Chola dynasty of India

The Tamil Chola dynasty first emerged in southern India in 300 BC. They were based in the Cauvery valley, in the cities of Tanjore (Thanjavur) and Uraiyur

Vijayalaya was the founder of the Chola Empire. He defeated the Pallavas and took over the Tanjore kingdom within the 8th century and led to the establishment of the mighty Chola kingdom. Granted natural access to the Indian Ocean, the Cholas gradually carved out a strong maritime and mercantile empire, leveraging their position as a midpoint between China and Rome.

The Chola dynasty rose to prominence in 850 CE under the leadership of Vijayalaya Chola, and reigned for about four hundred years. King Rajaraja (reigned 985–1014 CE) took the empire to its height. He conquered the Maldive Islands and parts of Sri Lanka during the 10th century CE.

Both Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola had established maritime contacts with the Sri Vijaya kingdom. At the time, the Srivijaya Empire was the dominant power in the Malay Archipelago, its lands consisting of Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and parts of Java.

In 1025, Rajendra Chola launched naval raids on ports of Srivijaya and against the Burmese kingdom of Pegu. A Chola inscription states that he captured or plundered 14 places, which have been identified with Palembang, Tambralinga and Kedah among others. They also captured its king, Sri Mara Vijoyatunga Varman of Kadaram. The Bujang Valley was originally called Kadaram (Kedah) and formed part of the larger territory of the then Sri Vijaya kingdom.

Rajendra was one of the few Indian monarchs to conquer territory outside the Indian subcontinent. Under his reign, the Chola Dynasty was expanded to its greatest extent, dominating trade throughout the Indian Ocean. He was the only Indian emperor to conquer lands beyond seas.

The year 1279 CE marked the end of the Chola Dynasty. The last Chola king, Rajendra Chola III, was defeated by Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I. And with this, the Pandyas established their rule in present day Tamil Nadu.
Chola dynasty of India

Navy of Sri Vijaya Empire

About 4th century AD the dynasty of Sri Vijaya founded its kingdom in Sumatra. The kingdom expanded in the following three centuries as a full fledged naval power supporting a vast commercial network.

The powerful Sri Vijayan Navy controlled the Sunda and Malacca Straits and thus shaped the dynamics of Near Eastern and Indonesian trade with China. Sri Vijaya kings extended their authority over Malay, Sumatra and Java and warred against Champa and Annam.

They maintained a powerful navy which swept the sea of pirates and corsairs. With the construction and improvement of more seaworthy ships and better navigational skills, and the establishment of unified control over access corridors to the South China and Java Seas by Sri Vijaya which assure safe passage, there was a marked increase in the seaborne trade.

There is some indication that Sri Vijaya had a large armed force of about 20,000 men who were sent on an expedition against Java. Sri Vijaya might use a naval force to deploy its armies to any point in its “empire”.

One of the strengths of the kingdom was the effectiveness of the Orang Laut. The Orang Laut or the sea warriors may have served as Sri Vijaya’s naval strike force. The Orang Laut patrolled the sea lanes to encourage traders to visit their ruler’s port city, while harassing or destroying the ships of Sri Vijaya’s competitors.
Navy of Sri Vijaya Empire

The history of Pan-Pan kingdom (3rd – 7th century)

Pan-Pan Kingdom was a small independent kingdom, believed to have existed already since the 3rd century.

It is now general belief among the scholars that the kingdom was situated on the Bandon Bight in the Gulf of Thailand, at the mouth of the Tapi River near the sea, in the area of modern Surat Thani City. Excavations at Chaiya have produced some of the most impressive ancient architecture, statues and temples on the peninsula.

Pan-Pan was quite active diplomatically, it sent at least eight and possibly as many as 12 missions to Liang, Sui and Tang dynasties from the early seventh centuries. Chinese records state that the Hinduized ruler of the Pan-Pan kingdom sent accredited envoys and tributary, among other things a tooth of Lord Buddha, to the Chinese Emperor in the years 525, 530 and 537.

The Kingdom of Pan-Pan appears in the section the History of the Liang Dynasty which describes Funan’s conquest. A main source of wealth for Pan-Pan would have been its control of the important trans-peninsula route from Takuapa to Chaiya and it may have also controlled the Phang Nga route.

At the end of the 7th or beginning of the 8th century, the small kingdom also came under the influence of the Srivijaya Empire.
The history of Pan-Pan kingdom (3rd – 7th century)

Brief history of Riau Islands

The Riau Islands have played a significant role in the cultural history of Indonesia, being the cradle of the form of Malay that became the national language and major center of classical Malay civilization.

Riau’s position at the southern entrance to the Strait of Malacca, the gateway for trade between India and China, was strategically significant.

There were small trading settlements on the Riau and Lingga archipelagos from at least the time of the empire of Srivijaya, which was established in southern Sumatra from the seventh century. It was said that the sea nomads of Riau made up opart of 20,000 strong military force of the Srivijaya ruler around 683 AD.

By about 1000 the island of Bintan was emerging as dominant, and it was to this island that Sultan Mahmud I of Malacca fled when the Portuguese captures his capital in 1511.

From the 16th century, the Riau Islands were ruled by a variety of Malay Kingdoms, which had to fight off constant attacks by pirates and the opportunistic Portuguese, Dutch and English.

Riau’s Golden Age, when it was at the height of its cultural and religious influence, was from around the middle of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century. At that time Bintan became an international center for the exchange of opium, tin, peeper, cloth, gambier and spices.

The Dutch then won controlled over the Strait of Malacca and mainland Riau became their colony when the Sultan of Johor surrendered in 1745.

In 1824 the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London completed and Riau Islands became part of the Dutch colony of what became known as the Netherlands East Indies.

The last Sultan of Riau was finally forced to abdicate by the Dutch colonial authorities in 1911.
Brief history of Riau Islands

History of Pahang

Chinese records referred to 13th century Pahang as a vassal of the waning Buddhist Srivijaya Empire (7th-13th centuries AD), a Malay thalassocracy whose capital was located in Sumatera.

Pahang reputedly fell to the King of Siam around the 12th century.

Malay influence in Pahang was only re-established in the 15th century when it was annexed by the Malacca sultanate.

The Portuguese seizure of Malacca in 1511 saw Pahang as a vassal of the Johor-Riau Empire, which itself came under the influence of the Bugis in the 18th century.

In the 16th century the state became a pawn in the four-way struggle for ascendancy between Johor, Aceh the Dutch and the Portuguese.

After the decline of the Acehnese Empire in the mid-17th century Pahang was ruled by Johor for 200 years.

Following a protracted civil war in the mid-19th century, Wan Ahmad became sultan in 1882.

British sovereignty began in 1888, and it was rocked by insurrections in 1891 and 1896.

Pahang as incorporated into the Malayan Union in 1946, the Federation of Malaya in 1948 and Malaysia in 1963.
History of Pahang

Early history of Temasek

Chinese traders en route to India had plied the waters around Temasek for at least the 5th century AD, though the records of Chinese sailors as early as the 3rd century refer to an island called Pu Luo Chung.

By the 10th century at the peak of Srivijaya’s powers Temasek was at most a small trading post.

According to Malay legend around 1390, Sumatran prince Parameswara rebels against Majapahit and is driven out by the Javanese. He established himself as ruler of Temasek from 1391 to 1397.

As early as the 14th century, Temasek was viewed as the nexus of the trade routes in Southeast Asia. 

Archeological evidence dating from the late fourteenth century suggests that Temasek is engaged in prosperous commerce.

In 1398, Temasek is attacked by invading Majapahit. While Majapahit Empire seems to have conquered Temasek, its practice was not simply to take control of a territory and govern it as its own. Instead, the Majapahit raided a city, looted the wealth, enslaved the population, and burned any structures still standing. 

The departure of Parameswara was precipitated by a Siamese intervention in 1400 and the island’s commercial activity practically ended. It then became a center of piracy closely connected with the Sultanate of Malacca.

The Johor-Riau-Lingga Empire, a Malay maritime empire, made a living from ships passing through the Straits of Malacca.

At that time Temasek competed with rival polyglot ports along the Straits of Malacca coasts, such as Palembang, Jambi, Kota Cina, South Kedah, Lambri and Samudera.

Portuguese writer, Joe de Lisboa, reported in 1526 that a town in Temasek had been destroyed by the Portuguese.

Reports from the late 1500s continue to mention Temasek, as well and both Portuguese and Dutch documents from the early 1600s mention the presence of a harbor master, which is a person of great significance in the Malay royal establishment.
Early history of Temasek

Chi Tu Empire in Malay World (100 BC – 7th AD)

The historians believe that this empire emerged roughly around the same time as Srivijaya, which overshadowed this smaller trading port.

Chi Tu, the Red Earth land was situated on the Malay Peninsula. Chi Tu has several thousand square kilometers of land and was very rich in resources add products.

Chi Tu produced sunglow fabric, morning cloud fabric, colored cotton fabrics, rice, butter bean, black sesame seeds, cane spirits, coconut rum and more.

There was a record by China’s Sui dynasty envoys visited during 607 AD and 610 AD. Based on the record Chi Tu and its; capital Shi Zi on the upper Kelantan.

The land is hot and wet climate. The Chinese text attests to the present of Buddhist and Brahmans.

The Chi Tu people made wine form sugarcane to which they added the roots of a purple gourd. The resulting exotic beverage looked ‘yellow-red in color and the flavor was scented and delightful’.
Chi Tu Empire in Malay World (100 BC – 7th AD)

Malayu Kingdom of Jambi

The seventh century saw the emergence of a second coastal and riverine power on Sumatra: Jambi sometimes called Malayu. Jambi province has an old history with the discovery of an ancient relic dated at 686 AD.

The kingdom of Malayu was once incorporated into larger and stronger Sri Vijaya Empire, sometimes a semi independent vassal state and an independent entity for at least a short period.

In Chinese records from the seventh century, there are references to minerals from the kingdom of Mo-lo-yeu.

During Chola invasion in 11th century, Cholas called it the kingdom of Malaiur, the ‘strong mountain for its rampart’.

Jambi’s wealth and power came from its geographic position on the Straits of Malacca. This Sumatran Buddhist kingdom continued to dominate the region until about the 14th century.

At the end of the fourteenth center Jambi became a vassal region of Majapahit though it managed to wrench itself free again after the fall of this empire at the beginning of the 16th century.

It was then succeeded by an Islamic kingdom during 1460-1907.
Malayu Kingdom of Jambi

Early History of Srivijaya Empire

This powerful empire known as Srivijayan Empire, it was Mahayana Tantric Buddhist kingdom. The Orang Melayu first established the mighty Srivijaya Empire sometime in 683 AD, Srivijayan was possibly the greatest of Southeast Asia’s maritime empire.

It was said that the king left Menanga Tambang with an army of 20,000 men and had come and founded the city of Srivijaya on a place called Malayu in Palembang.

The Srivijaya Empire flourished in southeastern coast of Sumatra during AD 700 – 1200. The empire was well placed for trade because it could trade with India to the west or with China to the east.

The rulers of Srivijaya grew rich through trade. They built up a powerful navy and then a strong empire by using the navy to capture parts of neighboring Java and Borneo.

It had the control of the Malacca Straits, a focal point of trade routes.

The Srivijayans expanded, gaining control of the maritime trade routes between Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula by the 600s.

Srivijaya had established its present in the north of the Malay peninsula as early as AD 775.

In total, Srivijaya was the dominant power in the era do more than 350 years.
Early History of Srivijaya Empire