Amangkurat is loneliness: the friendless king on an island.

In early January 1648, Amangkurat, the ruler of Mataram, moved his palace from Karta to Plered, a location in the area of Bantul where the Winogo River had been dammed. Construction had already begun of man-made lakes around the palace.

The work seemed to never end.

Thirteen years later, in 1661, a Dutch report stated that the king was still busy 'making his residence an island'. Two years af