Singapore PRECOLONIAL ERA
Figure 2. The Johore Sultanate, ca. 1700
Source: Based on information from Constance M. Turnbull, A
Short History of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei, Stanmore,
N.S.W., 1980, 61; and Tan Ding Eing, Portrait of Malaysia and
Singapore, Singapore, 1975, 22.
Located astride the sea routes between China and India,
from
ancient times the Malay Archipelago served as an entrepôt,
supply
point, and rendezvous for the sea traders of the kingdoms
and
empires of the Asian mainland and the Indian subcontinent.
The
trade winds of the South China Sea brought Chinese junks
laden with
silks, damasks, porcelain, pottery, and iron to seaports
that
flourished on the Malay Peninsula and the islands of
Sumatra and
Java. There they met with Indian and Arab ships, brought
by the
monsoons of the Indian Ocean, carrying cotton textiles,
Venetian
glass, incense, and metalware. Fleets of swift
prahu
(interisland craft) supplied fish, fruit, and rice from
Java and
pepper and spices from the Moluccas in the eastern part of
the
archipelago. All who came brought not only their trade
goods but
also their cultures, languages, religions, and
technologies for
exchange in the bazaars of this great crossroads.
In time, the ports of the peninsula and archipelago
formed the
nucleus of a succession of seabased kingdoms, empires, and
sultanates. By the late seventh century, the great
maritime
Srivijaya Empire, with its capital at Palembang in eastern
Sumatra,
had extended its rule over much of the peninsula and
archipelago.
Historians believe that the island of Singapore was
probably the
site of a minor port of Srivijaya.
Data as of December 1989
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