ABSTRACT
The kingdoms of eastern Java were the first in the island realm to combine a command of trade equal to that of Srivijaya with agricultural resources comparable to those of Central Java. People from outside the region, including Marco Polo, often assumed that the spices were produced in eastern Java, but that was never the case: the Brantas River region was not an important producer of spices. The rise of eastern Javanese kingdoms was contemporary with an entire series of transformations that occurred all along the southern maritime routes. East Java refers, in a political sense, primarily to the drainage basin of the Brantas River. East Java's earliest known royal city, Kanjuruha, was located in the Malang valley, along the upper reaches of the Brantas River, on a fertile mountain plateau. Airlangga and the East Javanese kings who succeeded him also used a portion of their revenues to provide patronage to scholars, build temples and monuments, and perform ceremonies.
