Malacca

I just could not miss Malacca and all the history over there so I planned a full day trip from Kuala Lumpur.
Regretfully I got nearly a full day of rain!
Anyway my Canon did the hard job.

The historic center of Malacca was inscribed on the World Heritage List on 2008 together with George Town, the capital of Penang.

Before the arrival of the first Sultan, Malacca was a fishing village inhabited by local Malays. Malacca was founded by Parameswara, also called Iskandar Shah or Sri Majara.
He understood the importance of Malacca around 1400, the place was accessible in all seasons, located in the narrowest point of the Malacca Straits. Really a strategical place.

The prosperity of Malacca attracted the attention of the Siamese. Attempts at invasion made in 1446 and 1456.
The development of relations between Malacca and China was a strategic decision to ward off further Siamese attacks.

During its prime, Malacca was a powerful Sultanate which extended its rule over the southern Malay Peninsula and much of Sumatra. Its rise helped to hold off the Thai’s southwards encroachment. Malacca was also pivotal in the spread of Islam in the Malay Archipelago.

In April 1511, Alfonso de Albuquerque sailed from Goa to Malacca with a force of 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships. They conquered the city August 24, 1511.
Malacca became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies.

The Portuguese built the fort named A Famosa to defend Malacca (??the ruins of his door are all that remains today) and to appease the King of Siam sent the ambassador Duarte Fernandes that was well received.

Control Malacca, however, does not meant to control the Asian trade. Rather than realizing the ambition to dominate the core, the center of all Asian trade, the Portuguese had broken the existing organization of the network. The trade had in fact spread out over a number of secondary ports.

In 1641 the Dutch defeated the Portuguese with the help of the Sultan of Johore but were not interested in developing Malacca as a center of commerce held in higher regard Jakarta.

Malacca was ceded to Britain in 1824 in exchange for Bencoolen on Sumatra. Malacca was ruled from 1826-1946, first by the British East India Company and then as a Crown colony.

Posted on December 20, 2011

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