early life The bir ...

and Francisco de Sá. The padrão was rediscovered at the junction between Jalan Cengkeh and Jalan Kali Besar Timur in 1918 when the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

government made a reclamation in the area.

Details

The Luso-Sundanese padrão is stone pillar that is 165 cm tall. The upper part of the padrão shows an

armillary sphere An armillary sphere (variations are known as spherical astrolabe, armilla, or armil) is a model of objects in the sky (on the celestial sphere), consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centered on Earth or the Sun, that represent lines o ...

, a symbol of discovery used by King Manuel of Portugal. On top of the sphere is a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

. A cross of the Order of Christ has been carved above the first line of the inscription. The inscription itself, ''OSPOR .ESFERЯa/Mo'' is an abbreviation of ''O Senhor de Portugal. Esfera/Espera do Mundo'', meaning ''The Lord of Portugal. Sphere/Hope of the World''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luso Sundanese padrao Sunda Kingdom Monuments and memorials in Indonesia Cross symbols Portuguese colonialism in Indonesia

History

Details

See also

References