Abstract
The fifteenth century plays an important part in the history of the Southeast Asian region particularly as a transitional period between the demise of the “Classical Age” in Southeast Asia during thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and the advent of the Europeans starting in the sixteenth century.
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Notes
- 1.
This is according to Indonesian archaeologists who were interviewed during the recent International Capacity Building on Underwater Cultural Heritage workshop in Makassar, South Sulawesi in Indonesia on October 7–15, 2013.
- 2.
Hall (2004: 51) summarized a comprehensive list of the variety of trade items based on some historical documents: “India-based ships arrived regularly from the Gujarat, Malabar, and Coromandel coasts, as well as from Bengal, and Myanmar. Goods included luxury items from the Middle East, such as rosewater, incense, opium, and carpets, as well as seeds and grains. But the bulk of the fifteenth-century cargoes were made up of cotton cloth from the Gujarat and Coromandel coasts. Vessels from Bengal brought foodstuffs, rice, cane sugar, dried and salted meat and fish, preserved vegetables and candied fruits, as well as the local white cloth fabrics. Malabar merchants from India’s southwest coast brought pepper and Middle Eastern goods. The Bago (Pegu) polity in lower Myanmar also supplied foodstuffs, rice and sugar, and ships. In return, spices, gold, camphor, tin, sandalwood, alum, and pearls were sent from Melaka. Re-exports from China included porcelain, musk, silk, quicksilver, copper, and vermillion. Malabar and Sumatran pepper was carried back to Bengal, with some opium from Middle Eastern countries”.
- 3.
“Moors from Cairo, Mecca, Aden, Abyssinians, men of Kilwa, Malindi, Ormuz, Parsees, Rumes, Turks, Turkomans, Christian Armenians, Gujaratees, men of Chaul, Dabhol, Goa, of the kingdom of Deccan, Malabars and Klings, merchants from Orissa, Ceylon, Bengal, Arakan, Pegu, Siamese, men of Kedah, Malays, men of Pahang, Patani, Cambodia, Champa, Cochin China, Chinese, Lequeos, men of Brunei, Luções, men of Tamjompura, Laue, Banka, Linga (they have a thousand other islands), Moluccas, Banda, Bima, Timor, Madura, Java, Sunda, Palembang, Jambi, Tongkal, Indragiri, Kappata, Menangkabau, Siak, Arqua (Arcat?), Aru, Bata, country of the Tomjano, Pase, Pedir, Maldives”.
- 4.
Andaya and Andaya (2001) surmised that the sultan’s command over the Orang Lauts, or the sea people was important as the Orang Lauts provided protection for trading ships destined for Melaka and harassed ships en route to rival ports. The strategy is sound, as most of the Orang Lauts have possibly engaged in ‘piratical’ activities in the Melaka Straits before the fifteenth century. Melaka was reportedly a pirate haven with a marketplace that sold spoils from shipping plunder when Parameśwara arrived. Merchants understandably go to ports where assurance of a safe passage is given.
- 5.
China first took notice of Melaka in 1403 from the reports of Indian Muslim merchants and sent an envoy to visit the polity the next year (Groeneveldt 1877; Andaya and Andaya 2001). Recognising its advantages, Parameśwara immediately placed Melaka under China’s sovereignty as a vassal state (Taylor 1992). Tribute-bearing missions to China commenced in 1405 and then again in 1407, 1408, 1413, and 1416 and thereafter about once every one or two years (Wake 1964). Melakan rulers even visited China in 1411, 1414, 1419 and 1424 (Coedès 1968). The Zheng He voyages further set the platform for Melaka’s later achievement as it cleared the Melaka Straits of pirates who have been preying on merchant shipping for centuries and conducted naval patrols in the first two decades of the fifteenth century (Taylor 1992; Chenoweth 1996–1998).
- 6.
Diplomatic documents, merchant lists and travellers accounts provides an idea of the various items exchanged: animal skins (cow and buffalo hides and deerskins), stingray skins, dried fish, wood (sapanwood, eagle wood, ironwood and teak timbers) ivory, horn, wax, benzoin (gum benjamin), gumlac, namrack, metals (lead and tin) (Pombejra 2005). The Pires accounts also listed the following Siam-Melaka exchanged merchandise: rice, dried salted fish, arak, vegetables, lac, benzoin, brazil, lead, tin, silver, gold ivory, cassia fistula, copper and gold vessels, ruby, diamond ring and cloth (Baker 2003). In addition, Ayutthaya sent tribute items to China that included elephants, turtles, aromatics and exotics, textiles and slaves in exchange for Chinese luxury fabrics, porcelain, medicine and currency.
- 7.
The Southeast Asia–Indian Ocean maritime trading network is also a significant subject. Melaka, as the foremost trading centre of the period, housed a substantial population of people with different ethnicities. Among these are the chatis, a group of merchants from the Indian Ocean states according to Ma Huan’s description (Mills 1970). These merchants represent the vibrant maritime trade relationship between the Bay of Bengal and the Melaka straits in the fifteenth century. Besides Melaka, Wade (2010) notes that the chatis resides and operates also in port cities such as Pegu, Ava, Tenasserim, Bantam and the Moluccas. Some of the traders even occupy important political positions such as the case of Tamil merchant TunMutahir who became Bendahara with the title Bendahara Seri Maharaja (Wade 2010). In the realm of maritime economy, their participation is mostly confined to trading activities with major Southeast Asian port cities as a collection and transit point for trade goods to be transported back to the Indian Ocean sphere. There are however, a number of publications that emphasize the significant role and influence of the Indian Ocean traders in matters of politics, religion, economy and culture but are currently outside of the purview of this chapter.
- 8.
Ming Gap is used by archaeologists and ceramic specialists to explain the general absence of Chinese blue and white porcelain in the region and also the coincidental rise of exported ceramic wares from other ceramic-producing Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Burma (present day Myanmar).
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Orillaneda, B.C. (2016). Of Ships and Shipping: The Maritime Archaeology of Fifteenth Century CE Southeast Asia. In: Wu, C. (eds) Early Navigation in the Asia-Pacific Region. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0904-4_2
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