Central Java The north coast of Java was the home of the first Islamic sultanates, the greatest being Demak. Jepara was an independent power before falling under Demak. It hosted trading posts for the Portuguese and English as well as the Dutch. Kudus was another important city in the 1500s; today it's known as a center for clove cigarettes. The central part of Java is the home of some of Indonesia's greatest monuments, palaces, and historical sites. The Sailendra kings ruled here in the 800s, and built Borobudur between where Magelang and Yogyakarta are today. Later Hindu kings from Sanjaya built Prambanan and the temples of Dieng, and founded the original Hindu kingdom of Mataram. In the later 1500s, a second, Islamic Mataram kingdom would rise in this area. Courts at Kota Gede, Plered, Pajang, and Kartasura were the ancestors of today's Kratons at Surakarta and Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is a major cultural center today, a university town with many artists and performers. It hosted the government of the new Republic during its early years.