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The Emperor of China
National Museum of Taipei |
Across the vast oceans… Hung Wu, the 1st Emperor of the Ming Dynasty passed away. The Emperor's 16year old grandson, initially chosen to ascend the throne mysteriously disappeared and the palace in Nanking was burnt down. His uncle(Yung-lo) usurped the throne. Yung-lo yearned to be the next Emperor of China and it was he who rebelled and marched his army to capture the royal city of Nanking and to incarcerate his nephew. However, usurpation was not acceptable in those days and to subdue his people's growing unease, he put it out that the boy was hiding amongst the Chinese community overseas. Yung-lo then made a great show of concern for his nephew by sending large fleets to far distant lands in search of the boy. In fact, Yung-lo used this excuse to carry out his and his deceased father's policies of outlawing any private overseas trade amongst the Chinese traders.
Emperor Hung Wu (Yung-lo's father) blamed wealthy businessmen living on the coast for provoking unrest in South China. Hung Wu was a Northerner who grew up in extreme poverty. He despised merchants and the way they manipulated their wealth. The emperor believed that the wealthy merchants turned to piracy and pillaging whenever opportunities arose causing much tension in the south. He made it a crime to travel overseas. This extreme policy caused many wealthy private Chinese traders to flee China and those who were already overseas, were afraid to return. The fleeing traders took their families and great amount of riches with them. This enraged the Emperor.
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Although he professed to not having any interest in foreign conquests, the Emperor and his sons were determined to recover the treasures taken by the traders.
Yung-lo adhered to his father's policies diligently. A proposal of putting all foreign import and export trade as a strictly controlled government monopoly called a 'tribute system' was enforced. The Emperor sent his great fleets on voyages as far as Africa, bringing gifts to foreign rulers and in return, envoys were sent to China bearing tribute to the Emperor. At the same time, his imperial officers enforced the 'tribute system' on all the overseas Chinese communities. Yung-lo's most trusted command-in-chief was the giant Muslim Eunuch, Ma Sanbao. For 26 years, Admiral Ma Sanbao sailed to as far as Africa to carry out his duties and is known as one of the greatest Admirals in Chinese history.
Ma Sanbao (Admiral Cheng Ho)
Ma Ho was born to a poor ethnic Hui family in Yunnan, south western China - near Laos, in 1371. The Hui were Chinese Muslims of Mongol-Turkic mix. When Ma Ho was a young boy, the Chinese Army was sent to expel the Mongols from the south west regions. To terrorise people into submission, the army would capture every male adult and child and dismember them. In 1381, the army marched into Ma Ho's village. He was captured and mutilated. The 10year old did not bleed to death nor die from infection like many others. He also proved to have exceptional intelligence. Seeing his determination and will to live, he was recruited to be trained for the imperial household. 2 years later he was assigned to Duke Yan's army, who was to later usurp the throne as Yung-lo.
Zheng He Institute |
In old China, the Eunuchs most precious treasures are their mutilated organs in which they keep with them for the rest of their lives, wrapped in silk and preserved in jars and containers. They would call them 'their little precious'. In keeping their little precious with them, in death they will be rejoined and made whole again. Ma Sanbao was a name given by the Emperor. Sanbao means 'three jewels' or 'thrice precious' - this indicating that even though he was not physically whole, he was still an astounding warrior and all respect was endowed upon him. The name figuratively made Ma Ho whole again..
After the duke proclaimed himself as Emperor, he gave Ma the post of command over the thousands of eunuchs in the Imperial household. These eunuchs served the throne as its secret service. With this new post, Ma Ho was given the grand surname Cheng, officially known as Cheng Ho. Not long after, he was given command of the naval expedition, which was to bring him to Malacca and beyond. Cheng Ho's first expedition included 27,870 men on 317 ships. The word junk comes from the Malay word djong meaning any large vessel. The Chinese fleet of junks were impressive. These were not the type of junks that we would normally associate with as rickety, creaking, wooden crafts with flimsy sails. Many of the junks were built specially to house treasures reclaimed from the overseas Chinese communities and were so big; they were each crewed by 500men!
Cheng Ho's flagship was called the Star Raft.
The New Protector and the Overlords
Admiral Cheng Ho left Nanking for his 3rd voyage in autumn and headed down to Malacca to put in place, the last piece of the missing puzzle in the Ming southern strategy.
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China had been warring with the Siamese over the control of the Straits for a number of years and sought to hold the position in Melaka to control the trading route. The emperor sent Cheng Ho to bestow upon Parameswara - two silver robes, a mandarin's hat, a girdle of office, and an embroidered silk robe. Parameswara in return,presented the Emperor with a pair of spectacles. That was the introduction of spectacles to the Chinese. The Emperor proclaimed Parameswara as the ruler of Malacca and declared that it was a city-state under the protection of the Emperor of China and paid homage to the Ming throne. With the Chinese securing the trading routes and its special interest in developing Malacca as its regional warehouse for trading of goods, Malacca claimed its position as an entrepot.
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Parameswara was not about to alienate his former overlords either. Malacca still acknowledged its two powerful neighbours, the Thai Ayudhya and Majapahit of Java as overlords. This was not so much for protection but he requested that these overlords helped him build Malacca by providing food and people and in return, they presented these overlords with gifts and tributes. With the foreign policies well in place, Malacca flourished for the next 100years.
Malacca, the Entrepot
Soon, traders began arriving from all regions. Malacca's warehousing infrastructure was built underground to house goods arriving from the east and the west. Since the monsoon seasons dictated the sea traffic, goods coming in from the east or west or even south had to be stored awaiting the arrival of other traders. Between December and March, ships would arrive from the Western lands and the Far East whereas ships from Java and the eastern Indonesia archipelagos came in from May until September. The warehouses were well protected from theft, fire and other damages. Guards were constantly patrolling the warehouses.
courtesy of Arkib Negara. Malacca in the 1400s |
Malacca, as of most entrepots, ensured safety for their traders who plied along the Melaka Straits. This was done by commanding allegiance with the Orang Laut (piracy was their main profession). These Orang Laut protected Malacca's clients and taunted those that were of its rivals. This guaranteed safety was of utmost importance to the merchants for pillaged ships could mean bankruptcy and loss of lives.
The next matter of importance was its administrative arrangement. A syahbandar or harbour master was assigned to groups of nations. There were 4 syahbandars in total. One looked after the large numbers of Gujarati merchants, another was appointed for Indians from Southern India and Bengal together with traders from Pegu in Burma and Pasai; the other was in charge of managing traders from Java, Moluccus, Banda, Palembang, Borneo and the Phillipines; and the fourth one was appointed for the traders from Champa, China, and the Ryuku Islands.
Whenever, a ship arrived at the port, its captain would report to the syahbandar, who later referred him to the Bendahara (the Prime Minister). Custom tax was levied based on the value of the merchandise and its origins. Once this has been confirmed and gifts had been presented to the Ruler, the Bendahara and the Temenggung (the official involved in the collection of import and export duties) and the appropriate syahbandar, then trading can begin. The syahbandar would then allocate elephants to the trader to carry his goods to warehouses for storage.
Old Map of Malacca circa 1604. Courtesy of Arkib Negara |
Malacca was successful because its own Malay traders travelled and traded with the rest of the archipelago bartering with Indian textiles from Gujarati in return for spices, aromatic woods, sea produce and other tropical exotic items highly prized by traders from the East and West.
Eventually, it made its name as the collection centre for priceless spices from the rest of the Archipelago. Cloves from Moluccas, nutmeg and mace from the Banda Islands, aromatic woods, exotic bird feathers, sea cucumbers, tortoiseshells etc came pouring in and was traded just as swiftly.
In 1511, Tome Pires, a Portuguese who wrote an account of Malacca's administrative and trading history estimated that 2.4million cruzados worth of trade passed through the port. In contrast - Seville, one of the wealthiest ports in Europe, only reported trading value worth 4million cruzados. Malacca was on its way to being the most profitable entrepot in the Orient. By the beginning of the 16th century, the population had swelled to as many as 100,000.
The Sultans and their people
Sultans of Malacca were hereditary rulers. The Sultan had absolute power over his subjects. This position was owing to the claim that his lineage was linked directly to Alexander the Great, and that the Sultan was the Shadow of God on earth. He was regarded with the highest respect and his actions were never questioned. Treason was regarded as the worst crime and was punishable by death. Religion was also another source of power for the Sultans. Islam was introduced to Malacca by Arab traders and missionaries in the 13th century. As many rulers embraced the religion for spiritual benefits, others saw it as an opportunity to entice more Indian Muslim traders who would be more inclined to stay where they could worship at a mosque.
As more prosperous Indian Muslim traders came and stayed on in Malacca, they gradually gained power and influence in the tiny community and soon after, the royal family converted to Islam.
Our golden era is said to have commenced when Raja Kasim, taking the title of Sultan Muzzafar Shah, ascended the throne. Under his reign the city went on to become a Sultanate and an Empire. Military campaigns expanded the Empire by swallowing neighbouring states; and many a political marriage served to swell the boundaries and coffers of the Empire.
Written accounts by the Chinese recorded that the city was surrounded by a palisade with 4 gates and watch towers. Inside the city wall was a 2nd fortress where money, godowns and provisions were housed. The hill on the south side was where the sultan and his court lived. The main mosque was also situated on the hill. A bridge connected the north and south side with a marketplace contained in a structure of 20 pavilions where commodities of all sorts were sold. North of the river, lived the merchants who were grouped into separate ethnic communities according to their countries of origin. Rich merchants had offices in the city but maintained residence outside the town walls which were staffed with slaves and servants. Beautifully manicured gardens and orchards separated these merchants from the man-on -the- street and to further enhance their position, they wore 'robes of honour'.
A dutch house believed to be once owned by the Westerhouts and later was the old museum of Malacca. Courtesy of Arkib Negara. information on pic provided by Jo Chua |
Another Chinese observer, Hwang Chung, wrote that the people of Malacca were well-mannered. They enjoyed music, ballads and poetry and the men were generally astute in the arts of war. They prided themselves in the knowledge and use of the keris. Even a boy of two was allowed to carry a small dagger. Malacca's position provided a symbol of Malay power.
Malay, as a language was disseminated to other parts of the archipelago by the Malay traders. The entrepot's standing as a commercial and religious centre was to have profound influence on other Muslim kingdoms in other regions. The language, the malay custom(adat) and the worship of Allah was to be the foundations of a successful and powerful sultanate. Other Muslim kingdoms emulated its style of government, literature, dance, music, dress, games and titles. Under the rule of Sultan Mansur Shah, (the son of Sultan Muzzafar Shah) during the 2nd half of the 15th century, the Malacca Sultanate expanded to include southern Peninsular, much of Eastern Sumatra and the Riau and Lingga Islands. It is widely believed that Malacca reached the peak of its glorious ascent during his reign.
The Spice trade and the Europeans
As time went by, trading went beyond familiar shores. Merchandise and commodities were taken to the foreign lands of Europe. In medieval Europe, spices were considered more precious than gold. Curries and peppers were used to preserve and flavour meats. These spices were of economical importance as it was too expensive to feed animals through long winters and was more cost effective to slaughter and preserve the meat over the winter months.
The most lucrative trade in the straits was the 'Blue Water Trade' - collecting and distributing spices, porcelain, tea and silk to be sent to Europe through the Middle East and Venice. Pires, a Portuguese apothecary and diplomat who came to Malacca in 1512 wrote, 'whoever is Lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice.'
Spices, porcelain, tea and silk. The Europeans soon learnt that if they could control trading in the Straits, it would bring them riches beyond their dreams and hold power over their rivals. Being seafarers of origin, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive at the scene.
next page to the Colonial Influence on Malacca ...
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