During the days of the Malacca Sultanate, these intrepid ancient seafarers not only came from neighboring regions but also from as far away as China, Japan and the Middle Eats to trade for the fabled Asian spices.
Four officials administered the foreign merchant communities: one for the Guajaratis, one for other Indians and Burmese, one for Southeast Asia, and one for the Chinese and Japanese.
Malacca, located in the west coast of the Malayan Peninsula, first emerged as a major trading port in the early fifteenth century, when Parameswara, avoided Thai rule with the aid of the emperor of China.
By 1500, Malacca was the largest and most populous commercial emporium in the international trade world of Southeast Asia. Malacca was the crucial transit point for spices and many other commodities heading east to China and west to India and Europe, and a port city quite dependent on the trade in pepper.
Malacca also became a center of Islamic learning from which scholars spread Islam throughout the region.
City-state of Malacca
