The most powerful Islamic sultanate in Sumatra, which dominated the northern Strait of Malacca and became a leading center of Islamic scholarship before its final defeat by the Dutch.
Ended when Sultan Alauddin Muhammad Da'ud Syah II surrendered to Dutch colonial forces on 10 January 1903, completing the Aceh War (1873–1904) and incorporating the sultanate into the Dutch East Indies; the sultan was subsequently exiled to Ambon in the Moluccas in 1907.
Aceh's role as Malacca's successor and the spread of Islam in Sumatra is a core theme.
Covers Sumatra's Acehnese sultanate and its long resistance and final defeat by the Dutch within a clear narrative of Indonesia's making.