Melaka (c. 1400-1511)

Part oneA prince founds a port

Around 1390 a prince named Parameswara, from the old royal families of Srivijaya, fled his home on the island of Singapura after an attack. For some years he lived by raiding. Then, around 1400, he settled at a fishing village on the west coast of the Malay peninsula, at a river mouth on the narrowest part of the strait. Its name was Melaka.

The site was well chosen. Ships sailing between India and China had to pass it, and they could shelter there while waiting for the monsoon to change. Parameswara made the port safe and its dues fair, and traders came. Within a few decades Melaka was one of the busiest ports in the world. A Portuguese writer later counted eighty-four languages spoken in its streets.

Local tradition says that Parameswara fell in love with a princess from Pasai, accepted Islam and took the name Sultan Iskandar Shah. Whether it happened just so, Melaka's rulers were Muslims from early in the fifteenth century, and their court used Arabic titles and Islamic law beside Malay custom.

Part twoMelaka and China

China was an important partner. In 1405 the Ming emperor began sending great fleets into the Indian Ocean under a Muslim admiral, Zheng He. They visited Melaka several times. Zheng He's fleets used it as a base, and the Ming recognised Melaka and protected it from its stronger neighbour, Siam. In 1411 the sultan himself sailed to China with his family and court and was received with honour by the emperor.

Part threeA centre of Islam

As Melaka grew rich, its sultans built mosques, invited scholars from Pasai and from as far as Makkah, and made their court a centre of Islamic learning. Questions of faith were sent to Pasai for answers. Malay, written in Arabic letters, Jawi, became the common language of trade and religion across the islands.

Melaka's trade and its royal marriages spread Islam along the coasts. The rulers of Pahang and Kedah on the peninsula, and of river ports on Sumatra, took Islam and joined Melaka's world. Merchants carried it on to Brunei in Borneo, to the Sulu islands and to the Maluku spice islands. By the end of the fifteenth century Islam was the main religion of the Malay peoples.

Part fourThe Portuguese arrive

In 1498 the Portuguese reached India by sailing around Africa. They wanted control of the spice trade and saw themselves as crusaders against Islam, which they had fought in Iberia. In 1511 a Portuguese fleet under Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Melaka and, after weeks of fighting, took the city. The sultan fled and his family set up new courts at Johor and Perak.

The conquest did not achieve what the Portuguese hoped. Muslim merchants simply moved to other ports, to Aceh in Sumatra, to Johor, to Brunei and to Banten in Java. Those Muslim ports grew stronger and led the resistance against the Portuguese, and many people who joined that resistance became Muslim. Instead of stopping Islam in the region, the fall of Melaka helped spread it.

When the Portuguese took Melaka, Muslim merchants simply sailed to other ports, and Islam spread further.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Islamic GuidanceHow Malaysia Became Muslim (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Melaka
• Singapura
• Pasai
• Pahang
• Kedah
• Johor
• Aceh
• Brunei
• Sulu
• Maluku

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter