The Malacca Sultanate

Continuing from the story in my previous post, let’s look at an interesting story about how Malacca turned into a business city.

Ancient Singapura kingdom was founded by King Sang Nila Utama, a Hindu prince from Indonesia. His descendant, Parameswara (a.k.a. Iskandar Shah), was the last king of Singapura and the founder of the Malacca Sultanate.

He and his descendants developed Malacca into a bustling economic power center. It welcomed traders from all over the world, including traders from India—specifically Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Gujarat.

When I visited Bali couple of years ago, I asked them about their origins. My contact over there told me they are the descendants of Gujarati Merchants.

Coming back to our story, we are talking about the 15th and 16th centuries, the same period when Vasco da Gama reached the port of Calicut.

Long before the British arrived, wealthy Hindu merchants from the Coromandel Coast of South India sailed across the Bay of Bengal to trade textiles, spices, and luxury goods. Ancient sea travel was not like traveling in aircraft today; it relied heavily on monsoon winds, which change direction every six months.

When they arrived during one monsoon, they had to wait in Malacca for the next six months until the return monsoon started. This was their money-making period. As these traders found themselves stranded for these months, they began marrying local women. (Tamil traders having one family in each location continued till previous generation, If I’m not wrong)

As generations passed, the children of these intermarriages blended the cultures of their Indian fathers and local mothers, creating the Chitty Melaka culture.

历史悠久 (Lìshǐ yōujiǔ)
A long history
Tamil: நீண்ட வரலாறு
Malay: Sejarah yang panjang