Akar Nusa
Smoke over the river. A sultan, hurt in battle, rides away with his people. A new flag rises over the harbour.
The story
Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese governor in India, sailed to Melaka in 1511. An attack on 25 July failed. A second assault came in early August. The city fell on 15 August 1511.
The Portuguese force was about 1,500 soldiers, plus about 800 Chinese and Indian helpers. The sultanate had many more men and guns, but sources suggest only a fraction were ready to fight. The Portuguese lost very few men, according to the record.
Sultan Mahmud Shah was wounded and left the city. He later camped near the Muar river. His family later founded the Johor and Perak sultanates.
Melaka became Portuguese Malacca, and the sultanate was destroyed. Other ports such as Aceh and Johor grew as merchants chose different harbours. Tome Pires, who lived in Melaka soon after, wrote the first detailed outside account of the city.
Where you can still see it today
Melaka's old town, where Portuguese, Dutch, Malay, Chinese and Indian history stand side by side. Museums there tell the 1511 story, and the Johor and Perak royal histories carry the sultan's line forward.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
DNA can sometimes show a European thread in a person, but a single result cannot prove a link to 1511. We do not have a story line for this specific event. DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.
