Akar Nusa / Shelves / Kingdoms and trade
Kingdoms and trade
Monsoon winds, spices and ports: how trade brought people together.

WHERE THE STORIES ON THIS SHELF HAPPENED. SHAPES ARE SCHEMATIC.
Stories on this shelf
10 written, 10 coming soon
Bujang Valley: the oldest known kingdom in Malaysia
Temples, iron and port remains in Kedah, 1,700 years old.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readSrivijaya: the sea empire of Sumatra
A great Buddhist maritime power that controlled the Straits.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readThe maritime silk road through Malaysia
Chinese silk, Indian cotton, Arab incense: all passed our shores.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readKedah Tua: the early kingdom of Kedah
Kedah appears in Arab and Chinese records.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readLangkasuka: the lost kingdom of the Peninsula
A kingdom named in Chinese texts, with ruins in Pattani and Kedah.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readSantubong: iron, glass and a Chinese port in Sarawak
Tang and Song porcelain, iron smelting and trade on Santubong.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readShipwrecks of the Straits: what they carried
Ships found underwater show who traded with whom.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readIndian influence on Malay culture
Words, stories and ideas that came with the traders.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readPasai, the first Muslim port in the Straits
A trading port that helped Islam spread across the region.
Kingdoms and trade · 3 min readTerengganu Stone: oldest Malay text in Arabic script
A stone from 1303 or 1387 shows early Malay writing.
Sungai Mas and the port of old Kedah
A bustling river port with glass, beads and ships.
Chi Tu: the kingdom of the red earth
A Chinese envoy visited in 607 CE; its place is still debated.
Gangga Negara: a kingdom of the Perak river
Ruins and stories of a lost kingdom of Dinding.
Pan Pan, Tambralinga and the portage routes
Goods crossed the narrow Peninsula by river and trail.
Srivijaya and the Peninsula: Kedah, Chaiya, and the tin
Srivijaya ruled the Straits and tied the Peninsula to the sea.
Tin, gold and forest goods: the early exports
Peninsula gold gave the Golden Khersonese its name.
The Cholas and the Peninsula
A South Indian navy raided Kedah in 1025.
The Arab and Persian geographers on Malaya
Early Arab writers call the Peninsula by many names.
Majapahit and the Peninsula
Java's great empire left its mark on the Malay world.
Kota Gelanggi and other lost cities
Old texts talk of a lost city in Johor; searchers have not found it.
5 family lines linked to this shelf
A line being common in a place does not mean everyone there carries it, and it never settles who anyone is.




