Empire · 1400–1511 · Southeast Asia

Malacca Sultanate

Also known as Malacca

Malacca was founded around 1400 by Parameswara, a prince from Palembang in Sumatra, who settled at a fishing village on the strait between Sumatra and the Malay peninsula. By seeking the protection of Ming China, whose admiral Zheng He visited several times, the young port escaped Siamese control.

Its rulers converted to Islam, and Malacca became the busiest trading hub in Southeast Asia, where merchants from Gujarat, China, Java and the Spice Islands exchanged cloth, spices and porcelain under efficient harbour officials. Under the long-serving chief minister Tun Perak the sultanate expanded along both shores of the strait. Its wealth drew the Portuguese, who captured the city in 1511; Sultan Mahmud Shah fled, and his heirs founded the sultanates of Johor and Perak.

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Years

1400–1511

Capital

Malacca

Greatest extent

1500, about 180,000 km²

Region

Southeast Asia

Rough estimate: the southern Malay peninsula and the east coast of Sumatra; no scholarly area figure found