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

Majapahit Empire from Java (1292-1478)

The Majapahit Empire was a loose system of external dependencies and tributary states stretching from Sumatra in the west to the Spice Islands in the east including Malay Peninsula. Its imperial city located on the lower course of River Brantas in eastern Java.

The Majapahit Empire followed the Srivijaya Empire and lasted from 1292-1478.  It was replaced by the Malaccan Empire.

The founder of the Majapahit Empire, Kertarajasa, was the son-in-law of Kertanagara, the ruler of the Singhasari Kingdom, also based in Java and a rival of the Srivijayans.

Kertanagara was an aspiring empire builder whose achievements stimulated the rise of Majapahit; He endeavored to assert Javanese supremacy over a declining Srivijaya and dispatched naval forces around the Java Sea.

Kertanagara drove the Srivijayans out of Java altogether in 1290.  The Majapahit kingdom became the most powerful of the kingdoms in Hindu Java and came to be regarded by the later generations as the major source of Javanese culture. This was the first time the major islands of the Indonesian archipelago had been united under one commands.

Majapahit grew strength because of successfully combined agricultural production with export trade.

The arrival of Islam on Java and a massive revolt on the north of the Island eventually left the empire weak and in disarray.

To make it worse, this internal threat came at the point when a rival kingdom, Malacca, was growing stronger. Malacca was setup in 1403, by Parameswara, who had ruled in Palembang under Majapahit reign.
Majapahit Empire from Java (1292-1478)

Malay Empire of Johor-Riau

The foundation of Johor-Riau empire can be date at soon after the fall of the Malay sultanate of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511.

The royal family was frequently on the move, shifting from a site on the Johor River to the island of Bintan in the Riau-Lingga archipelago.

The royal family then settled in a new capital that alternated between a site on the Johor River and another on the island of Bintan.

For 300 hundred years it was the center of Malay civilization.

In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese in Malacca and the North Sumatran kingdom of Aceh posed a continuing threat to Johor-Riau.

The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed the triangular struggle between the Malays of Johor-Riau, the Portuguese at Malacca and the Acehnese of northern Sumatra for domination of the Straits of Malacca.

Stability was finally achieved by courting the friendship of the Dutch in the 1640s; and toward the close of the 17th century, Johor-Riau became a major entrepot.

The empire had leaped to prosperity on the basis of the expanded junk trade from Southern China, the settlement of Chinese pepper and gambier planters, and the growth trade in the archipelago.

By the end of the century, though the rule of the wayward and tyrannical Sultan Mahmud had halted Johor’s preeminence among the Malay kingdom, the piracy was causing a decline in trade.

In 1699, Sultan Mahmud was killed by his own nobles and with the Malacca-Johor dynasty finally finished, successive power struggles crippled the kingdom.

By the 1780s, the Dutch had come to see the port at Tanjong Pinang in Riau, as a major threat to their political and economic position in the Malay world. This fear led them to dispatch a punitive naval expedition from Holland to destroy Riau.

The 1824 Treaty of London between the British and the Dutch put an end to the Johor-Riau Empire, partitioning it between the two European powers. The Riau side became known as the Sultanate of Lingga, while the Temenggong was left to wield Malay power.
Malay Empire of Johor-Riau

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