The Rise of the Malacca Sultanate

EXCHANGE in EAST ASIA and THE INDIAN OCEAN HIST 1301 | History The Rise of the Malacca Sultanate A refugee called Sang Nila Utama, who claimed to be a descendant of Alexander the Great, created the Kingdom of Singapura on the island of Singapore when the vestiges of the Srivijaya Empire on the island of Sumatra were destroyed by the Majapahit Empire in the thirteenth century. Singapura flourished as a major trading hub. But because of its richness, Majapahit and the Ayutthaya Kingdom in Siam (now Thailand) both launched wars against it. The final monarch of Singapura, Parameswara, a prince of the Srivijaya Empire, escaped with his supporters when Singapura was destroyed in 1398. He travelled to a fishing community owned by the Orang Laut ("sea people") tribe near the mouth of the Malacca River on the Malay Peninsula. Others who were leaving Majapahit had already found safety with the Orang Laut, and a mixed Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu populace had settled there. Parameswara believed this was the ideal location for a new kingdom after he was allegedly moved by the bravery of a young deer that showed no fear of his hunting hounds. Around 1400, Parameswara and his adherents established the city known as Malacca, or Melaka. It flourished as a commercial hub, eventually taking over the Malay Peninsula and the northern coast of Sumatra, situated on both sides of the Malaccan Straits. Merchants from Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese countries came to conduct business with the Orang Laut, who maintained the waters in the region clear of pirates. Many chose to remain. After converting to Islam and assuming the title of sultan, Parameswara married the daughter of a Muslim monarch in Indonesia. He also changed his name to Iskander, which is Persian for Alexander. As a result, Malacca was able to establish strong ties with other Muslim rulers in Sumatra that engaged in commerce with Gujarat. Silks, spices, porcelain, and Malaccan goods like tin mined north of the city were all transported over the Malaccan Straits. The Malaccans also established sago palm orchards, which produced a valuable food source—a starchy component used to make bread and noodles—that was traded across the area. Additionally, Malacca developed ties with the Ming dynasty of China, whose Admiral Zheng He made six trips to Malacca while serving the Yongle emperor. Malacca was under attack from the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam, but Ming envoys informed the Siamese that Malacca was a tributary state of China and should not be meddled with. When the Ming dynasty went inward in the middle of the fifteenth century and stopped bothering itself with affairs concerning other kingdoms, Malacca had become powerful enough to repel two attacks by the kingdom of Ayutthaya in 1446 and 1456. The Sultanate of Malacca was free to extend its power and the Islamic faith throughout Southeast Asia as Ayutthaya posed no danger. Religious leaders from Malacca, many of them were Sufis, spread Islam throughout the Malay Peninsula, and locals on other islands also converted to Islam. Mosques and religious schools were built with the kind assistance of the sultans of Malacca and other Muslim monarchs. Islam had taken over as the predominant religion in the Indian Ocean by the early 1600s; the Hindu influence remained significant mainly on the island of Bali. Warfare between Muslims residing on the coast and Hindus and animists (those who worship the supernatural force they think resides in everything in the world) in the interior characterised the acceptance of Islam on Java, the home of the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire. However, conversion was mostly peaceful. In order to join the well-established network of merchants who shared the same religion in India, Persia, Arabia, and Africa, merchants were particularly keen to convert. Then, they could rely on the safeguards provided by Islamic law. Sufi religious leaders were open to modifying Islam to fit in with local religious customs; in certain areas, this included allowing people to keep worshipping nature spirits and letting women to participate actively in local trade, as was customary across Southeast Asia. The late fifteenth century saw the reigns of Sultan Mansur Shah and his son Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah, which brought Malacca to its pinnacle of grandeur. Known as "the golden age" of Malacca, Mansur Shah ruled with an expansionist strategy during which he annexed the gold-rich state of Pahang on the Malay Peninsula's east coast. Fearing Malacca's might, Majapahit's monarch sought peace by giving Mansur Shah his daughter's hand in marriage and relinquishing some Majapahit regions to him. States all around the Malaysian archipelago recognised the Malaccan king as their supreme authority. Nine elite knights helped the sultans of Malacca keep control of the city. Hang Tuah was the most skilled of them all, speaking Arabic, Persian, and Mandarin in addition to being proficient with a variety of weaponry. He was in charge of keeping an eye out for pirates and protecting the waters around the Straits of Malacca. The formation of the office of Shahbandar also contributed to the maintenance of order. The city's four districts were allocated to foreign businessmen, and each area had a shahbandar, a government official, to oversee them and collect taxes. The Undang-Undang Melaka, or "law of Melaka," was the legal code that regulated behaviour in the port. Islamic law, which was influenced by it, penalised actions like robbery, adultery, and intoxication. The section on marine law known as the Undang-Undang Laut Melaka was one of the most significant sections of the legal code for merchants. This code dictated everything from how travelling merchants and sailors were to behave towards the merchant vessel's captain, to how trade was to be conducted when the ship anchored (the captain was permitted to trade his goods first), and even how passengers who got into fights or pilfered other people's belongings were to be dealt with. The harbour was a more appealing location for commerce because of the Malaccan rulers' ability to control the behaviour of merchants and sailors both inside their city and on board their ships. Unlike many ports, Malacca was not a lawless location, so merchants need not be afraid. The city soon rose to prominence as the principal port for the trade of Chinese china, Indian fabric, and products from the Malay Archipelago, including spices. The fifteenth century was deemed a golden age in part because of Malacca's rise in riches and stature. The Undang-Undang Melaka was dispersed throughout the Indonesian islands as a result of Malacca's hegemony in the Indian Ocean commerce. Additionally, it elevated Malay to the status of the principal language of commerce in Southeast Asia's coastal areas. Based on Arabic script, a unique writing system was created in the fourteenth century. Another aspect of the Malaccan Sultanate's golden period in the fifteenth century was the flourishing of Malaysian literature, which had previously only been passed down orally.