Conquest or collaboration in portuguese malacca from 1511 to 1521

One of the foremost authorities, Charles Ralph Boxer, author of Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion and the Portuguese Sea-borne Empire and The Portuguese Sea Borne Empire 1415-1825,

Chapter ONE: Literature Review and Methodological Approach

Colonial studies witnessed a breakthrough with the examination of the language of encounter and engagement, seen in the works of Anthony Pagden and Joan-Pau Rubiés.1Both historians explored the formal mechanics behind the relationship between colonizers and their subjects Pagden made a key observation that trade was both more profitable and safer than conquest.2 This suggests an end to a prolonged debate on the reasons and intentions behind the advent of colonizers, which often unearthed common rhetoric such as ‘for Gold, Glory and Gospel’.3 The focus moves from examining why the colonizers went about expansion to how they managed to do it The academic challenge delves into the mechanism of such engagements and addresses colonization in a more holistic manner

However, the abovementioned historians have focused largely on the Spanish encounter with the Native Americans in the New World With regards to Asia, there were extensive studies conducted by Holden Furber, Leonard Blussé and António Saldanha concerning the various East India Companies in Asia However, these occurred

Pagden, Lords of all the World: Ideologies of Empire in Spain, Britain and France c.1500-1800, (New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1995) p.64

3

In the Portuguese case, “feitoria, fortaleza e igreja” which means establishing the factory for trade, forts

to ensure security and the Church for the propagation of Christianity Uka Tiandrasasmita, “The Indonesian

Harbour Cities and the coming of the Portuguese” in Indonesia-Portugal: Five Hundred Years of Historical

Relationship, pp 54-63, edited by Ivo Carneiro de Sousa and Richard Z Leirissa, (Lisbon: Centro

Português de Estudos do Sudeste Asiático (CPESA), 2001) p.54

mostly in the later periods of the Colonial era.4 A luminary in the earlier period of

‘European Expansion’, Robinson suggested a comparative approach be used to assess the efficacy of colonial venture by the different European powers.5 For example, he contrasted the Dutch method of colonization to that of the Portuguese However, separate colonial contexts situated in different time periods contain divergent ideologies, and one necessarily varies from the other

Even in the same era, distinct approaches to colonization were adopted in various parts of the world The Portuguese asserted their own discourse on the ethical treatment

of the indigenous population in the early sixteenth century, which differed from the practice of their Spanish counterparts.6 A vital contrast between the Iberian powers was that the Spaniards were widely thought to be up against chiefly petty tribes, who were constantly at war with one another On the other hand, the variety of the Lusitanian encounters ranged from the Great Mughal Empire in India and the Emperor of China,

down to the penghulus (village chiefs) on the island of Timor The Portuguese could

era with the British Empire in India Leonard Blussé (ed) Companies and Trade Essays on Overseas

Trading Companies during the Ancien Regime, (Leiden: Leiden Research School for Asian, African and

Amerindian Studies, 1981) Holden Furber, Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient, 1600-1800, (Minneapolis: Minneapolis University Press, 1976) and António Vasconcelos de Saldanha, Iustus Imperium: dos Tratados

como Fundamento do império dos Portugueses no Oriente, (Macao: Instituto Português do Oriente and

Fundação Oriente, 1997)

5

Ronald Robinson, “An interview with Ronald Robinson” in Leonard Blussé (ed) Pilgrims of the Past,

(Leiden: Leiden Research School for Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), 1996) p.9

6

Charles Boxer, “Portuguese and Spanish Projects for the Conquest of South East Asia, 1580-1600”, in

South East Asia: Colonial History, vol 1, edited by Peter Borschberg, (London: Routledge, 2001)

pp.126-40 See also J.H Parry, “The Right to Conquest” The Spanish Theory of Empire in the sixteenth century,

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940) pp.12-26

boast that they engaged every stratum of civilization in Asia by the end of the sixteenth century

Literature Review

Comparatively, less material has been written on the Portuguese sea-borne empire Considerably less ink was also spilt on the issues of the language of engagement even though the Portuguese were the first Europeans to have mingled with the communities of Asia and established meaningful trading relationships Many of these relations were

continued and adopted by the subsequent colonizers Arguably, the Estado da Índia left

behind a blueprint for both commercial and societal interaction with the inhabitants of Asia.7 However, little credit has been given to the Portuguese for being the foremost in establishing this link between Asia and Europe

This was a result of how the history of the Portuguese in Asia has been perceived and written Firstly, the following questions had to be addressed: by whom is history written and for whom is history written? For example, most Dutch and English sources demonized the Portuguese as unrestrained, bigoted, promiscuous individuals, who possessed no order or rights to colonize Victors wrote history with a skewed hindsight

It has been a conscious effort by the successors of Portuguese Malacca to claim that the

port city was in ruins after the wars with Aceh and Johore In this way, any subsequent

developments were credited to these new colonizers The Portuguese chroniclers did not

7

The term Estado da Índia literally means ‘State of India’ But it also represents the various Portuguese

administrations in colonies east of India

observe this Tomé Pires, Fernão Lopes de Castanheda and Duarte Barbosa conferred in their writings that the Portuguese inherited a prosperous and thriving port.8

However, this dearth of historical coverage was partly the Portuguese own

undoing The Estado da Índia rapidly fell from grace by the middle of the seventeenth

century to the Dutch in the Southeast Asia, losing Malacca in 1641 More importantly, they never recovered to regain the prominence experienced in the early sixteenth century, both in Asia and in Europe This was one of the reasons why Portuguese presence in the region had been scantly examined This period in history has been more commonly seen

as a prelude to the ‘Age of European Expansion’ Many other prominent studies have focused on the introduction of the East India Companies as the beginning of ‘the Age of Commerce’.9 Some historians have even mocked the success of this Lusitanian ‘power’, asserting that any success must be due to a failure of the Asians than an achievement of the Portuguese

In Asia a willingness to accept intruders and the lack of any united opposition allowed Europe’s feeblest imperial state

to establish itself amongst the great and ancient powers of civilizations The Portuguese met no concerted resistance from a world so immense, and inhabited by peoples of such

a diversity of races, religions and cultures as to preclude the emergence of any single dominant maritime authority.10

8

Duarte Barbosa, The Book of Duarte Barbosa, vols.1 and 2, translated by Mansel Longworth Dames, (London: the Hakluyt Society, 1921) Tomé Pires, The Suma Oriental and the Book of Francisco Rodrigues, vols 1 and 2, (especially vol 2 on Malacca) edited and translated by Armando Cortesão, (London: the Hakluyt Society, 1944) Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, História do Descombrimento e Conquista da India

pelos Portugueses, Livros III and IV, (The Princeps editions – 3rd edition) revised and annotated by Pedro

de Azevedo, (Coimbra: Coimbra University Press, 1928)

It was true that the Asians did put up a relatively weak resistance to the Portuguese infiltration But it was also their ability to illicit collaboration with the Asians, which allowed them to gain a foothold in the local markets

Portugal was the first European country to have colonies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean To the east, they established a chain of fortresses stretching from Mombassa in Africa to Nagasaki, Japan The irony is that despite criticisms of the way they administered their empire, the Portuguese still had nominal control over her colonies for the longest period of time, with Macao only returning to China in 1999 For a

relatively shorter time span of a hundred and thirty years, the Estado da Índia governed

Malacca.The two other European colonizers ruled Malacca for a longer period of time with the Dutch from 1641 to 1824 and the British from 1824 to 1957 At the turn of the new millennium, Malacca has still been fondly remembered as the famed Portuguese colony From the promotion of Portuguese food (egg tarts) to traditional song and dance

in ‘mini Lisbon’ or A Famosa, the descendants marked their heritage Speaking a Malayo-Portuguese Creolised language, Patuá, they were also Catholics who especially,

celebrate the feast days of San Juang (John) and San Pedro (Peter) in June, on top of their Easter and Christmas commitments The survival of the thriving ‘Portuguese settlement’ served as a nostalgic reminder to the locals of their past interactions with the first European settlers in Asia.11 The study of how their forefathers managed manage to leave

behind this legacy is intriguing The Estado da Índia appeared to display what was

11

For more information of the Portuguese settlement, see http://www.malaccacom.net/malaccaportuguese/

For an account of the survival of Portuguese culture in Southeast Asia, see Leonard Andaya, “THe

Portuguese Tribe in the Malayo-Indonesian Archipelago in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”, in

The Portuguese and the Pacific, edited by Francis A Dutra and João Camilio dos Santos, (Santa Barbara:

University of California, 1995) pp.129-47

termed as ‘soft power’, or a power not overt enough to be seen as dominating, yet able to maintain a strong influence of the affairs of the city In other words, the Portuguese achieved a different form of relationship with their colonies where they need not control them politically in order to benefit from them economically Instead, they exploited the self-interests of collaborators to help serve their agenda and needs.12

With regards to Portuguese overseas expansion writings, a caveat is placed on the prejudice, which has been found in its official history One of the foremost authorities,

Charles Ralph Boxer, author of Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion and the

Portuguese Sea-borne Empire and The Portuguese Sea Borne Empire 1415-1825,

expressed this as ‘National Catechism’.13 Portugal had been under Fascist rule for about half of the twentieth century During that period, many historians and publishers alike were accused of being cashiered by the dictator, António Salazar.14 Consequently, their version of history had been written with the aim of recapturing of the ‘Golden Age of Portugal’, with special attention paid to Brazil and the New World This nationalistic overindulgence in the ‘Great discoveries’ of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries led to exaggerated assertions A contention was the “secrecy theses” which claimed that the Crown managed to achieve these feats as early as the dawn of the fifteenth century.15 At

12

Ronald Robinson, “Imperialism of Free Trade” in the Economic History Review, vol 6, (1953), pp 1-55

13

Charles Boxer, “Some Considerations on Portuguese Colonial Historiography” in Anthony Disney (ed)

Historiography of Europeans in Africa and Asia, 1450-1800 (London: Variorum, 1995) p.28

14

B.W Diffie, “Wise man from the West”, Pilgrims of the Past p.121

15

ibid, p.120-1

the time of authorship, incumbent political or ideological leanings had to be separated from the literature.16

More Portuguese scholars have moved their attention away from South America

to examine Southeast Asia This was an attempt at understanding the intricacies and trials

of the Portuguese in starting an empire in the East Luís Felipe Thomaz has written on Malacca and the southern Indonesian islands Jorge Alves wrote on the North Sumatran port of Pasai, while Paulo Pinto explored the triangular relationship between Aceh, Malacca and Johore Ana Maria Guedes and Manuel Lobato have focused on the outer areas of Pegu and Ava, as well as the Moluccas 17

Autonomous history

Nearing the end of the second millennium, a greater involvement of Asian scholars to write their own histories was witnessed.18 Greater collaboration has been seen with the involvement of Western institutions such as Leiden University and Cornell University In

16

See also Rosa Maria Perez, “Portuguese Orientalism: some problems with Sociological Classification.”

In The Portuguese and the Socio-cultural Changes in India 1500-1800 Edited by K.S Mathew, Teotónio

R De Souza and Pius Malekandathil (Lisbon: Fundação Oriente, 2001) pp.8-11

17

Alves, Jorge M dos Santos, O Domínio do Norte de Sumatra: A História dos Sultanatos de

Samudera-Pacém e de Achém e das suas relações com os Portugueses 1500-1580 Lisboa: Sociedade Histórica da

Independência de Portugal, 1999, Ana Maria Marques Guedes, “Burma” Proceedings of the International

Colloquium on the Portuguese and the Pacific, A Dutra and João Camilo dos Santos (eds) (Santa Barbara:

University of California October 1993), Maria Ana Marques Guedes, Interferência e integração dos

Portugueses na Birmânia, c.1580-1630, (Lisbon: Fundação Oriente, 1994) Paulo Jorge de Sousa Pinto,

“Melaka, Johor and Aceh” in Nouvelles Orientations de la recherche sur L’histoire de L’asie Portugaise (Paris: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 1997), pp.111-133, and “Captains, Sultans and liaisons

dangereuses: Melaka and Johor in the late sixteenth century”, in Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka Area and Adjacent Regions (16 th to 18 th Century) pp 131-146 Edited by Peter Borschberg (Wiesbaden:

Harrassowitz Verlag, 2004)

18

Collaborative efforts could be seen in books such as, Sunait Chutintaranond and Chris Baker (eds.),

Recalling local pasts (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002)

addition, more funds from Fundação Oriente and Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, along with initiatives such as Towards A New Age of Partnership (TANAP), helped to push for better cooperation between Asian and Western scholars New generations of historians were also reflecting on the colonial past from a more impartial standpoint Now some distance has been gained from those days of European colonization Hence, Asian scholars were more open to express certain concerns on the interpretation of their histories They attempted to correct the misunderstandings, which occurred from years of historical misrepresentations A benefit brought to the table has been the combination of the experience of being raised on a staple of traditional folklore with the Western mode

of enquiry and methodology

The call had been sounded for Asian historians to rewrite their histories, but not in

a nationalist way The historian George Winius warns that,

Starting out with their national history, they [Asian scholars] must go to European archives for it because history is a European concept, and European sources are often the best for studying their past Once into their colonial past, they realized that they are treating something that is much larger than the history of their own country 19

The studies made from European sources by Asian scholars also affected the way the Europeans were portrayed to have come to Asia For the Europeans, these studies have emphasized the need for an overarching view and not simply a national view of what had

19

Georger D Winius, “On Discovering the Expansion of Europe” (1991) Pilgrims to the Past, p.248

been going on.20 Both the Europeans and Asians have recognized that European Expansion from the sixteenth century gave direction and helped shape the modern world

For if the modern Asian historian is writing History in the Western tradition, then there is

no more possible for him than for the ethnically Western historian to escape from the Western “cultural heritage”, just as impossible for him to achieve an Asia-centric perspective in this philosophically fundamental sense If this is so, either nobody at all can achieve an Asia-centric perspective, or everyone can.21

John Smail

Smail’s challenge was for historians of all nationalities to avoid being ‘centric’ on any one form of history, like Nationalist history A revision of nationalist history and a reshaping of the social and political maps of the past, minus the biases of the nineteenth century empire-builders and their twentieth century nation-state successors were required The old national story served its purpose in establishing the nation and had over-run its course now.The key was to break away from the colonial framework through considering social and cultural histories.22 There has been a demand for the other stories, other narratives of the non-national subjects that appeared in abundance and waiting to be told Subaltern studies were gaining popularity, with ‘more recent’ historical works like Professor James Warren’s study on rickshaw pullers gaining critical acclaim.23 It calls for

a drive away from writing a national history that was constantly about unities, such as

20

ibid., p.250

21

John R.W Smail, “On the Possibility of an Autonomous History of Modern Southeast Asia” in Laurie J

Sears (ed) Autonomous Histories, Particular Truths, (Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Center of

Southeast Asian Studies Monograph no.11, 1993), p.41

22

Chris Baker, Recalling local pasts, p.169

23

James Francis Warren, Rickshaw Coolie: A People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 (Singapore:

Oxford University Press, 1986) ‘More recent’ also indicates the history that is closer to today Professor Warren was still able to use oral history to substantiate his findings as the history was within a generation gap The same cannot be said for this study of Portuguese history in the sixteenth century

one nation, one race, one language, one capital, one crown, one culture and one story On

a larger scale, globalization has been considered as the union of all the affairs of one world. 24 But the reality was that when the Portuguese first achieved its maritime empire, they always needed to contend with the challenge of localization and the different

languages and customs The French had the school of thought, ‘mondialisation’, which literally means ‘worldization’ The key difference between this and globalization was that the latter often homogenizes On the other hand, ‘mondialisation’ celebrated the

amalgamation of different cultures and practices Along with hybridization, more emphasis has been placed on the multiplicities produced by the collision between global trends and local particularities All this meant that a better understanding of the history of sixteenth century Malacca was formed

The problem with nationalist histories was best observed in Portugal and Spain when they were under fascist control The tight control on history resulted in opaque accounts of their greatness in the fifteenth century Nationalist historians wrote with the purpose of reconstructing the “Golden Age” of the Portuguese Empire They continued to give explanations for the subsequent decline This legacy had unfortunately been passed down The consequence was a gap seen in the writing of Portuguese history in Southeast Asia Initially, there were the accounts of the conquests of the Great Alfonso de Albuquerque, then followed quickly by the corruption of the officials, which led to the

demise of the Estado da Índia The ‘middle’ parts of their engagement with the local

communities and the problems in administration have been overlooked Another disparity laid in the tone, which this history has been written The Nationalists concentrated on

24

Chris Baker, Recalling local pasts, p.170

their great discoveries and benevolent rule, while the post-Colonialists underlined the evils of Colonization and the barbaric nature of the first European encounter

Defining Southeast Asia

The term ‘Southeast Asia’ is highly problematic This expression only arose after the Second World War with the Allied powers defining this region, to combat the Japanese forces In the history of earlier times, it was often used to refer to the areas bounded by the Indian Ocean and South China Sea The focus has primarily been on the Malay Peninsula and the major Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java Much of the classical Southeast Asian literature centered only on the success of certain ports or empires, such

as Palembang in the Srivijayan period, which assumed representation of the surrounding areas This totalizing mission created false unities and secretly reinforced the prominence

of the region’s key port cities Southeast Asia could not be crammed into fixed stereotypes of being tightly controlled from the center. 25

Southeast Asia is a political geography, which is more fractured, fluid and layered than the pattern suggested by the ‘state’ Malacca was more than just a port city of a few hundreds square kilometers According to the geographer, Paul Wheatley, the boundaries

of the Malacca Sultanate stretched as far in the southeast of Lingga, as far south as Jambi,

25

Chris Baker, Recalling local pasts, p.169 For more on the post-World War II writings of Southeast Asian history, see John Legge, ‘The Writing of Southeast Asian History’ Nicholas Tarling (ed.), The

Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, vol.1, (paperback edition) pp.1-50, (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1999) especially pp.15-23

to the west of Rokan and to the north of Kelantan.26 From the Portuguese historian Luís Thomaz’s perspective, Malacca was basically made up of three concentric circles of influence.27 The inner one, around the port of Malacca consisted of territories ruled directly by the sultan The middle sphere had territories administered by the mandarins

and mendelika appointed by the sultan. 28 And on the outermost ring were the tributaries, vassals and allied kingdoms, a few of which were ruled by kinsmen of the sultan. 29 It was

an intriguing web of relationships, mixed with numerous marriage alliances The people

in these territories offered up crops and a variety of services including supporting the military in times of war In return, Malacca provided its dominions with protection, a market for surplus crops and a share in its prosperity.30

Malacca was a port city where Tomé Pires found as many as eighty-four distinct languages were spoken.31 The study of the diversity in these networks reflected on the successive layers of historical experience that transgressed the well-established political and ethnic boundaries and allowed for a richer discourse on the past.32 More

26

Paul Wheatley, The Golden Khersonese: Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula

before A.D 1500 (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1961) p.310 Malacca region stretched from

Kuala Lingi (Acoala Penajy) in the north of Kuala Kesang (Acoala Cacam) in the south and extending inland as far as the foothills of Gunong Ledang (Golom Leidam) the territory of Malacca comprised p.317

See also Emanual Eredia’s description, Description of Malacca and Meridional India and Cathay,

translated by Joseph Vivian Gottleib Mills, (Kuala Lumpur: Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1997) p.259

27

Thomaz, “The Malay Sultanate of Melaka” in Reid, Southeast Asia in the Early Modern era (Ithaca:

Cornell University, 1993) p.76 These three concentric circles suggested by Thomaz, could be inspired by

the Mediterranean model by Fernand Braudel , “The Expansion of Europe and the Longue Durée”, in

Expansion and Reaction, edited by Henk L Wesseling (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1978) pp.25-6

considerations were made for the traders, warriors, artisans and seafarers, who made up this cosmopolitan city A result was the examination of the significant role played by the market to undermine the dominating authority of the central state.33 This was clearly seen

in Malacca, as the merchants were highly influential in dictating the policies in the town

However, the opposite was seen in the drive by the central state to stifle and control market forces in order to enhance its power But in so doing, the authorities denied itself and its citizens the economic benefits, which flowed from trade and commerce This resulted in the oppressed, or those who perceived themselves to be oppressed, realizing better opportunities to move elsewhere 34 This was seen in the case

of the foreign merchant communities residing in Malacca Also, most of the people in Southeast Asia possessed the option to flee and enter into new relationships with the numerous kingdoms nearby There were no strict land boundaries for these groups of

migrants A clear example was the orang laut, who were sea nomads with little allegiance

to any land-based authority Migrating and accepting the new obligations of the new patrons were part and parcel of the lives of these mobile inhabitants Sometimes, this was done as a sign of protest over the existing regime

33

ibid, p.7

34

Micheal Adas, “From Avoidance to Confrontation”, in Nicholas Dirks, (ed), Colonialism and Culture,

(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992) p.103

Methodological Approach

Thomaz, an Orientalist, who was teaching a new generation of historians, showing them how Portuguese materials can be used to study Asian history He is gradually creating a school of his own, not basically involved in discovery, roterios, or Governors-General but trying to find out what the place of the Portuguese in Asia actually was 35

George Winius

Whilst many letters, manuscripts and documents about the Portuguese in Asia are still left available to historians, the call now is to “read across the grain” to sieve out nuggets of information. 36 They were then corroborated with the other sources to test its veracity The nature and identity of the information has also come under greater scrutiny, with the knowledge of an author and the purpose behind the writing proving to be just as, if not

more important than the facts that are in it For example, Thomaz noted that the Sejarah

Melayu focused on the dealings of the Court and not the merchant community or the

populace.37 The same has been said for the official Crown chronicles like the Suma

Oriental On its own, these manuscripts cannot provide an exact portrayal of the

conditions of Malacca, as they were probably written by and for the elites But when the views and statements are corroborated with other European or Asian sources, then threads of consistency and accuracy could emerge in the description of Malacca

35

Winius, “On Discovering the Expansion of Europe”, p 250

36

A similar call was made be Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Polticial Economy of Commerce Southern India

1500-1650, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) p.254

37

Thomaz, Early Portuguese Malacca, 1511-1580, (Macau: Macau Territorial Commission for the

Commemorations of the Portuguese Discoveries 2000) p.11

Another problem to note with the Portuguese manuscripts was that they have often been written with a variety of underlying objectives While most of the accounts were official, some however, were personal stories of travelers and soldiers coming to this part of the world.38 Both forms of narration had its flaws and often, they were greatly exaggerated A larger concern was the fair amount of hype seen in the official documents

This was because the Estado da Índia had been operating from a very tight budget Thus,

many officials in Malacca were understood to have blown up their accounts of the importance of the places they conquered, so that they received more resources and men to better enable their administration of the area

Another problem was with the translations of the Portuguese documents This stemmed largely from the fact that Old Portuguese letter writing had disregarded most grammatical structures The chroniclers and travel writers of the past largely wrote their accounts in the same way that they spoke This brought about difficulties to translators in deciphering the text There are two kinds of translation to consider, with one being literal and the other, interpretative To effectively analyze sixteenth century Portuguese documents involves both these kinds of translation On the one hand, it was necessary that the translator kept true to the original text But on the other hand, considerations must be made to the context of the writing More contentiously, imagination might be needed to better comprehend the message the author was conveying This required a lot

of effort on the translator to possess knowledge of the local conditions then Hence, the translators must also be historians of that period and not merely linguists

38

For example, Fernão Mendes Pinto, The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D

Catz (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1984)

In addition, when dealing with Portuguese history, there has been an issue of contention with the distance between the chroniclers from the scene of the action In the words of the Portuguese scholar, Garcia da Orta, “long distances make long lies.”39 The premise was that the further away they were from the ground, the less accurate was their terminology A dilemma arose when the official chroniclers like João Barros, Diogo Do Couto and Damião de Goes did not set foot in Southeast Asia Yet from their base in Goa, their extensive access to a variety of first-hand material made their stories more reliable than the personal narratives of Mendes Pinto

There are three categories of written Portuguese history, namely official, unofficial (traders and soldiers’ accounts) and ecclesiastics The reason behind this stratification was related to the funding these history writers to whom they were answerable For example, the Christian missionaries focused mainly on the conditions of conversions in these parts as they were supported by the Papacy Of greater importance was that a certain level of formality and different terminologies were attached to selected official documents

It was not sufficient to depend exclusively on Tomé Pires’ Suma Oriental to glean

all the information on Malacca in the early sixteenth century Granted that Pires has been widely regarded as the first Portuguese chronicler to travel throughout most of Asia, still there are some grave errors and inexplicable omissions in his writings as well as his

39

Garcia da Orta, Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas da Índia, (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional – Casa da Moeda,

1891) p.382

portrayal of Malacca’s inhabitants Pires was originally trained as a pharmacist and his forte was in describing the spices and drugs, not the people and their activities Other detailed manuscripts, such as the letters of the Crown’s Italian envoy, Giovanni da Empoli, have found little attention.40

The historian’s craft requires constant questioning of the attained information An

example of questionable material written in the Suma Oriental was when Pires wrote that four shahbandars managed the harbor of Malacca But in the Undang Undang Melaka (Laws of Malacca) the law states that the role of the shahbandar was a harbormaster and

provision was made for only one.41 If there were four shahbandars, this implied that the

conditions of the harbor then was so disorganized, that four people were needed Pires

was possibly mistaken and the term nakuda (captain) could have been used instead In another instance, nakuda Begeau was a captain of the Gujarati merchants Nakuda was his title of captain Yet Pires referred to him as a shahbandar It made little logic as to why nakuda Begeau was found away from his post in Malacca port, when he was

supposedly the harbormaster there Paying notice to the terms Pires employed, gives a more complete understanding of the events in Malacca

Titles of references were important points of study Other names worth mentioning included Utimutaraja, who could not be treated as merely a Javanese leader

Liaw Yock Fang, Undang Undang Melaka, a critical edition, (Leiden: Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-,

Land- en Volkenkunde, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1976) p 63-5

The word “raja” had a similar meaning to the word “royal” and it was a title bestowed upon only by a sultan.42 Etymologically, the other term muta (or muda) refers to young

Hence, in other words, Utimuataraja was probably a Javanese prince residing in Malacca

A fair amount of detriment has been brought about by these slight changes, which occurred during the chronicling by the authors or in the paleography and translation Nonetheless, Pires’ work remains important to historians, as it still is one of the more comprehensive guides to the conditions of the times The solution was to adopt a more critical eye to interpret the facts, especially in reflecting on the terms he used

Arguably, the first European contact with Asia commenced as early as the fifth century BCE with Herodotus Or that the extensively recorded travels with Marco Polo in the late thirteenth century showcased the groundbreaking feats of European interaction with Asians While one is not denigrating the success of the earlier encounters, the period

of Portuguese maritime expansion has still more significance as it marked for the first time, mass numbers of Europeans, who uprooted themselves to travel to faraway places and settle down It was with the establishment of this colony of Europeans, over a long period of time, that gradual changes in the political, economic and social structures slowly slipped into Asian society

42

João de Barros, Decádas, selected, prefaced and notes by António Baião, (Lisboa: Livaria Sá da Costa,

1946) p.242

To footnote this period of history, or worse, to combine the Portuguese

colonization efforts with that of the Dutch and the British, was wrong The Estado da

Índia colonized in a different manner as contrasted with the other Portuguese settlements

It was remarked by the historian of Portuguese Brazil, B.W Diffie, that

About two years later, I realized how little I could ever know within the span of time I was supposed to complete the book about the Far East It is a totally different aspect

of Portuguese history, a different world to study.43

Hence, the comparative approach has been limited in its outlook and reflection of what was present in Malacca at that time

This work is an extension of an earlier thesis, “Collaboration and Co-dependence: Portuguese Relations with the Indian and Chinese Communities in Malacca” This previous work explores the similar themes of cooperation between the Portuguese and the foreign merchants residing in Malacca The main difference is the inclusion of the indigenous factor with the Portuguese engagement with the Malays, who saw themselves

as the sons of the soil Hence, this was the community that stood to lose the most in the emergence of a new foreign power Further complications arose from the fact that most

of these Malays were Muslims This is by no means a definitive history, neither is it intended to be that way From the explorations into the mechanisms of how the Portuguese engaged the local inhabitants, hopefully, a fresh insight to sixteenth century Malacca is achieved

43

Diffie, “Wise Man from the West”, p 121

Chapter TWO: Background to Europe and Southeast Asia

This chapter explores the context in which Portuguese began their expansion into Asia

By having a layout of the situation in Europe, as well as the setting in Southeast Asia, enables a better understanding of the motivations and intentions of the Crown in its quest for these territories In addition, the Italians were already present and trading at the various regional ports, like in Sumatra.1

In 1128, Portugal gained her independence under relatively harsh circumstances Afonso Henriques refused to pay allegiance to the kings of Leon and Castile and separated politically from them Right from the outset, the new king of Portugal faced the primary challenge of limited territory This led to further problems with the numerous wars they had with the Moors from North Africa, who fought for control over the south

of present day Portugal The products of Portugal were wine, olives, cork, salt and preserved fish Hence, they relied on the sea trade of Lisbon to sustain most of the Portuguese economy This declining state of affairs needed to be remedied immediately, thus prompting the Crown, in particular the rulers of the Aviz dynasty, to look overseas for expansion.2 Initial conquests and occupation of foreign lands not only brought in revenue for the Crown, but also prisoners who were used to assist in the Portuguese

1

The term, Italians, comprises mainly the Genoese, Florentines and Venetian merchants, who visited these areas for trade As their numbers were few and they did not reside in these harbor towns, thus it cannot be argued that they were the ‘first Europeans’ Their presence was a fleeting one, unlike the Portuguese

2

For the list of monarchs in the Aviz Dynasty, see appendix A

overseas expeditions.3 In light of the constant lack of manpower faced by Portugal, these captives proved essential

At the turn of the sixteenth century, Portugal was still economically poor by European standards Located along the southwestern coastlines, Portugal depended on its sea trade for its national revenue But apart from their main port city of Lisbon, they enjoyed no other flourishing urban centers This was not sufficient to sustain a population

of approximately one and a half million people.4 Hence, there was a desire to search beyond their shores for more opportunities to trade The nation faced a lack of monetary and labor resources, yet these adversities did not deter the Crown’s strive to expand overseas The Portuguese achieved an unprecedented feat when they managed to scatter over ten thousand men to far-reaching outposts between Brazil and Japan by the end of the sixteenth century.5 This success had been attributed to the ambitions of the monarchs

of that time But, this was accomplished in tandem with the people of Portugal, who resiliently carried out these orders and searched for fresh prospects abroad

Eventually, these explorations and discoveries led to the occupation and colonization in various parts of the world In the conquests of the thirteenth and early

fourteenth centuries, an attitude of reconquista and revenge had been prevalent But as

3

An early example of this would be the conquest of Ceuta in Africa in 1415 In our study of the conquest

of Malacca, we know that the Portuguese had six hundred Malabaris (from the captured Malabar) who joined forces with the Crown’s Army to fight against Sultan Mahmud’s men Fernão Lopes de Castanheda,

História do Descombrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses, (Coimbra: Coimbra University

Press, 1928) p.138

4

Geoffrey Vaughan Scammell, “Indigenous Assistance in the Establishment of Portuguese Power in the Indian Ocean” (unpublished seminar paper, International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, Bombay: Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, 1978) p.2

5

Richard Mackenney, Sixteenth Century Europe, Expansion and Conflict, (London: Macmillan Press,

1993) p.39

time wore on, this mindset changed and interest in the Crusades was replaced by an enthusiasm for commercial opportunities The Christian kings of Portugal were not inclined towards the idea of a common war against the infidels.6 They realigned their focus on studying how to make profit from trading with these non-Christians This further illustrated expansion as a way to solve Portugal’s economic woes

It has been said that ideas precede events Hence, certain occidental schools of thought arising from the fifteenth century were reflected in the coming of the Europeans

to Southeast Asia in the sixteenth century, The Renaissance provided not only fresh perspectives, but also new ways of depicting what was seen While it was mostly remembered for the Italian arts and style, for the purpose of this study, the focus is on a specific aspect of the Renaissance, namely Humanism Theoretically, it was the technical skill belonging to the academics At the heart of this was the call for the stripping away of externals and removal of redundant facts Hence, it had been seen as a new approach to learning in terms of what was read and how it was interpreted and used.7 In reality, Humanism had been freely applied to a variety of beliefs, practices and philosophies that placed its core emphasis on the human realm The term has been often used with reference to a system of education and mode of inquiry that developed in northern Italy

during the fourteenth century and later spread through Europe.8

6

António da Silva Rego, Portuguese Colonization in the Sixteenth Century: A Study of the Royal

Ordinances (Regimentos) (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1965) p.15

By the sixteenth century, a mounting belief within academic circles in Portugal asserted that the Crown’s achievements, explorations and discoveries in South America and Africa, paralleled the Roman Empire of antiquity However, representations of this

“golden age” of Portuguese expansion were still trifling in most parts of Europe This was disappointing as the later half of the fifteenth century witnessed the Portuguese successfully sailing across the Atlantic and to Asia The chronicler, Damião de Goes vowed to highlight the Lusitanian achievements, which he thought were comparable to the Greeks and Romans The difference was in the parochial thoughts of his fellow historians and authors, who failed to do justice to Portuguese achievements In his opinion, the Portuguese undoubtedly surpassed the Ancients in their military and maritime feats, but no modern writer described these accomplishments as positively as the ancient authors had done.9 Similar comments were made by Camões, who in his epic

poem, the Lusiads, challenged his contemporaries to write about the Portuguese

discoveries in a lofty way, as it was meant to be.10 Hence, when reading these Portuguese literature and chronicles, it is pertinent to consider the agenda, which was set

out by a few authors in those times

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Portuguese were required to grasp this new reality, which included a few incompatible emotions For example, there was the pride in their scientific discoveries, yet humility towards the superior cultural heritage of

9

Hooykaas, R “Humanism and the Voyages of Discovery in the 16th Century Portuguese Science and Letters Letter of Damião de Goes to Bembo, Oct 14th, 1540.” (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1979) p.152

10

Luis de Camoes, Lusiads, Translated by William C Atkinson (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1952)

p.23 See also Geoffrey Vaughan Scammell, “The New Worlds and Europe in the Sixteenth Century” in

History Journal, (1969) pp.396-400

the Ancients, which made these discoveries possible The Portuguese savored their political and cultural expansion, but had to deal with the shame with reference to the moral and social evils that came along with it. 11 But all these were deemed necessary evils that the Crown came to terms with Still, these dissonant attitudes found its way into the Portuguese writings The history of the Portuguese discoveries and conquests has been littered with stark contrasts The stories told included characters varying from saints

to pirates Some yearned for paradise, while others mourned about a paradise lost The description of the Lusitanian travelers ranged from the righteous and nasty, charitable and uncaring, open-minded and narrow In all, a wide variety of Portuguese men sailed to these new lands to help create this new era of Lusitanian history

When Portugal was said to have equaled or even surpassed the feats of the Roman Empire, it was mainly inspired by two important facts First, there was the advancement

in scientific discoveries of their navigations Second, the Crown managed to conquer and establish political power over vast territories in Africa, Asia and Brazil.12 The Portuguese were seen as the heir to the Roman Empire as a fractionalized Italy was not up to the task The Italians largely identified themselves with the states, such as Florence, Genoa and Venice But for the purpose of this thesis, they will be addressed as a collective term

The Italians played a significant role in the success of the Portuguese exploration and discoveries The Portuguese collaborated with this equally small country with a strong seafaring tradition The Italians possessed a wealth of experience in trading and

traveling since the thirteenth century The most notable icon of that period was Marco Polo Approaching the end of the fifteenth century, the Italians were world renown for their nautical abilities and were of great service to the other Europeans For instance, Spain’s most distinguished captains were Italians, namely Christopher Columbus, who was Genoese and Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine The most notable contribution was the discovery of the America in 1492

At the turn of the sixteenth century, the Italians had already voyaged through the ports in Southeast Asia Initial records showed that Nicolò di Conti had an expedition, which lasted from 1416 to 1441 Then, there was Girolamo da Santo Stefano, who ventured into Sumatra between 1493 and 1499 and lastly Ludovico di Varthema traveled from Lisbon to Malacca between the years 1503 to 1508 The influence of the Italians

was evident from the presence of an Indonesian kadi who could speak their language in

1485.13

Without any doubt, the Indies, like America, were revealed to Europe by Italians whose fate it was to hear later from such and such a Portuguese captain, such and such a Spanish captain, had discovered new territory and occupied it in the name of his sovereign, and to beseech princes to grant those rights, cut by half, which they had previously freely and fully exercised either in navigation or in travels by land.14

Angelo De Gubernatis

13

Girolamo da Santo Stefano noted that, “in that spot (in Sumatra) there was a kadi who was a great friend

of mine, for he had the knowledge and notion of the Italian language.” Empoli, Lettera, p.89

14

ibid., p.90

This comment made by the Italian historian reinforces the belief that his countrymen were overlooked in the history of European Expansion It was tempting then to consider the Italians as the primary agents of change in Southeast Asia, for they recorded the first contacts made with various ports in the region However, the activities of a few Italian travelers and traders during the fifteenth century could not be compared to the impact of a continuous presence of the Portuguese soldiers, sailors, officials, priests and traders, who settled in Malacca for over a hundred and thirty years.15 Nevertheless, acknowledgement has been made of their earlier presence, but more importantly, for their assistance

rendered in the collaboration with the Portuguese Crown

The earliest forms of Portuguese collaboration originated from their dealings with the Italians The Crown depended on and desired to tap into their expertise and experience For example, the kingdoms in Sumatra were familiar in trading with the Italian merchants, and that prompted the Crown to acquire a few Italians to lead their engagement with the peoples of Southeast Asia As for the Italians, there were few options outside this arrangement to establish themselves as pioneers of European exploration Moreover, the Portuguese and Spanish conquests in Asia received the papal blessing and approval Along with the disunity seen in Italy at that time, therefore, those Italian states interested in Asiatic trade, like the Genoese Republic, the Florentine duchy

15

Chandra Richard de Silva, “Beyond the Cape: Portuguese Encounter with South Asian peoples”, in

Implicit Understandings: Observing, Reporting, and Reflecting on the Encounters between Europeans and Other Peoples in the Early Modern Era Edited by Stuart Schwartz (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 1994) p.296

of the Medici and the Venetian Republic, made the best of the opportunities found in this collaboration with a foreign power.16

Giovanni da Empoli was a nobleman from Florence, who was employed by the Crown as an envoy on the fleet captained by Albuquerque to Malacca At times, he is referred to as Joanes Impola in the Portuguese chronicles His job was to undertake the very risky role of sounding out the reactions of the native rulers ahead of the coming of the Portuguese.17 For example, when they first arrived at Pedir, Empoli was sent to explore the possibilities and conditions of trade He gathered information on the weights and measures used in these Sumatran ports Another of Empoli’s task was to explain the purpose of the Portuguese expedition, which on the surface, was to establish friendly relations with the port cities A deeper reading into the various chronicles would suggest that the aims were more inclined towards subjugating the enemies of the Crown and conversely, to be of profit to their friends.18

The Portuguese studied the experiences and setbacks faced by the Italians while they were in Southeast Asia One of the key things learnt was the difficulty for them to adhere to strict religious doctrines and laws, if they were keen on forging relations with Islamic rulers, traders and societies Thankfully for the Portuguese, a precedent was set when Pope Eugene IV granted an audience to a “sinner” The aforementioned merchant Nicolò di Conti embraced Islam while in Egypt This was deemed a grave sin at that time,

yet he Pope absolved him of his wrongdoing As a penance, the Pope asked him to relate

in chronological order the things he beheld in India and Indonesia.19 Hence, it could be surmised that by the mid-fifteenth century, trade and other dealings with the Muslims, even up to a point of conversion, though frowned upon, was not irredeemably condemned Another traveler who converted was Ludovico di Varthema His motivation was not wholly for monetary gains The Islamic religion was his fascination as a subject

He became a Muslim, so as to have a better grasp of the mentality of the peoples he

visited He entered Mecca to perform the Haj (Muslim pilgrimage) and recorded the

details of what was witnessed there.20 By the sixteenth century, it appeared that there was

a growing European interest in learning about the Muslim culture Not least of the reasons was to discover new trading opportunities these places provided

The Portuguese examined the accounts of Varthema’s 1504 voyage from Malacca

to Sumatra, so as to obtain a better appreciation of the conditions of this trade area He described Malacca as a city on the Peninsula of present day Malaysia, which paid tribute

to the Chinese Emperor It was widely believed that in return, China offered protection to the sultans In the 1430s, Sultan Iskandar was the first monarch to personally visit China

to present this tribute Subsequently, the other sultans also continued to pay obeisance to this mighty power The reason behind this was that the kingdom of Siam had consistently claimed Malacca as their tributary state Siam controlled several states nearby like Ligor and Patani, but it was the port city they desired most This was because Malacca was

19

Empoli, Lettera, pp.87-8

20

Ludovico Di Varthema, The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and

Arabia Felix, in Persia, India and Ethiopia, AD 1503-1508, translated from the original Italian edition of

1510 by John Winter Jones (London: Hakluyt Society, 1863) pp.xxxv-vi

recognized as a principal port of the Indian Ocean trade.21 Hence, it was prudent to form

an alliance with a stronger power seen in China

Varthema illustrated the extent of governance in the port, which principally was the sultan’s appointment of a harbormaster to administer justice for the foreign merchants Emphasis was placed on the welfare of these traders, suggesting that they played a significant role in the affairs The need for law and order became apparent when considering Varthema’s negative portrayal of the other inhabitants in Malacca

The Malay nation may be divided naturally into three classes: the civilized Malays, or those who possessed a written language, and have made a decent progress in the useful arts The gypsy-like fishermen, called the sea-people, [are] also pirates And the rude half savages, who for the most parts, live precariously on the produce of the forests 22

Ludovico di Varthema

The first encounter of the Europeans with the people of Southeast Asia was with the

orang laut, as they lived along the coastlines of the Straits of Malacca The impressions

given had been negative, as these sea nomads did not always heed the laws of the based sultanate They were groups of sea-people, who were only responsible to their chief and their activities often involve piracy Varthema added that it was not possible to

land-go about the town when it was dark, because people were killed like dogs and all the merchants who traded at the port, slept in their ships.23

Varthema, The Itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from 1502-1508, Edited by Norman

Mosley Penzer and translated by John Winter Jones, (London: The Argonaut Press, 1928) p.84

This description of Malacca suggested that it was in a state of chaos at the dawn

of the sixteenth century In addition, suggestions of people running amuck frightened away traders.24 Hence, it did not appear that Mahmud Shah possessed an effective control over the situation Despite glowing reports made later by the official chroniclers, especially Tomé Pires and Duarte Barbosa, it was evident that the situation in the harbor town was already very much in disarray at the time of Varthema’s visit

This waning of the state was made more apparent when contrasted with the description given to the rival port city of Pedir Varthema suggested that it was an advanced society with an established port that possessed its own currency of gold, silver and tin All of the coins had an elaborate design of elephants struck on them In his opinion, justice was strictly administered with their sultan setting up a council to settle commercial disputes He describes the traders in Pedir as not warlike but attend to their merchandise and are very great friends of foreigners.25 Varthema witnessed the bustling trade in this port city with one street purportedly having five hundred moneychangers These moneychangers were needed because of the great number of merchants who came

to this city, where they carry on a very extensive traffic.26

In stark comparison, Varthema dedicated only a single chapter on Malacca while

he wrote six to describe Pedir This suggests that Malacca was not that prominent at that time In addition, his depiction of Pedir was one of a superior thriving port with greater organization Pedir also had the advantage of a close hinterland, which offered far more

products, such as pepper and gold Thus, the status of Malacca as this chief emporium of the Malay Archipelago has been largely overrated.27

Religion supplies the pretext and Gold the motive 28

Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq

The Portuguese needed to address the prevailing ideologies in Southeast Asia, particularly, Islam The Portuguese were prepared and knew who their enemies were likely to be Their potential enemies were divided into two categories: Arabs or Muslims and all the others For the Muslims and Arabs, there was no doubt that war must be waged against them This feeling was mutual as the Muslims opposed the Portuguese wherever and whenever they met.29 These motives behind these wars were not separated into religious or national or commercial or political categories It was a combination of all these reasons, which spurred the conflict Besides, Islam was the avowed enemy of Christianity In certain circles, any wars between the Christians and the Muslims need not

be discussed It was simply taken for granted.30

27

For further reading on the exaggeration of the importance of Malacca, please see Roderich Ptak

“Reconsidering Melaka and Central Guangdong: Portugal’s and Fujian’s Impact on Southeast Asian Trade

(Early Sixteenth Century)” In Iberians in the Singapore-Melaka Area and Adjacent Regions (16 th to 18 th Century) Edited by Peter Borschberg (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2004) pp.1-9

28

Busbecq, a Fleming, was the ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor at the Sublime Porte (the Turkish

Sultan's court in Constantinople) from 1555 to 1562 In Carlo Cipolla, Guns, Sails and Empires, (New

York: Pantheon Books, 1965) p.133

29

Silva Rego, Regimentos, p.27

30

ibid., p.28

The Abbasid rulers of Baghdad from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries created

a splendid image of Muslim kingship in which the ruler was God’s shadow on Earth.31Hence, to rulers of Southeast Asian kingdoms, who sought for greater legitimacy, Islam was an attractive religion to ascribe to Islam’s attractiveness not only pertained to the ruling elite, but also to those participating in the international trading network, whose feeders into the Mediterranean and the European markets went through the heartlands of Islam The political cultures of the Malayo-Indonesian Archipelago (or ‘Malay World’) at this time were compatible in important respects with the prevailing political culture of medieval Islam, and that local rulers came to see their functions and objectives in Muslim terms

In the late thirteenth century, Islam was spread along the main trade routes that ply across the Indian Ocean But the major transformation took place in Malacca in the second quarter of the fifteenth century when its third ruler converted to Islam and adopting the name, Sultan Iskandar Shah Soon after he port city profited from the increased patronage from Arab traders As Malacca emerged as an emporium of trade in the Malay World, many other port cities also took the cue and followed its example They claimed to appreciate the egalitarianism purported by Islam, as opposed to the Hindu caste system.32 The greatest appeal of Islam, though, was clearly in its commercial benefits of possessing connections with merchants from the Middle East This appeal of Islam was further highlighted in the attempt made by Sultan Mahmud to fashion Malacca

as a place of pilgrimage.33 He argued that two Muslim saints had once passed through the port As with most pilgrimage sites, a commercial center was quick to follow so as to provide services to the worshippers This in turn attracted more trade and enhanced the status of Malacca in the Muslim world It remained arguable whether if this was legitimate claim or simply a ploy to derive more revenue for the sultan In addition, as a patron of Islam, the ruler of Malacca was able to assume the title of sultan, placing himself on the same level as other sultans in the Middle East and India He exploited the rich traditions of Persian leadership, which included claiming to have descended from Alexander the Great Hence, Islam was seen as a useful tool for justification and cementing the position of the sultan.34

Incidentally, the rival port of Pasai was enjoying the benefits of being both a spiritual and commercial center The fundamental difference was that Pasai possessed the right to call itself the first state to convert to Islam Moreover, it continually stood at the forefront in the spread of Islamic teachings across the Malay Archipelago Ironically,

Sultan Mahmud’s kadis hailed from Pasai, yet, the relations he had with Pasai were

strained He constantly challenged Pasai’s status as a spiritual center through the

questioning of their ulama there on points of theology This almost led to these port cities

close to war on several occasions In some quarters, historians stated that war between them was imminent, and it was to occur regardless of the Portuguese appearance.35

These are bad people who do not observe any rules; the infidel marries a Muslim woman and the Muslim the infidel woman And the Muslims drink wine in public and do not pray before beginning a voyage.36

Ibn Majid

The Islam observed in Malacca was not of the strict and ‘pure’ form as compared to the practices in the Middle East. 37 Although it was made the official religion, it was argued

that the Muslims kept closely to adat (custom) instead of the hukum (law) of Islam

Hence, the Islam in this port city was adjudged to be open and permissive in character

Malaccan Sultanate

In the structure of the Malacca Sultanate, every sultan was required to select, firstly, a

bendahara (chief minister), secondly, a temenggong (police-chief), thirdly, a penghulu bendahari (treasurer) and fourthly a shahbandar (harbormaster) This was done to ensure

that both ruler and his subjects lived in peace and security.38 Of particular interest, the

shahbandar was given jurisdiction over all matters concerning foreign merchants,

especially those who have suffered injustice in trade disputes His authority covered on most of the trade matters pertaining to junks, cargo-boats and other vessels.39 To address

the concerns of an external threat, the sultan also appointed a laksamana (admiral), who

led the defense of port from sea-borne attacks The second highest post next to the sultan

was the bendahara and it was always chosen from a pool of highly regarded state

officials At most times, the bendahara oversaw the daily administration of Malacca In

addition, he also possessed family ties with the sultan and was from the lineage of the

previous bendaharas.40 Hence, a prominent merchant such as Nina Chatu would never

get an opportunity to hold this post, had he not collaborated with the Estado da Índia The Portuguese continued this practice by not only bestowing the office of bendahara to

Nina Chatu, but also decreed that he was to be succeeded by his sons 41 There was very little social mobility up the political hierarchy This was slightly akin to a form of caste system There were few ways of entering the royal circle unless in the form of marriage alliances.42

The officials in the Malaccan administration worked closely with the royal family They were considered the pillar of support for the sultan and were part of the bureaucracy that ran the machinery of the day-to-day governance and administration Only a few of these loyal officials who after many years of service, managed to join the ranks of the elite through marriages into the sultan’s family.43 But, in general, family ties played a pivotal role in the selection and appointment of these high state officials in Malacca Movement up the hierarchy was not based on an individual’s performance But, it was his relations with those in power, which mattered most Hence, this resulted in a lot of gift giving to the sultan from both officials and merchants alike

40

Muhammad Yusoff Hashim, The Malay Sultanate of Malacca: a study of various aspects of Malacca in

the 15 th and 16 th Centuries in Malaysian History Translated by D.J Muzaffar Tate, (Kuala Lumpur:

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Ministry of Education, Malaysia, 1992) p.217

O Gold, you are not God, but yet you can accomplish whatever you please.44

Khwajeh Hassan

During the sultan’s reign, gift giving, especially in bahars of gold, was a common

practice in Malacca It was also very organized in the way which gifts were passed in the

port city They were usually done through the intermediaries of the bendahara and

temenggong It could be termed as corruption in today’s language, but bribery and gift

giving was common practice then On several occasions, the gifts were a form of custom duties paid to those in charge of the port This was the way business was conducted in Malacca at that time The merchants needed to consider what amounts and what kinds of gifts the sultan desired This had to be done, as the latter was known to have raided merchant ships, whose owners displeased him with the lack of gifts It was noted by the Portuguese historian, Jorge Alves that anyone who aspired to make a fortune needed to

be careful of the sultan, as the latter ever ordered the imprisonment of a merchant for treason and had his riches confiscated.45

Several preceding sultans had taken an active part in trading, so much so that they became very wealthy.46 The sultan's efficiency in managing the foreign merchants' activities, as well as the efficient collecting of customs duties and the sultan's own trade,

44

The last Malay laksamana of Malacca mentioned this, when he saw the gold presented to him by Raja

Mendaliar John Leyden, John Leyden’s Malay Annals, (Kuala Lumpur: Malayan Branch of the Royal

Asiatic Society, 2001) p.340

45

Alves, Jorge M dos Santos, “The Foreign Traders’ Management in the Sultanates of the Straits of Malacca: The cases of Malacca, Samudera-Pasai and Aceh, 15th and 16th Centuries” In From the

Mediterranean to the China Sea, pp.131-142 Edited by Claude Guillot, Denys Lombard and Roderich

Ptak, (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1998) p.140

46

Hashim, The Malay Sultanate of Malacca p 228

enabled the sultanate to concentrate all commercial transactions in one port.47 This also suggests that he had a direct hand in affecting the regional trade through monopolizing certain goods Other instances of treason also appeared in the state just prior to arrival of the Portuguese All these pointed to a crisis of confidence in the administration of Malacca, as the success of bribery on various levels was corroding the ability of the officials to efficiently carry out their duties

The most noteworthy example was the trade dispute between Naina Sura Dewana

and Raja Mendaliar, which led to the execution of the bendahara Sri Maharaja The two

prominent merchants were rivals and they constantly tried to gain an upper hand on each

other Naina Sura Dewana went to bribe the bendahara with a bahar of gold while Raja Mendaliar did likewise with the laksamana Khoja Husain Because laksamana Khoja

Husain and his kinsmen were in high favor with Sultan Mahmud Shah, the latter believed

the story concocted by Raja Mendaliar that the bendahara along with Naina Sura

Dewana was planning to usurp his throne Sultan Mahmud rashly ordered them to be executed.48 From this example, we witness the court intrigues of that time involving influential merchants and how gift giving helped caused changes in leadership in the central administration There was also a level of distrust amongst the key members of government, which was exploited by the merchants to serve their needs

These Southeast Asian economies also witnessed traditional competition for power, as land-based rivals continued to pool resources in their attempts to build new

47

Alves, “Foreign Traders’ Management” p.137

48

Sĕjarah Mĕlayu or Malay Annals, an annotated translation by Charles Cuthbert Brown (Singapore:

Oxford University Press, 1970) pp.155-6

cultural centers It has to be borne in mind that the legitimacy of the ruler was not due to his control over a piece of territory 49 In Southeast Asia, it was largely borderless, and if there were to be boundaries, it was more likely to be border seas The strength of the sultanate was measured not by the territories, but by the allegiance and loyalty of the people living in the area

Trade was significant in this competitive process as a source of material wealth that endowed the leaders with power and bestowed economic and psychological well being to those who chose to become subordinate to the center.50 Merchants and not political elites would control market networks But there was a blurring of those lines as prominent merchants often through marriage alliances and bribery, bought themselves offices and positions in the nobility class The market was largely in the hands of commercial specialists, whose behavior was largely inconsistent with traditional values.51

The Portuguese in India

India was seen as a precursor as to how the Portuguese intended to administer Malacca There were similarities in that they were also dealing with Muslims and Hindus In the

regimentos given to the Viceroy of India, Francisco Almeida, he was tasked to study the

best way to attract Indian princes and Rajahs He recommended and carried out the policy that those rulers who showed friendship to Portugal were given knighthood and military

49

Legitimacy was also tied to ancient Hindu beliefs of the genealogy of rulers to be some descendent of some deity

50

Kenneth R Hall, “Economic History” in Cambridge History of Southeast Asia: from c.1500 to c.1800

vol.2, edited by Nicholas Tarling (London: Cambridge University Press, 1999) p.271

51

ibid p.272

honors, with the corresponding remuneration of three thousand cruzados a year.52 But a more pro-active engagement of the Indians was seen with the appointment of the

Governor Alfonso Albuquerque in 1509, who promoted the policy of casado and mixed

But the casado policy had been a popular policy amongst the Portuguese in India It was

also controversial, as many Portuguese exploited the opportunities this policy provided

The most significant group of merchants dealt with by the Portuguese in India was the Gujaratis who traded extensively with Malacca It was said, “Malacca could not live without Cambay, nor Cambay without Malacca.” 54 One of Gujarat’s most important trade routes was that linking Aden and Malacca Situated in the Gulf of Cambay, the Gujarat merchants were seen as the middlemen of this distant traffic Firstly, the merchants of Cairo and Jiddah brought goods and money from Italy, Greece and Damascus down the Red Sea to Aden Then, they were exchanged for goods from west Asia and Europe and that carried on in Arab ships to the Gulf of Cambay These rich cargos included gold and silver, quicksilver, vermilion, copper, rosewater, wools and

52

Silva Rego, Regimentos p.34

53

Letter of captain António Real to Dom Manuel with regard to the casado policy Raymundo António de

Bulhão Pato, Cartas de Alfonso de Albuquerque, I, (Lisboa: Typographica da Academia Real das Sciencias,

1884) p.351-2

54

Donald Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, (Reprint) (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1993) p.20

brocades. 55 The Gujarati merchants bartered for these with their indigenous goods, such

as cotton cloths But the key commodity desired by most traders was the spice from Southeast Asia

Hence, this led to the Gujarat merchants having to focus on their trade with Malacca They accomplished this very well as they were the favored merchants of the sultanate and spices sent to the West were handled almost entirely in Gujarati ships A majority of the Gujarat traders resided in Malacca, where they exchanged these accumulated wares for Chinese goods, especially silks and porcelains Other goods in this thriving market were rubies and lacre from Pegu, cloths from Bengal and Coromandel, and cloves, nutmeg and mace of the Banda Islands Malacca’s merchants relied on the textile trade with the Gujarat to further her trade For the Gujarat, it needed an outlet for its indigenous goods Statistically, it was cited that there were a thousand Gujarat merchants living in Malacca, and up to four to five thousand Gujarat seamen, who stopped over to trade.56

55

Pearson, M.N Merchants and Rulers in Gujarat: The Response to the Portuguese in the Sixteenth

Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), p.11

56

Donald Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, p.20