2021-06-22 Tue

Fatahillah is remembered in Indonesia as a sixteenth-century Muslim hero who ejected the Portuguese from the port of Sunda Kalapa, in Java and renamed it Jayakarta (or a similar name), thus becoming the founder of what is now the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta.

There are several opinions about the origin of Fatahillah. According to H.J. de Graaf, Fatahillah came from Pasai, North Aceh, who then left Pasai when the area was controlled by the Portuguese. Fatahillah went to Mecca, then to the land of Java, Demak, during the reign of Sultan Trenggono. There are historical sources that say he was born in Central Asia (maybe in Samarqand), studied in Baghdad, and devoted himself to the Turkish Sultanate, before joining the Sultanate of Demak. But this opinion is also unclear in origin from where.

Fatahillah Square in Jakarta and the Indonesian Navy ship KRI Fatahillah (361) were named after him. He was honored on a stamp issued by the Indonesian Postal Department in 2008.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org