Akar Nusa
It is the 1460s. On one quay a Gujarati merchant haggles over pepper. Nearby, a Chinese trader checks porcelain, and a captain from Java counts cloves.
The story
Melaka was one of the greatest ports of its time. Ships came from China and Japan side to India, Arabia and beyond, and traders waited in Melaka for the winds to change. Goods included Chinese porcelain and silk, Indian cotton, and spices from the Moluccas.
The sultanate set up four harbour masters (shahbandar). One looked after Gujarati traders. One looked after traders from southern India, Bengal, Burma and Pasai. One looked after merchants from across the islands. One looked after traders from Vietnam, China and the Ryukyu Islands.
Laws were written down in the Undang-Undang Melaka (Laws of Melaka) and the maritime laws. Islam became firmly established under Sultan Muzaffar Shah (ruled 1445 to 1459), although scholars still discuss when the change took place. Classical Malay became the common language of trade across the archipelago, written in Jawi script.
We keep the language numbers modest: many languages were heard, as in any great port, but we have not confirmed a precise count.
Where you can still see it today
Melaka's old town still shows Chinese, Malay, Indian and European layers side by side. Look for Peranakan communities, including Chitty Melaka (the Indian Peranakan of Melaka). Classical Malay, the trade language of the time, is the ancestor of the Malay we hear today.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
A port like this explains why Malaysians are mixed. Lines such as H-M69 (An old line of India), B4 (The seafarers' line) and O-M324 (China's most common father line) show how threads from different regions meet in our country. DNA cannot show which port an ancestor used. DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.
