Pakuan

Pakuan, also known as Pakuan Pajajaran, is the historical capital of the Sunda Kingdom in western Java, Indonesia. The name Pakuan has been used to refer both to the city and to the surrounding region, and it is traditionally linked to the royal seat located in or near present-day Bogor, West Java. The Sunda Kingdom dominated western Java from roughly the first millennium and reached its historical prominence between the 14th and 16th centuries; Pakuan served as its central seat of government during this period. The most famous ruler associated with Pakuan is Sri Baduga Maharaja, commonly identified with the legendary King Siliwangi, under whom the kingdom is said to have flourished.

The exact site of Pakuan’s royal capital remains a matter of scholarly discussion. Traditional accounts place the capital in the Bogor area, and various ruins and local toponyms are sometimes linked to the old capital. The historical record comes from Sundanese and Javanese chronicles and later Indonesian sources, which describe the city as a center of culture, administration, and religion.

The decline of the Sunda Kingdom in the late 16th century, amid internal strife and external pressures from rising powers such as the Banten Sultanate, led to the loss of Pakuan as a political center. The region subsequently became part of the changing political landscape of Java and, much later, Dutch colonial and modern Indonesian administration.

Today, Pakuan remains a historical term primarily used in reference to the Sunda Kingdom and its legacy, with its memory tied most closely to the Bogor area.