Blambangan Kingdom

As a reward of Wiraraja's support, in 1295, Raden Wijaya agreed to give the eastern salient of Java, which includes Blambangan areas with Lumajang as its capital.

The Nagarakretagama, composed in 1365, mentioned that the central part of the eastern corner of Java was visited by King Hayam Wuruk in his royal tour in 1359.

The kingdom subsequently was contested and harassed by successive expansive Javanese Islamic states to the west, from Demak to Pajang and Mataram.

For almost three centuries, Blambangan was situated between two different political factions, the Islamic state of Mataram in the west, and various Hindu realms in Bali (Gelgel, Buleleng, and Mengwi) in the east.

The Balinese kingdoms used Blambangan as a vassal and buffer against the Islamic expansion initiated by Mataram from the west and also found it useful to bolster the economy of Bali which was heavily overshadowed by endemic warfare.

In the second half of the 16th century, a few Roman Catholic missionaries from the Portuguese colony in Malacca arrived in East Java to try to convert the local people.

The expedition must have been a failure, as another Dutch report from early 1601 mentioned that the Pasuruan army had taken Blambangan some years ago and exterminated the royal family therein.

[2] The VOC archive mentioned the spectacular ngaben (cremation) ceremony of Tawang Alun II, that among his 400 wives, 271 of them performed suttee (self-immolation).

Blambangan borders right at the eastern tip of the island of Java with the Mataram sultanate who is at war with Blambangan, also shows Blambangan's strong relationship with the kingdoms in Bali who always supply weapons against Mataram.