ABSTRACT
With its natural advantages, Java had longer periods of dominance in the archipelago than Sumatra. Of the dozens of polities that emerged in Java in the millennium beginning about 700, a few stand out for their superior attainments: the Srivijaya, Sailendras, Mataram, Kediri, Singhasari, and Majapahit. Perhaps the oldest among the more durable of the Indonesian kingdoms was Srivijaya, whose capital was Palembang in southeastern Sumatra. The Sailendras participated actively, though on a much lower scale than Srivijaya, in the east-west trade; their principal base of power and prosperity was agricultural. The Mataram rulers emulated the vanquished Sailendras in every way except religion. Around the end of the first millennium, when Mataram was apparently at the peak of its political and economic power, it challenged Srivijaya's hated monopolistic practices. East Java's political misfortune, however, proved temporary despite what had appeared to be a total debacle at Srivijaya's hands.
