NOTA ILMU: MALAY SEAFARER & MARITIME TRADE

Ahmad Jelani Halimi, Assoc. Prof. Dr: in History and Civilisation of the Malay Nation > Notes of Buddhist monks in the 8th century AD that 6 or 7 feet of the Malay ships were underwater. These Malay ships were fast and could carry 1,000 people. These ships did not use iron nails because they avoided fires due to the heating of the iron, and these ships could move with human power alone.

Aja'ib al-Hind (900 - 953 CE): the mediaeval book translates to "The Book of the Wonders of India" > the collection of maritime tales and anecdotes from the 10th century. Compiled by Buzurg ib Shahriyar, a 10th-century shipmaster from the Persian province of Khuzistan. It confirms the existence of ancient and extensive maritime trading networks connecting the Middle East with Southeast Asia and beyond, with regions like Kedah in present-day Malaysia being important trading ports. 

Al-Idrisi: In the book of Rujjar, the people of Zabag (Srivijaya) sailed with large ships.

Anthony Reid, Dr:

1. Sundanese Stage Theory: The Nusantara nation was a pioneer of maritime civilisation and sea trade. 
2. Marine archaeological evidence suggests that the seas of Southeast Asia in the 16th century were dominated by large cargo ships of a common type, showing mostly Southeast Asian characteristics but with a Chinese admixture. 
3. He challenged the Eurocentric historical narrative that portrayed Southeast Asia as a passive, backward, and static region that only developed with the arrival of Europeans. He argued that before the colonial period, maritime Southeast Asia was a dynamic, vibrant, and interconnected commercial world.

Antonio Pigafetta: Italian traveller who first collected Austronesian vocabulary. He was a crew member who followed Magellan's expedition in 1519-1522. He also recorded about a Malay youth who participated in Magellan's voyage who was given the Christian name "Enrique the Black" and came from Sumatra. When he visited Brunei in 1521 AD, he saw in the palace of the Sultan of Brunei there were 56 copper cannons and 6 iron cannons.

Atlas Lopo Homem-Reines: or Atlas Miller, painted by cartography experts named Lopo Homem, Peidro Reinel, Jorge Reinel and Antonio de Holanda in 1519. Atlas Miller is the first atlas to depict the existence of Jong Melayu. 

Austronesian Expansion: The "Great Sailors" theory is supported by the Austronesian Expansion. Ancestors of the modern Malays migrated across thousands of miles of open ocean, settling as far west as Madagascar and as far east as the Pacific Islands (Polynesia).

Balance-lug sail: known in Maritime Southeast Asia as Tanja Sail (Layar Tanjak), invented by Austronesian Sailors, specifically including Malay and Javanese seafarers. This design was a global seafaring breakthrough, enabling ships to sail efficiently against the wind rather than just drifting downwind.

Barry Fell, Dr: Western archaeologists have discovered evidence of the arrival of Malay Muslim sailors from Malacca in America based on Jawi/Arabic writing found engraved in a cave in the Corinto district, El Salvador. Dr Barry translates it as "Khatib Melaka Haji Mi Malaya"; he interprets it as a record of a religious leader from Malacca who travelled to the Americas around the 13th century.

Battle of Duyon River: Portuguese records of the battle on the Duyong River between the Portuguese and the Acheh Kingdom Armada in 1629. At the end of the battle, a giant Acheh ship named Cakra Donya was captured and taken to Malacca. The Portuguese were so impressed by the greatness of the giant ship that they called it "Espanto del Mundo", meaning "Wonder of the World".

Ben Finney (1994): An anthropologist at the University of Hawaii – in 1994, he published his seminal book "Voyage of Rediscovery: A Cultural Odyssey through Polynesia". He proved that Malayo-Polynesian ancestors intentionally navigated the Pacific using canoes and stars, rather than drifting aimlessly by accident. His work permanently restored the reputation of Malayo-Polynesian ancestors as some of the greatest seafarers in human history. 

Buddha Canon: The Buddhist collection of sacred text - Buddha Canon Notes "These ships are fast and can carry more than 1,000 people, besides cargo. They are also called K'un-lun po. Most of those who make up the crew and shipbuilders of these ships are K'un-lun (Malay) people.

Buzurg al-Ramhurmuzi: recorded in "Aja'ibal Hind" that a captain named Ismailuyah sailed from Kalah (Old Kedah) towards Oman in 929 AD.

Cakradonya: the flagship of the Sultanate of Aceh during its peak under Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607-1636). The Portuguese chronicles recorded it as "Espantodo Mundo" (Terror of the World) because of its terrifying size and firepower. 

Charles Donald Cowan: In the book "Nineteenth Century Malaya: The Origins of British Political Control" (1961), the Malays were far more skilled sailors and travellers than the Phoenicians.

Claudius Ptolamaeus: In "Geography", records large ships coming from the East of India (Archipelago).

Derek Thiam Soon Heng, Prof: an expert in the history of Chinese trade and diplomacy in Southeast Asia from Northern Arizona University: 

• In Melaka Straits, Chinese copper coins have recovered from several port settlements and shipwreck sites. 
• In his book "Sino-Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth Through the Fourteenth Century", he examines how China's foreign policy and economic shifts influenced trade and diplomatic relations with the Malay region around the Strait of Malacca. 

D.G.E. Hall (2004): 

• In discussing Chinese maritime commerce and shipping during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 221 BC), Hill, for example, points out that Roman and Arab ships dominated the Egypt to India trade, but most of the trade between India and China was carried by Malay, Indonesian and Indian ships.  
• The Malays are the founders of a kingdom that is as old as the Greek and Roman civilisations.
• There are Chinese records that state the existence of Austronesian tribes in the region around Funan, and there is archaeological evidence that the Malays have long inhabited and occupied the port of Oc Eo in southern Vietnam, which is the famous port of Funan. Funan is a Malay kingdom.

Duarte Barbosa: in 1512, he recorded the existence of a large ship owned by the Javanese which had 4 masts; the hull was covered with 4 layers of teak wood. In "The Book of Duarte Barbosa", he stated that the Port of Malacca was the richest port in the world.

Dvipantra: an ancient Indian name for the type of large, ocean-going ship that the Chinese called K'un-lun po. Essentially, Dvipantra was the name used on the Indian side of the trade route for the great trading vessels originating from the island kingdoms of what is now Indonesia and Malaysia.

Edwin Doran Jr (1974): Polynesian ships were inspired by Malay boat technology – Polynesia is famous for its 'catamaran' and "outrigger canoe" boats – the same concept in ancient Malay shipping traditions such as Jong, Pelang and Jolo. Studies show that this technology originated in Southeast Asia and developed eastward.

Emilio Salgari: a prolific Italian writer of exotic adventure and swashbuckler novels, published "I Pirati della Malesia" (The Pirates of Malaysia) in 1896. It is the story of Sandokan, a Malaysian pirate who opposed the colonial powers of the British and Dutch empires in Southeast Asia during the 19th century.

Enrico Guazzoni: Italian filmmaker in 1941, directed the film "I pirati della Malesia" (The Pirates of Malaya) based on the 1896 adventure novel "The Pirates of Malaysia" by Italian writer Emilio Slagari. 

Enrique the Black @ Panglima Awang

• Antonio Pigafetta's notes: He participated in Ferdinand Magellan's voyage. He stated that Enrique was Magellan's assistant.
• Maximillanus Transylvanus: Enrique the Malacca was a translator from Maluku. 

Ernest Small: in "Culinary Herbs" (2006), N.R.C. Research Press, p. 15: Ernest Small writes there a summarised in the "Journal of Al-Tamaddun" (2024) peer-reviewed paper that directly quotes: "During their stay in Melaka, Turkish traders, including Arab and Persian traders, learned how to deal with monsoon conditions, use stars in navigation and use magnets and compasses."

Espanto do Mundo: Portuguese translation for the legendary Acehnese flagship, which in local tradition is most commonly known as the Cakradonya. The word means "Terror of the World", the symbol of Aceh's maritime power during its Golden Age. 

Faxian @ Fa-Hsien: 

• a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled to India in 399-412 CE to collect Buddhist texts.
• On his way back to China in 413 CE, he embarked on a ship from K'un-lun, a Chinese name for the southern people - Austronesian from Maritime Southeast Asia, including Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, Champa and Cambodia. 

FDK Bosch: In 1946, he asserted that traders from the Malay Archipelago had reached ports in India.

Fernao Pires de Andrade (1513) recorded the Portuguese battle with the army of Pati Unus (Patih Yunus), where it is said that the jong-jong of Patih Yunus from Demak had between 3 and 7 layers of ship's skin that could not be penetrated by cannonballs. 

Gasper Corriea: 

• In his book "Lendas Da India" (Legend of India), he included the majesty and greatness of the Malay-made Mendam Berahi ship.
• In "Lendas da India", Portuguese chroniclers recorded that when the Portuguese fleet collided with a Malay ship from Acheh, the ship was so tall that no one dared to approach it from any Portuguese ship.

George F. Hourani: "Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Mediaeval Times" (1951):

• About Polynesian Malays, the Arabs seeing Malay ships in action appears to be a modern synthesis of historical facts.
• The Malays were masters of naval technology. Their seafaring abilities were well known to traders from both the East and West. 
• Ancient Malay sailors invented the balance-lug sail (or layar tanja), a rectangular sail tilted at an angle. The Western Indian Ocean navigators – specifically Arabs and Polynesians – likely encountered Malay sailors using these balance-lugs in the final centuries BCE or early first century. 
• They navigated by the wind and the stars, by cloud formations, the colour of the water, and the swell and wave patterns on the ocean’s surface. They could discern the presence of an island some thirty miles from its shores by noting the behaviour of birds, the animal and plant life in the water, and the swell and wave patterns.

George Murdock: An American professor in 1959, through his research, discovered that several plants found in Madagascar, such as coconut, sweet potato, taro, rice and corn, originated from the archipelago, brought by Malay sailors.

Giorgio Buccellati: 

• An archaeologist, with his team, discovered cloves in Syria; the date is significantly more recent than 3,700 BC. It provides strong evidence for ancient maritime trade routes involving Austronesian people from Maritime Southeast Asia. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands of Indonesia. 
• The Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia were the originators of the Indian Ocean's earliest maritime trade network, starting as early as 1500 BCE, though evidence like the Terqa cloves suggests even earlier voyages.

Han Shu: Book of the Han Dynasty (汉书) > by Ban Gu: 

• The earliest record of the "Nanhai Trade" between China and the Malay Peninsula dates back to 140 BC. The name 'Duyuan' in this record is Duyung in Terengganu.
• Notes that the Chinese travelled on "barbarian ships" (man yi chuan 蛮夷船). This indicates that during the Western Han, the Chinese had not yet developed a deep-sea merchant fleet on their own and relied on the advanced seafaring skills of Austronesian (Malay/Indonesian) and South Asian sailors. 
• By the 2nd Century NCE, the Malay Peninsula was already serving as a vital "bridge" or entrepot connecting the economic spheres of China and India, later known as the Maritime Silk Road. 

Heidi Roupp: In "Teaching World History: A Resource Book". > 

• Malay sailors arrived in East Africa as late as the first century BC.
• Long before European exploration, Malay and Indonesian sailors were the primary navigators of the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as Madagascar and the East Coast of Africa.
• Malay sailors were the essential "middlemen" and primary carriers of spices (cloves and nutmeg) from the Moluccas to the markets of India and China, laying the groundwork for the first truly global trade networks.

Helen Ang: a well-known Malaysian blogger and commentator, her statement is based on a historical truth about the people of Maritime Southeast Asia (Nusantara). All Malays in NUSANTARA (MALAY WORLD) are great SEAMEN/SAILORS; they move in their own world from Sumatra to New Guinea, from Luzon to Java, and from Maluku to Madagascar.

Horst H. Liebner (Dr.): This German-born researcher of Nusantara archaeology stated that the Malays in the 10th century were able to build ships measuring 25 to 35 metres long and 12 metres wide. He has written about the "Pinisi" of South Sulawesi and "Padewakang", another long-distance trading vessel from South Sulawesi. 

Hybrid Ships: A combination of Chinese and Malay/Nusantara technology, architecture, engineering, and so on. Chinese hybrid ships use nails, but Malay ships do not.

Ian Burnet, in his book "Spice Islands", confirms that the ancient maritime trade of valuable spices like cloves and nutmeg was pioneered by intrepid, seafaring Indonesians. Burnet points out that cloves native to the Maluku Islands (the Moluccas) were found in a ceramic jar in Syria dating to around 1721 BCE, almost 4,000 years ago. 

Ian C. Glover: British Archaeologist – His 1979 research:

• Proved that ancient Malay seafarers were highly skilled navigators actively trading across maritime Southeast Asia as early as the late 1st millennium BCE. 
• Tracked the widespread distribution of northern Vietnamese Dong Son Bronze drums throughout the Malay Archipelago dating back to around 300 BCE. Only highly organised, intrepid maritime networks, specifically those driven by proto-Malay sailors, could have transported these heavy artefacts across thousands of miles of ocean.
• Early Southeast Asian mariners possessed advanced seafaring capabilities independent of Western or Chinese influence. 
• These early sailors traversed open oceans without a compass or written charts, navigating purely by reading wind patterns, stars, cloud formations, ocean smells and wave smells. 

Ibn Batutta: The largest Chinese ship was called Chuan, and he said that the Malay Jong was larger than the Chuan. 

Isabella L. Bird: In the book "The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither", after the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, the Malay Empire of Aceh tried to recapture Malacca with 500 warships, 100 of which were much larger than any ships ever built in Europe.

J. Innes Miller: In his book "The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire" (1969):

• The long-distance maritime trade in the Indian Ocean was pioneered by Southeast Asian (specifically Austronesian, which includes Malay) seafarers.
• Sometime before 300 BCE – Austronesia peoples established trade routes across the "Southern Ocean" – a term the Chinese used for the waters from the South China Sea to East Africa. 
• From the last centuries BCE, Malay sailors were delivering spices, particularly cassia, directly from the South China Sea to the Red Sea and East Africa. 

James W. Hoover: Professor of American History > The Malays developed seafaring skills early on, focusing on ships built on the catamaran principle, using outriggers. DNA again provides clues to Malay colonisation of the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, clearly across the Indian Ocean.

Jan Wisseman Christie (1999): 

• She argued that ancient Malay political power was built on control of the spice trade. 
• Long before European colonisers arrived, the Malay world was a hub for the global spice trade. 
• The Malays were known for their sophisticated maritime technology, including large, multi-hulled vessels called jongs.

Jim Siebold (2016) states that Miller's Atlas, or Lopo Homem-Reineis Atlas, an atlas drawn by a Portuguese cartographer named Lopo Homem, Pedro Reinel, Jorge Reinel and Antonio de Holanda in 1519, is the first atlas that describes the existence of Jong Malay.

Joao de Barros (1496-1570): recorded that the army led by Alfonso de Albuquerque was attacked by Jong from Pasai while their fleet was between Lumut and Belawan. The Portuguese took 2 days to defeat the Jong. 

John Crawfurd: The Malays used the compass before the Europeans. 

John D. Baldwin: dalam 'Ancient America' (1871): 

• 'Civilisation was brought to America in ancient times by the Malays.' 
• The Malayan Empire was maritime and commercial; it had fleets of great ships, and there is evidence that its influence reached most of the Pacific islands.
• The Malays and Phoenicians possessed the naval technology to cross oceans. The Malays as a "maritime race" capable of reaching the American coasts via the Pacific. 

John Tiffany in 'The Malays - A People of Fascinating Division' said that the Malays were pioneers in navigation to the point that they were called the Vikings of the Orient.

Jong:

• The existence of the Malay jong was recorded before the creation of Miller's Atlas in 1519. This atlas may have been the first European atlas to describe such ships, but it was not the first document in its entirety.
• Alfonso de Albuquerque, who conquered Malacca in 1511, was highly impressed by the size and quality of Malay shipbuilding. 
• The Portuguese chroniclers, writing about the events of 1511, noted that Malay jongs (large trading ships) and galley were substantially larger and more formidable than many of their own vessels. 
• The Jong of Javanese trader named Patih Yunus was so massive that it made the Portuguese warship Anunciada seem small by comparison. 
• The term "jong" was recorded in Old Javanese in an 11th-century Balinese inscription. The word is also used in the Javanese epic Kidung Panji Wijayakrama-Rangga Lawe of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
• In 1413, the Chinese translator Ma Huan described the extensive maritime trade carried out by the Majapahit Empire, which relied on jongs. Chinese historical texts from the Yuan and Ming dynasties also refer to Southeast Asian nations, including the Malays, using such ships for their naval and trading activities.

Joyce E. Chaplin, Dr: In the book "Round About The Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit" by Enrique de Malacca, or Panglima Awang, he became the first human to circumnavigate the world. 

Junk: 

• The English word 'junk', referring to the classic Chinese sailing vessel, is an etymological derivative of the Malay word 'jong'. The word originally comes from the Old Javanese word 'jon', which means a seagoing ship or large vessel. 
• It was adopted into the Malay language as Jong. 
• The Portuguese, when they arrived in Southeast Asia, adapted the local Malay/Javanese word in Portuguese as 'Junco". The Dutch later adopted it as 'Jonk'.
• English maritime traders borrowed the term from the Portuguese and Dutch, anglicising it to 'junk'.
• Historically, European sailors used the term 'junk' to describe any large, wooden Asian vessel they encountered. However, after Southeast Asian djong production declined in the 17th and 18th centuries, the term stuck almost exclusively to the flat-bottomed Chinese chuán (船).

K'ang T'ai: Chinese source from 260 AD – records a Malay jong with 7 sails called "Kunlun-Po". The word "Po" comes from the Malay word for "boat". 

Kang Heejung: "Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese: (2015) > 

• The Southeast Asian historian O.W. Wolters (1967, 153) wrote that the Chinese called the Southeast Asian maritime people and region "The Kunlun".
• Kunlun was also written in Juelun in Chinese records. 

John M. Miksic: In his book "Ancient Southeast Asia":

• Through his historical excavations at Fort Canning Hill in Singapore, Miksic found evidence of a thriving 14th-century port city. This discovery proved that Singapore had been a major regional hub long before the arrival of the British in 1819. 
• Austronesia-speaking sailors, including Malays, played a crucial role in creating a regional "interaction sphere".

K. G. Tregonning, in his book "Malaysian Historical Sources" (Singapore, 1965, m2) and "The Encyclopedia Americana" (Edition 8, 1963, m.164), states that the Malay Peninsula is the best stopover for China-India trade.

K'ang T'ai: In 260 AD, he recorded the existence of a Malay Jong which had 7 sails called Kun-Lun Po.

Kang Heejung: "Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese: (2015) >

• The Southeast Asian historian O.W. Wolters (1967, 153) wrote that the Chinese called the Southeast Asian maritime people and region "The Kunlun".
• Kunlun was also written in Juelun in Chinese records.

Keith W. Taylor: Madagascar in the Ancient Malayo-Polynesian Myths:

• Sometime before the end of the second millennium B.C., the Malayo-Polynesians spread onto the coasts and up the river valleys of Asia and Africa, introducing to these continental lands all of the distinctive characteristics of their civilisation, from the tuning scales of the xylophone and the outrigger canoe to the intellectual life of their mythic thought. The ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Hebrews sent expeditions to the entrance of the Red Sea and down the East African coast to obtain exotic goods from India and beyond brought thither by the Malayo Polynesians. As Arab power extended down the coast of East Africa during the millennium before Christ, the Malayo-Polynesians avoided the Arabian Sea and sailed directly to the African coast just beyond the reach of the Arabs, from where they continued their trading activities. During this time, Madagascar became the home of Malayo-Polynesian peoples.
• Ancient Malay sailors were master navigators who crossed thousands of miles of open ocean without compasses, written charts or maps (1976).
• By the 3rd century BCE, the Chinese had taken notice of the Malay sailors approaching their shore from the Kunlun Islands in the southeastern sea.

Kenneth R. Hall, Professor: a prominent historian:

• highlights Malay sailors as pioneering, highly skilled navigators who connected global economies long before European dominance. 
• Malay sailors regularly covered thousands of kilometres, traversing the vast Southern Ocean stretching from Africa to Easter Island. They achieved this without a compass or written chart, navigating instead by tracking wind directions, stars, swell and wave patterns, ocean colour and colour shapes. 
• In his publication on Google Books, Hall documents how Malay seamen partnered with Indian and Arab merchants as early as the first century CE. 
• His thesis in "Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia" is that seafaring capabilities of Malay sailors directly fuelled the evolution of local civilisations. 

Kevin Reilly: in his book "The Human Journey: A Concise Introduction to World History" The Malays were the earliest and first people to sail the ocean. 

Kolandiaphonta:

• In the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st-century maritime manual written by an anonymous Greek-speaking merchant, it mentions Kolandiaphonta, the largest ship navigating the waters between the Coromandel Coast of India, the Ganges Delta, and Chryse (The Golden Land), identified with the Malay Peninsula. 

Kunlun:

• Kunlun, or Malay sailors, were known in China by the 3rd century BC, and there is evidence that they had begun to settle along the East African coast by the first century CE. By the time of the Roman Empire, there were permanent communities of Malayo-Polynesian-speaking people on the coast of Malagasy, where they remain to this day. (Wikipedia)
• (Malay sailor title) with the Kunlunpo is recorded to have sailed and traded in Guangzhou and even as far as North and East China, such as Fujian and Zhejiang, as early as 300 BC
• Kunlun (崑崙): This term had a few meanings during the Tang dynasty. It most often referred to the dark-skinned peoples of Southeast Asia and the Malay Archipelago who were known for their seafaring and shipbuilding skills. The name is also associated with the mythical Kunlun Mountains in Chinese mythology. (Google overview).
• The Greeks called them "Kolandiaphonta", which scholars now accept is a transcription of Kun-lun-po.

Kun-lun Po:

• Kunlun po (崑崙舶): This literally translates to "Kunlun ship". It refers to large, oceangoing ships used by Austronesian sailors from Maritime Southeast Asia (Google overview).
• a Malay ship measuring 200 feet long, 20 ft high above water with 4 sails, carrying cargos of 900 tonnes and 600-700 people. The Kunlun (Malay) were great ship builders, sailors and traders. (Wang, 1968). Refer to Wikipedia: Kun-lun po.
• Chinese records from the 3rd century AD state that Malay ships called Kun-lun Po were over 50 metres long and floated on the water surface as high as 4-5 metres. These ships carried between 600 and 700 crew members and a cargo of around 250 to 1,000 tonnes of goods. These ships sailed at high speed in strong winds and large waves. (Associate Professor Dr Ahmad Jelani Halimi).
• The term "kunlun bo" was known to the Greeks as "kilandiophonta", which is a transcription of the Chinese word for "Kun-lun ship". This was a large sailing ship from the Southeast Asian region, described by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy and others in texts such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
• Wikipedia: "Kun-lun po were ancient sailing ships used by Austronesian sailors from Maritime Southeast Asia, described by Chinese records from the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 9 AD).
• Kunlun po (崑崙舶): This literally translates to "Kunlun ship". It refers to large, oceangoing ships used by Austronesian sailors from Maritime Southeast Asia (Google overview).

Lashed-Lug Boat: 

• an ancient boat-building technique of the Austronesian peoples. It is characterised by the use of raised lugs (also called "cleats) on the inner face of hull planks.
• Part of maritime technology used by Austronesian peoples in their spread throughout the islands of the Indo-Pacific starting at 3000 to 1500 BCE. 
• The oldest recovered remains of ships of lashed-lug construction are the Pontian Boat of Malaysia, dated around 260-430 CE. 

Leonard Andaya, Prof.: Introduced the term "Malay Sea", referring to the conceptual maritime region of Southeast Asia, particularly the Strait of Malacca and the surrounding coastal areas.

Ludovico di Varthema: On a voyage to Malacca and the Spice Islands in 1505, it is recorded that the Malay captain of the large ship from Borneo he was on sailed guided by a nautical chart that had rhumb lines and was read with a magnetic compass. 

Luzano Pancho Canlas: In his book titled "Philippines 2 Millennium History", the Malays were brave sailors who travelled across the vast South Pacific ocean in small boats called Balagay. 

Lynda Norene Shaffer (Professor): 

• 1996: Historians indicate that in the 1st century C.E., vast fleets of Malay outrigger ships went back and forth to Aden in the Middle East, and some Malays even settled there.
• In her writing entitled "Southernization" in the Journal of World History 5, Spring (1994), states that Malay sailors had already sailed across the ocean to India and China as early as 300 BC.
• “The Chinese also knew these islanders as builders and as the crews of ocean-going vessels engaged in long-distance overseas trade. The Chinese, in fact, have learnt much from these sailors. The Malays independently invented a sail, made from woven mats reinforced with bamboo, at least several hundred years B.C.E., and by the time of the Han Dynasty (206 CE to 221 CE), the Chinese were using such sails. “ (Shaffer, 1996)
• By the third century BCE the Chinese had taken notice of Malay sailors approaching their shores from the "Kunlun" Islands in the southern seas, which the Chinese knew to be "volcanic and always endowed with awesome and powerful powers". . . . The Chinese also knew the inhabitants of these islands as builders and as crews of seagoing vessels engaged in long-distance overseas trade.
• There is no doubt that the most intrepid sailors were the Malays, people who lived in what is now Malaysia, Indonesia, the southeastern coast of Vietnam and the Philippines.
• Sometimes before 300 B.C.E., Malay sailors began to ride the monsoon.
• Malay sailors had reached the eastern coast of Africa at least by the 1st century B.C.E., if not earlier.
• Malay sailors were responsible for spreading the traditional Sa-Huynh Kalanay clay pots and Dongsan drums throughout Southeast Asia.
• The Malay sailors were highly skilled navigators, sailing over the oceans for thousands of miles without a compass or a written chart. They navigated by the winds and the stars, by the shape and colour of the clouds, by the colour of the water, and by swell and wave patterns on the ocean’s surface. They could locate an island when they were still like 30 miles from its shores by analysing the behaviour of various birds, the animal and the plant life in the water, and the patterns of swell and waves. (Shaffer, 1996, pp. 11-12, Taylor, 1976).
• Indian traders and shippers and Malay sailors were also responsible for opening up an all-sea route to China.
• The first-century Malay seawall sailors were skilled in long-distance voyages; they had a high level of nautical knowledge, sailing across the ocean for thousands of miles without using a compass or chart, knowing the position of an island by simply looking at the habits of certain birds, marine animals and plants, etc.
• In "Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500" (1996): Maritime history in Southeast Asia begins before the Common Era (BC), beginning with the history of the formation of the Malayo-Polynesian or Malayo-Polynesian society from Yunnan, South China. 

M. Klaproth: 

• In his writing entitled 'On The Names of China' (in Asiatic Journal, Vol. XXIII, 1827), he concluded that the words "Cina" and "China" themselves came from the Malays' calls and titles for the people of the Tsin (Qin) dynasty ("چین") under the rule of Emperor Tsin-che-hwang-te, who is said to have begun trading with Malay sailors around the 3rd century BC.
• Emperor Tsin-che-Hwang-te had started trading with Malay sailors around the 3rd century BC.  

M.E. Shaffe, 1996: The Southeast Asian sailors have been important actors in world history. Long before the Portuguese arrived in Asian waters, sailors from East Africa to East Asia had already been drawn to Southeast Asian ports.

Malay Ship: The Chinese call it Kun-lun po, while the Indians call it Dvipantra.

Manuel Joaquim Pintado, in "Portuguese Documents on Malacca (1509-1511)", recorded that the walls of the Malay Jong were so high that Portuguese soldiers were unable to climb them, and the Jong walls were 4 layers thick and were not damaged in the slightest by cannonballs.

Maritime Silk Route: a route connecting Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Europe. It began in the 2nd century BC and flourished until the 15th century AD. It was operated by Austronesian sailors in Southeast Asia.

Martin Ferdanadez de Navarette: a Spanish historical figure who wrote a book in 1837, which mentioned Enrique de Malacca's (Commander of Awang) ability to speak the language of that country fluently.

Michael Adas writes in his book titled 'Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History' that since 300 BC Malay sailors began sailing using the monsoon winds to China and India. They had reached the East Coast of Africa by the first century BC.

Mohd Hazmi Mohd Rusli (Dr.): "The Unsung Malay History" > “The Malays were great seafarers who once dominated most parts of Southeast Asia. For centuries, they built great kingdoms and huge monuments and pioneered maritime technologies in strengthening their grip over a huge maritime area extending from Madagascar in the West to the Indonesian islands in the East.

Monier-Williams: the mention of Monier (1899) and the finding of Sumatran camphor in an Egyptian mummy (Mahdi 1994) used as evidence for early, long-distance westward voyaging by Southeast Asian seafarers, predating European dominance, driven by the lucrative and aromatic trade. 

Nanchouiwuchih: by Wan Zhen, the Malays were noted for their seafaring skills and trading abilities. They were great shipbuilders, sailors and traders. They built and sailed large ships known as "Kunlun-po" (Malay ships).

Nanhai Trade: The earliest record confirming relations between China and the Malay Peninsula has existed since 140 BC, as recorded in the Han Shu (Book of Han).

Nanzhou Yiwuzhi: (Strange Things of the South) > A 3rd-century book by Wan Chen describes a ship (kunlun-po) capable of carrying 600-700 people, along with more than 10,000 hu of cargo.

New Straits Times: Sunday Special Feature, 21 September 1958: "The first man to sail round the world was a Malay."

Niccolo da Conti: The Italian traveller, Niccolò da Conti, who travelled through Asia between 1419 and 1444, also described large Southeast Asian ships that were much larger than European ships.

Nicholas Tarling notes that the success of the Srivijaya Kingdom was the result of the Malays' skills in navigation. In 3,000 BC the Malays sailed to the Pacific Ocean. 

Nicholas Thomas: The Malays sailed to the Pacific Ocean as early as 3000 BC.

Otto Christian Dahl (1903-1995): a Norwegian missionary and linguist who made significant contributions to the study of the Malagasy language, definitively establishing its origins in Southeast Asia. The ancestors of the Malagasy people were Ma'anyan-speaking voyagers who sailed from Borneo across the Indian Ocean and settled in Madagascar. He estimated the migration occurred around 700 CE.

OW Walters: In "Early Indonesian Commerce: The Origin of Srivijaya":

• The Malay Peninsula was known to the Greeks as early as the first century AD. 
• A Greek text “Periplus of the Erythrean Sea” recorded that the ship that sailed to Chryse (the Malay Peninsula) and to the Ganges was known as Colandia and was very large.
• The Tambralinga Kingdom once sent envoys to China around 616 AD during the Tang Dynasty.

P.Munoz (2006): The Malays knew the Pacific Ocean as the "Southern Sea" in ancient Malay manuscripts and records; sailors mentioned "South" as the direction of the vast sea, believed to refer to large oceans such as the South Pacific. Nusantara sailors were indeed active far to the east, paralleling Austronesian migrations.

Patrick V. Kirch (2017): Hawaiian mythology mentions mysterious visitors from the west bringing plant seeds, agricultural knowledge and culture. Studies by anthropologists such as Patrick V. Kirch suggest a possible connection with Western Austronesian (Argentina).

Paul D. Buell (2009) > The Song Emperor appointed the Champa Malays as maritime officers who also became the harbour masters in Fujian.

Paul Johnstone: In The Seacraft of Prehistory (1980), Paul Johnstone suggests that Chinese mariners learned to make batten sails from Malay sailors as early as the 3rd century BCE. These sails, known as tanja or balance-lug sails, were made of mats reinforced with bamboo, allowing ships to sail more effectively against the wind than earlier square sails. Malay sailors, part of the Austronesian seafaring tradition, developed advanced maritime technology, including batten and crab-claw sails, facilitating long-distance trade.

Penarikan Route: Jalan Penarikan > Portuguese cartographer Manuel Godinho de Eredia documented the Penarikan Route in his map in 1613 – "Declaracam de Malaca e India Meridional com o Cathay".

Periplous tis Erythras Thalassis: mentions how silk traders sailed to Tamala, a city in Myanmar located to the northwest of the Malay Peninsula, and then crossed the Kra Isthmus to the Gulf of Siam and sailed on to the main Qin port of Cattigara (now Óc Eo in southwest Vietnam).

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea:

• A Greek text records that the ships that sailed to Chryse (the Malay Peninsula) and to the Ganges were known as Colandia (Kolandiaphonta) and were very large.
• About Chrys: in "Ang Kasaysayan ng Sinaunang Pilipinas - Part 3", Chryse is the Greek short name of gold-producing Chryse Chersonessos in the East Indies. This name was applied by the geographer Ptolemy to the Philippines, which means 'isle of gold'. It is located to the east of Khruses Kersonenson (The Golden Peninsula), which refers to Malaysia."
"Ptolemy locates the islands of Chryse east of the Khruses Kersonenson, the 'Golden Peninsula', i.e., the Malaya Peninsula."

Periplus Marae Erythraensis: The existence of Malay ships was recorded as early as 100 AD, referring to a type of ship called "Kolandiaphonta". 'Kolandiaphonta' refers to the large, sophisticated ships of Southeast Asia, as described in ancient Greek records, which played a significant role in maritime trade in the region.

Peter Bellwood (2011): Mainstream history has been largely Eurocentrist – glorifying Western voyages by Columbus, James Cook and Ferdinand Magellan, while ignoring the great voyages of the East. Now, Western scholars themselves are beginning to acknowledge the Austronesian prowess in the world of navigation.

Philip Beale: British sailor who led the Samudra Raksa Expedition from 2003 to 2004:

• The Samudra Raksa was a replica of a 9th-century Borobudur ship.
• The journey named "The Cinnamon Route Expedition" took place in 2003-2004.
• The success of the voyage proved that ancient Indonesian mariners were capable of making such long-distance, open-ocean journeys. The Samudra Raksa is now housed in the Samudra Raksa Museum at the Borobudur Archaeological Park in Indonesia.

Pierre Yves Manguin (Professor): 

• Early Southeast Asian powers built large, ocean-going vessels from the first millennium CE onwards.
• Chinese sources from the 3rd century AD have recorded the presence of a Malay ship called the Kunlun of the ship's body. 
• According to Chinese sources from the first century AD, Kunlun-bo visited Chinese ports and took Buddhist pilgrims on ships on their way to Sriwijaya (in Sumatra) and India.
• Malay ships did not use nails but pegs and mortises to connect the hull boards.
• Kolandio Phonta is a relatively large ship owned and built by the native people of Southeast Asia. 
• The English word junk, often used to refer to Chinese ships, is a derivative of the Malay word jong.
• Third-century C.E. Chinese descriptions of the foreign vessels indicate that they were of the type called 'Jong' by the Malays, a local term later adopted by European languages as 'junk'. (Manguin, 1980 / Shaffer, 1996).
• According to Chinese sources from the 3rd century AD, a large Malay ship called Kunlun Bo docked at Guangzhou Port. (Wan Chen and K'ang T'ai)
• Roman ships used a plank-on-frame construction, while Southeast Asian vessels used the lashed-lug or sewn-plank method. Malay ships did not use nails but pegs and mortise for the plank joint.

Pontian Boat: 

• Also known as Pontian Sewn-Plank Boat. 
• an early historic lashed-lug (tembuku) wooden boat discovered on the banks of Pontian River in 1926 by British archaeologist I.H.N. Evans. 
• Widely regarded as one of the earliest known archaelogical examples of a lashed-lug boat in Southeast Asia.

Port Albert Maritime Museum: The Forgotten Masters of the Sea.

Portuguese Document on Malacca: 213 > "The walls of the Malay Jong were so high that the Portuguese did not climb them.

Pu Family (蒲): A Chinese transliteration of the common Arabic name Abu.

• Associated with Champa (modern-day Vietnam) or the Malay Peninsula.
• the major hubs where Muslim merchant families settled for generations before moving to China. 
• Their maritime expertise includes advanced knowledge of the monsoon winds, celestial navigation and the treacherous reefs of the South China Sea.
• Pu Shougeng – served as the Superintendent of Maritime Shipping in Quanzhou for 30 years.
• In 1281, Kublai Khan of the Mongols ordered 200 ships and Pu Shougeng to coordinate the construction of the ships. 

R.A. Fletcher: In "Worship and Their Stories" (2004), it states that the people who first used wings (outriggers) for canoes or sampans were the Malays.

Rafael Monleon (1840-1900): In his "Historia De La Navigacion", he illustrated and documented the design and architecture of ships from the Malay world. It is kept in the Spanish Military Museum, Barcelona.

Richard L. Smith: A historian at the University of Cambridge, in his book "Premodern Trade in World History" (2009): 

• Malay sailors were among the world's earliest long-distance navigators. They built large ships with their own technology, created their own sails and navigated the vast oceans.
• Austronesian sailors developed advanced navigation technology and large ships that enabled their long-distance voyages. 

Roger Blench: "The Prehistory of the Daic (Tai-Kadai) Speaking Peoples and the Austronesian Connection." (2009) > 

• Austronesian-speaking peoples were among the first to develop vessels capable of crossing vast distances of open ocean.
• He has documented the importance of advanced technology, including sophisticated sail designs such as the crab-claw sail, in enabling these long-distance voyages.

Sarah Zhang: In the article "Why Mandarin does not come from Chinese", The Atlantic (2019) > the word "Mandarin" comes from the use of the word "menteri" by Malay sailors, which means "administrator" or "advisor". The word comes from the Sanskrit word "मन्त्रि" ("mantrī"), which was used by the Malays starting from the 7th century.

Simon Elegant: In the Far Eastern Economic Review (1999) > "Five centuries ago, Melaka was visited by 2,000 ships a day, which was as busy as the modern Singapore Port today, making it one of the three busiest ports in the world."

Spice Route: established 5000 years ago according to a scholarly article, and the Nusantara region was the heart of spice sources such as clove, cardamom, etc. 

Stephen Chia (Prof. Dr.): 

• Studies at Bukit Tengkorak, Semporna, Sabah, found the existence of a maritime trade network between the Southeast Asian and Pacific Islands thousands of years ago.
• Archaeological evidence shows that Bukit Tengkorak is one of the largest prehistoric pottery-making centres in Southeast Asia, originating around 3,000 years ago.

R. Braddell: perahu-perahu orang Funan sangat panjang dan mampu membawa sehingga 100 orang dalam satu masa. Orang Funan mampu membina kapal yang boleh membawa sehingga 600-700 orang. 

RA Fletcher, in 'Worship and Their Stories' (2004), states that the people who first used outriggers for canoes and sampans were the Malays.

Rafael Monleon (1840-1900): in "Historia De La Navigacion", he illustrated and documented the design and architecture of ships from the Malay world. It is now kept in the Spanish Military Museum, Barcelona.

Richard L. Smith: In his book "Premodern Trade in World History", he states, "At sea, the routes were dominated from at least the first millennium BCE by the Malays." The term "Malay" refers specifically to the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula, but the term "Malay" is also used in a larger, more general way to refer to a number of seafarers who spoke Austronesian languages ​​and lived in parts of Sumatra, Borneo and other islands, including the Malay Peninsula. Malay sailors were the earliest long-distance traders in the modern countries of Malaysia and Indonesia. Their sailing activities included South China and Northeast India. They were highly skilled seafarers, with their own advanced nautical technology (Nautology), and may have invented the sail, well ahead of the Greek and Roman traders who were new to seafaring. The Malays established commercial links extending from the Philippines and New Guinea to the African coast, well ahead of the Greeks and Romans.

Roger Blench: "The Prehistory of the Daic (Tai-Kadai) Speaking Peoples and the Austronesian Connection." (2009) > Austronesian or Malay sailors since the early centuries AD have visited the eastern coastal areas of Africa. 

Sulaiman al-Tajir documented that ships sailing from India would stop at Kalah Bar (Kedah) before continuing to Zabaj (Srivijaya). This account from Sulaiman al-Tajir (9th century) is a significant piece of evidence for the ancient maritime trade routes in Southeast Asia. 

Taiping Yulan (982 AD): a book by Kang T'ai describes a ship with seven sails called a po or ta po (large ship) that could travel as far as Syria. The word 'po' may come from the Malay word 'perahu' (Wikipedia).

Thomas Brightwell: in "The Pentateuch" he is of the view that the Malays are a distinct race that emerged after the Great Flood of Prophet Noah (peace be upon him), and this race may have been among the early sailors in human history. 

Tom Hoogervorst, in "Southeast Asia in the Ancient Indian Ocean World: Combining Historicallinguistic and Archaeological Approaches", examines the significant role of ancient Southeast Asian, and particularly Malay, sailors in the maritime history of the Indian Ocean. His research is based on a combined approach using historical linguistics, archaeology, and other disciplines.

Tom Pires: 

• His notes in Suma Oriental acknowledge that Malay ships and traders travelled back and forth from the archipelago to the Indian Ocean and even to the Persian Gulf. 
• Malay ships controlled almost the entire eastern archipelago.
• Suma Orientals: "The Malays were the Vikings of the East."

Malacca Maritime Law (1400-1511): The Legal Code of the Sultan of Malacca, compiled by a group of Malay captains and dignitaries elected at the palace. 

Wan Chen: 

• a well-known Chinese historian of the 3rd century in Nanchouiwuchih > The Malays were highlighted for their navigational skills and trading abilities. They were great ship builders, sailors and traders. They built and sailed large vessels known as "Kunlun-po" (Malay ship), measuring 200 ft long and 20 ft high above water, with 4 sails, cargos of 900 tonnes, and 600-700 people (Wang, 1968).
• In "Strange Things of the South", in the 3rd century AD, a large ship that could accommodate 700 people with a load of up to 1000 tonnes was recorded. The ship came from Kun-lun Po (Southern Country).
• His description of the Kunlun po confirms that centuries before significant European exploration, Austronesian sailors were operating large, robust, and technologically advanced vessels across the Indian Ocean trading network.

Wang Dayuan: A Chinese traveller from the Yuan Dynasty in his book "Daoyi Zhilue Guangzheng Xia", written in 1349 AD, described a large ship from Southeast Asia that was built without using nails.

Waruno Mahdi: His findings regarding Sumatran camphor (Dryobalanops aromatica) for camphor to reach an Egyptian mummy by the late first millennium BCE. Austronesian sailors from Southeast Asia were the premier navigators of the era, eventually reaching as far as Madagascar. 

Willem Pieter Groeneveldt (1876): 'Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources. ' > The Chinese voyager Faxian (Fa-Hsien) on his return voyage to China from India (413-414) boarded a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from K'un-lun.

Ye Tinggui: In his notes from 1151 AD entitled Nanfan xianglu (Treatise On Southeast Asia Aromathics), he stated that every year Sriwijaya would send several large ships containing incense to Guangzhou and Quanzhou.

Zaharah Sulaiman: From the Malaysian Archaeological Association, based on the Text Notes of the Chinese Encyclopedia between the 10th and 13th centuries, there was a Muslim Malay Cham family who were experts in the maritime field. The ability of this family was proven in 1281 AD when the Mongol King ordered 200 large ships.

Zhou Qufei, a Guangzhou customs officer in 1178, wrote in Lingwai Daida that ships from the Southern countries were like giant houses (Joseph Needham, 1971).

Zhu Fan Zhi: (1225 AD) – A Chinese record written by Zhao Rukuo (Chau Ju-kua), a custom inspector for the Southern Song Dynasty. 

• about a place named Fo-Lo-An around Kuala Berang in Hulu Terengganu, a highly prosperous, deep-river international trade hub. 
• Fo-Lo-An as one of the 15 dependencies or vassal states under the Srivijaya Empire (Sanfoqi). 

Reference:

1. Ahmad Jelani Halimi, Associate Professor, in History and Civilisation of the Malay Nation.
2. Willem Pieter Groeneveldt (1876): 'Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources."
3. Charles Donan Cowan - "Nineteenth Century Malaya - The Origins of British Political Control" (1961).
4. Duarte Barbosa: The Book of Duarte Barbosa (1512). 
5. George Coedes: "The Indianised States of Southeast Asia", 1968
6. Gaspar Correia: "Legends of India"
7. O.W. Wolters: "Early Indonesian Commerce", 1967
8. Heidi Roupp: "Teaching World History: A Resource Book"
9. Isabella L. Bird: "The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither".
10. Lynda N. Shaffer, "Southernization" – Journal of World History 5, Spring (1994).
11. Lynda N. Shaffer: "Maritime Southeast Asia to 1500" (1996).
12. Prof. Pierre Yves Manguin: "The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 11 (2), 266-276 / "Trading Ships of the South China Sea: Ship Building Techniques and Their Roles in the History of Asian Trade Networks. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 
13. Richard L. Smith: "Premodern Trade in World History", London, Routledge, hlm. 86-118. 
14. Thomas Brightwell: "The Pentateuch", Bell, Arnold, 1840.
15. Syed Mahadzir Syed Ibrahim: Henry the Black – Panglima Awang, the First Malay Navigator to Circumnavigate the World" – Hijjaz Record Publishing (2020).
16. Roger Blench: "The Prehistory of the Daic (Tai-Kadai) Speaking Peoples and the Austronesian Connection" (2009).
17. Dr Joyce E. Chaplin: "Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit."
18. Port Albert Maritime Museum: "THE FORGOTTEN MASTERS OF THE SEA: HOW ANCIENT ASIAN SHIPBUILDERS SHAPED GLOBAL EXPLORATION."
19. Kang, Heejung (2015). "Kunlun and Kunlun Slaves as Buddhists in the Eyes of the Tang Chinese" (PDF). Kemanusiaan. 22 (1): 27–52.
20. Manguin, Pierre-Yves (September 1980). "The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 11 (2): 266–276. doi:10.1017/S002246340000446X. JSTOR 20070359.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

Lembah Keramat, KL

23 November 2025: 2.38 p.m.