Trade and Traffic in the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula Prior to the 15th Century

Abstract

Lying as they did between the Indian Ocean and the China Seas and thus forming the division between two regions which were geographically, anthropologically and economically distinct, the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago had been destined from time immemorial to play an important role as a transition area. Not only were they transit countries for the products of East and West, they were also a meeting ground for merchants coming from either direction. Even the opposing wind systems met here, the monsoons of the Indian Ocean on the one hand and the trade winds of the China Sea on the other, so that ships were obliged to rest for a period before the next favourable wind enabled them to proceed on their voyages. Moreover, these regions produced many goods for which there was a ready market, and of these, gold, tin, spices, and certain valuable kinds of wood were in the greatest demand. Finally there were plenty of good harbours and roadsteads where incoming and outgoing ships could find safe anchorage. Ports grew up in these places and with their development the local inhabitants who had formerly engaged chiefly in fishing expanded their activities to take part in coastal and deep-sea navigation as well.