Abstract
At the end of the 15th century hundreds of merchants from Arabia, Persia, India, Further India, and China, as well as from the Indonesian regions closer at hand, flocked together every year in Malacca, which was then the centre of inter-Asian trade. Like a rich and colourful pageant under the blazing tropical sun, this busy eastern market made an indelible impression on the first Europeans who visited Malacca. It is worth while turning to the almost lyrical descriptions of people like Duarte Barbosa and Tomé Pires.1 “There is no doubt” writes the latter “that the affairs of Malacca are of great importance, and of much profit and great honour. It is a land that cannot depreciate, on account of its position, but must always grow. No trading port as large as Malacca is known, nor any where they deal in such fine and highly-prized merchandise. Goods from all over the East are found here; goods from all over the West are sold here. It is at the end of the monsoons, where you find what you want, and sometimes more than you are looking for.” But it is as if Pires already forsees the fate that lies in store for Malacca: “Wherefore a thing of such magnitude and of such great wealth, which never in the world could decline, if it were moderately governed and favoured, should be supplied, looked after, praised and favoured, and not neglected.” 2 Most of her native rulers upheld these principles and under their rule Malacca enjoyed unparalleled prosperity.
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Reference
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 228; Barbosa Book II, p. 169–179.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 286.
Godinho de Eredia, Declaraçam de Malaca. ed. L. Janssen. Cap. I, 4–6; Mills, “Eredia’s Description of Malacca,” JRASMB VIII, part 1 (1930), p. 19, zo; Rouffaer, “Malaka,” p. 167. Cf. also Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 259, where the names of the districts are mentioned but not the nationality of the people living in them. Winstedt, “History of Malaya,” p. 90.
Rouffaer, “Malaka,” p. 408, 409.
For the harbour of Malacca see JRASSB LII (1909), p. 111–115, extract from au article by D. F. A. Hervey in the Singapore Free Press of 1884. When the Portuguese captured Malacca, the harbour had deep water and a fine, sandy bay, but in the course of time it deteriorated greatly owing to climatological influences.
Albuquerque, Commentaries I, p. 123.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 269.
Ibid., I, p. 123.
Ibid., II, p. 284.
There is a big difference between Pires’ description of the fertile surroundings of Malacca (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 236) and the Chinese reports of poor, arid, soil in which few products could be grown (Rockhill, TP XVI, p. 117). It is, of course, possible, that in the century that had elapsed since the Chinese accounts were written the countryside around Malacca had been subjected to better methods of cultivation.
The estimates of the size of the population of Malacca in the sultans’ era cannot be checked. Albuquerque’s figure of 1oo,000 inhabitants must have been very much on the high side (Wilkinson, “Fall of Malacca,” p. 68–69), but the Malay Annals quote an even higher figure (190,000) (Rouffaer, “Malaka,” p. 408, 409). A more reliable impression is made by Ruy Araujo, the sultan’s Portuguese prisoner, who reports that there were 10,000 homes (hearthstones) in the city in 1510. Assuming the average family to consist of 4 or 5 persons, we arrive at a population of 40,000 to 50,000, a figure which corresponds with Araujo’s other estimate that in the events of war Malacca could raise 4,000 fighting men. (Alguns Documentos, p. 220). The figure of 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants also fits in better with the more exact data available for a later period when the Portuguese had become the masters of the city.
See p. 29, 30.
For the export of “troepoek” or fish roe see p. 81.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 260.
Rouffaer, “Malaka,” p. 408; Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 156.
For the export of Peguan junks see p. 69–71.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 25o; Albuquerque, Commentaries III, p. 142. This means that the report that Malaccan merchants had junks built after the city fell to the Portuguese (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 283) is not necessarily contradictory. The junks in question may also have been ordered elsewhere.
Godinho de Eredia, cap. XIII, p. 26; Mills, “Eredia’s Description,” JRASMB VIII, I (1930), p. 36.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 272 (Coromandel); Barbosa, Book II, p. 117 (Ceylon); Ibid., p. 175 (Bengal); Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 98 (Pegu); Ibid., p. 118, 122, 123 (China).
Sultan Muzaffar is reputed to have made improvements to the harbour (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 246).
Godinho de Eredia, cap. XI, p. 22; Mills, “Eredia’s Description,” JRASMB VIII, 1 (1930), P. 32, 33.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 275.
Barros, Da Asia, Dec. II, Liv. VI, cap. VI, p. 89.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 275.
The Itinerario of Ludovico de Varthema of Bologna from 1502–1508, ed. R. C. Temple, (1928), p. 86. The credibility of Varthema has been in doubt since Garcia da Orta ( 1558–1561 ) According to R. C. Temple, Varthema’s editor, the Itinerario is quite reliable, and,if so, it provides us with the first account by a European of the regions of the Malay Straits and the Indonesian Archipelago. Compared with the descriptions left by Pires and Barbosa, however, Varthema’s account fails to give any impression of being based on first-hand knowledge.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 276, 277. How conscientious Pires was in his research is indicated by a passage in which he deplores the fact that the Portuguese government in Cochin did not take enough notice of his very accurate determination of a Malaccan unit of weight, a task which he had carried out in Malacca in his capacity as secretary (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 278 ).
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 277.
Dulaurier, Ed. Institutions maritimes de l’archipel d’Asie, trad. en français .... Textes malay et bougui (extrait Pardessus); B. F. Matthes, Over de Wadjorezen met hun handelsen scheepswetboek. The rules of maritime law for South Celebes published by L. J. J. Caron were not codified until the second half of the 17th century. Caron has not gene into the connection with the maritime law of Malay (L. J. J. Caron, Het handels-en zeerecht in de adatrechtsregelen van de rechtskring Zuid-Celebes. Bussum, 1937) Attention may well be drawn here to a Japanese maritime code, published by F. Joüon des Longrais, which is reputed to have had its origin in the Middle Ages (“Un coutumier maritime japonais medieval,” in Etudes d’histoire du droit priva offertes d Pierre Plot, Paris, 1959, P. 301–319 ).
Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 28; Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 54–59. In the Annals the organization of the governing body is attributed to Muhammed Shah, in Pires to Iskander Shah.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 264, 265. The accounts given by modern writers of the way in which the government of Malacca was organized are based on what Albuquerque has to say on the subject in the Commentaries. He, in turn, must have obtained his data from Pires, with whom he is largely in agreement. Pires, however, goes into much greater detail and provides more exact information. Yet Winstedt is the only modern writer who quotes Pires at all, and he does this very briefly in Malaya and its History (the popular version of his “History of Malaya”) and then only in reference to the shahbandars (p. 36). Pires was not yet available to Winstedt when the latter wrote the “History of Malaya.”
The Paduca Raja may have been the young son of the king.
Albuquerque, Commentaries III, p. 87.
This was probably not a municipal post any more than the office of shahbandar, since there is nothing to indicate that Malacca enjoyed autonomous government. For that matter, autonomous towns were an institution unknown in Asia (M. Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie I, p. 87, 89, 291). Pires was misled here by his western way of looking at things.
Albuquerque, Commentaries III, p. 87.
The laksamana only had command at sea.
Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 3o, 31.
Shahbandar, a word of Persian origin (see Ferrand, “L’élément persan,” p. 239) commonly used in the East to denote the person entrusted with the supervision of a harbour. In the earliest Dutch accounts of voyages the shahbandars were among the most important Asian personages with whom the Dutch came into contact.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 273.
Ibid., p. 265.
Pardessus VI, P. 448.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 273, 274.
Pardessus VI, P. 439.
Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 26.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 265.
Pardessus VI, P. 439.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 273.
Ibid., P. 273.
Ibid., p. 273.
Ibid., p. 274.
Ibid., p. 274.
Ibid., p. 274.
Although it is Pires’ intention to describe the situation under the sultans, it is, of course, possible that he means an institution founded after the conquest of the town.
Report by Balthasar Bort, V.O.C. arch. O.B. 1679 I vervolg, fol. 584 et seq.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 273, 274.
Gedenkwaardigste Zee-en Landreysen na Oost-en West-Indian, uitg. Pieter van der Aa, dl. V (“Scheepstogt van Jorge d’Aguiar,” p. 32).
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 273, 274.
See p. 4o.
Pardessus VI, p. 381, 382.
Ibid., p. 380, 381, 431.
Ibid., p. 391.
Ibid., p. 420.
Ibid., p. 408.
Ibid., p. 403, 404.
Ibid., p. 407–409, 423–425.
Ibid., p. 439.
Ibid., p. 429.
Ibid., p. 420.
Ibid., p. 407, 408.
Ibid., p. 408.
Ibid., p. 407.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 283.
Pardessus VI, p. 408.
Ibid., p. 408.
Ibid., p. 381, 421.
Ibid., p. 404.
Ibid., p. 407.
I koyan = 30 pikol = 3,750 pounds. The weight of a gantang varied in different parts of the country, but was between 8} and 12 pounds. Theo} pounds mentioned in the maritime code was therefore calculated on a very low basis. Practically no conclusions can be drawn from these unreliable figures.
Pardessus VI, p. 421.
Ibid., p. 409.
Villiers, The Indian Ocean, p. 68–81.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 283, 284.
Ibid., p. 283, 284.
In the Japanese “respondencias” of the 16th and early 17th centuries the risk was also for the lender of the money. The texts of these Japanese commenda transactions have been preserved. See, among others, Seiichi Iwao, “Jan Joosten, the Forerunner of the Dutch Japanese Relation,” reprint of the Bulletin of the Japan-Netherlands Society I, Tokyo, 1958.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 285.
Ibid., p. 284.
Tanjung Pura, nowadays a village in the western part of Borneo in the state of Matan and formerly the capital of Matan. (Aardrijkskundig Woordenboek Nederl.-Indië III, Amsterdam 1869, 887).
Pardessus VI, p. 426.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 284, 285.
Ibid., p. 251.
Ibid., p. 285.
Ibid., p. 243.
Cf. Hobson-Jobson, A Chetti is a member of the merchant caste in southern India (Banyans in northern India).
Alguns Documentos, p. 245 (letter from Affonso de Albuquerque to the king, 1st April 1512).
Albuquerque, Commentaries III, p. 80. 140 quintals = 8,824 kg. Pires estimates Mansur Shah’s fortune at 220 quintals of gold and large quantities of precious stones (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 250 ).
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 249, 265, 266; Winstedt, “History of Malaya,” p. 47; Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 44.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 285.
Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 27.
e.g. Admiral Hang Tuah and the coastal inhabitants of Bintang.
Albuquerque, Commentaries III, p. 86.
For Tun Perak see Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 66–68, 86–89, 92–94, 98, 105–108, 1 r r-r 1g. Apparently Pires did not realize that the bendaharas were chosen from various families, and so he confuses Tun Perak with the Tamil “kingmaker” who played such an important rôle in the reign of Muzaffar. It is remarkable that, according to Pires, the Tamil mercantile family did not become influential under Muzaffar but only under Mansur. Moreover Pires states that this Kling was still heathen in Muzaffar’s time, so that he cannot have been converted to Islam before Mansur’s reign (Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 249).
For Hang Tuah see Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 76–86, 92, 99, 100,103, 204, III-113, 116–118, 120–122, 140, 142; also the “Hikajat Hang Tuah.” In An Attempt of Interpretation of the Main Characters of the Malay “Hikayat Hang Tuah” (paper presented by the USSR ‘delegation to the XXV International Congress of Orientalists, Moscow, 196o) B. Parnickel calls attention to the different conception of the figure of Hang Tuah in the Malay Annals and in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, which was written 15o years later.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 249.
Ibid., p. 279.
Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p.,60.
Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 64.
Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 134, cf. Wilkinson, “Sultanate,” p. 64, who gives another translation and is probably keeping to the Leyden edition of the Malay Annals.
For Tun Mutahir see Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” P. 95, 134, 135, 156–164.
Barbosa, Book II, p. 176.
Alguns Documentos, p. 348 (letter from Ruy de Brito to the king, 6/1 1514).
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 214.
Ibid., p. 41, 42; see also Barbosa, Book II, p. 125.
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 42.
Thomas Bowrey, A Geographical Account of Countries round the Bay of Bengal, 1669–1679. WHS, 1905, P. 24.
Nair = member of an aristocratic caste.
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 82.
Barbosa, Book II, p. 177.
Ibid., p. 176.
Barros, Da Asia, Dec. II, Liv. IV, cap. IV, p. 405; Ibid., Dec. II, Liv. VI, cap. III, P. 52, 53; Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 280–282.
Barros, Da Asia, Dec. II, Liv. VI, cap. VII, p. 93.
Pires, Suma Oriental II, p. 254.
Ibid., p. 255.
Ibid., I, p. 93.
Ibid., II, p. 249.
Ibid., p. 266, 267.
Barros, Da Asia, Dec. II, Liv. VI, cap. VI, p. 86.
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 224.
Barros, Da Asia, Dec. III, part I, p. 579. Barros holds that Islam was spread in the Moluccas by Malays from Malacca as well as by Javanese: “assi os Jaos e Malayos jâ convertidos navegando as ilhas de Maluco e Banda, converteram as provoacoes maritimas corn que tinham commercio.”
Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 55.
Pires, Suma Oriental I, p. 193.
Van Leur, “On Early Asian Trade,” p. 85, 339 note 199.
Barbosa, Book II, p. 176, 177.
Godinho de Eredia, cap. XIII, p. 26; Mills, “Eredia’s Description of Malacca,” p. 36–40.
See p. 263, 164.
Godinho de Eredia, cap. XIV, p. 31/32; Mills, “Eredia’s Description of Malacca,” p. 39.
Alguns Documentos, p. 220. (A Portuguese prisoner, probably Ruy de Araujo, to Affonso de Albuquerque 16/2 1510).
Brown, “Sejarah Melayu,” p. 57.
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© 1962 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Meilink-Roelofsz, M.A.P. (1962). Malacca at the End of the 15th Century. In: Asian Trade and European Influence. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-8850-0_4
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