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Aceh
reached its golden age in the 1600s under Sultan
Iskandar Muda. He presided over an unprecedented
expansion of territory and involvement in the
region's spice trade, which was as vital to the
global economy then as oil is today. Aceh expanded
over much of Sumatra and parts of the Malay peninsula.
Under Iskandar Muda and his successor, Iskandar
Thani, Aceh was also a centre of Islamic scholarship
and debate.
As
the Dutch slowly but surely expanded control over
what was to become the Netherlands East Indies
(present-day Indonesia), Aceh was the last, and
a very late, addition to this sprawling empire.
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