MALACCA CITY

SUMBER: GAHAR MELAYU

Regarding the physical characteristics of Malacca, European sources are basically in agreement. The ports are described as better and safer than the ports in Singapore. No ship on board has ever been lost by a storm, and the harbor is easily accessible, especially from the west. The city sits on a small river estuary and the surrounding area is not productive despite dense forest vegetation and lush. Malacca has a good supply of water and delicious fruits (grapes, chestnuts, figs, durians, and other fruits), but most other foods have to come by sea from abroad.

Although the soil is not fertile, it produces valuable wood, gold, and lead. Wildlife in abundance, (Castanheda) reports that the city is divided into two by a river flattened by a connecting bridge. In the southern part of the city, the king and his royalty lived and here is also the main mosque. On the north side of the river live the merchants. The houses in the administrative and commercial sections of the city are built of wood and stone.

Traders came to Malacca from all over the world, but nobody stayed there longer than necessary because the climate, albeit moderate, was reported hot, humid and unhealthy for natives and foreigners alike. Apparently the only Portuguese permanently living in Malacca during the sixteenth century were some soldiers guarding the fortress, crown officials, and the occasional priests and missionaries.

The city's cosmopolitan population includes merchants and sailors from all countries between Arabia and China, both Moors, Jews, and infidels. Mainly many are Gujarat Muslims from Cambay, Kling Tribes of Bengal on the east coast of India, Javanese men, Chinese and Japanese.

The Siamese tribe, because of their political differences with the Sultans of Malacca, is not clearly visible. When Albuquerque took over the city, two powerful Javanese communities resided in Malacca that controlled the rice trade with their homeland. The stronger group lives on the northwest side of the river in (Upeh) and others on the southeast side in (Hilir).

The Portuguese nation had quite a hard time controlling this wealthy group of Javanese traders and eventually expelled them from the city. Many Javanese seafarers lived with their families on their ships and never went ashore unless for trade. The Javanese tribe, during Barbosa's time, clearly controlled most of the shipments between Malacca and the islands, including the Spice Islands. Apparently, the Javanese are also known in Malacca because of their tendency to rage when caught quite, the Moors and the Javanese were clearly the destroyers of Malacca as far as the Portuguese. With other foreign groups, particularly Chinese and Indians, Portuguese, except for the occasional incidents, usually have peaceful and beneficial relations. Hindu traders are very friendly with the Portuguese and help them gain an understanding of the business practices that apply.

For Europeans, Malacca's natives are "white," proportional stature, and authoritative. Men usually wear cotton clothes (sarfs) that only cover their bodies from the waist down, but some more dignified men wear short silk coats, "like Cairo style," on which they carry daggers called keris. Their women, who are olive-skinned, beautiful, and brown, usually wear "fine silk dresses and short shirts.... " No one but a king can wear the colour yellow without a special permit with the threat of death penalty. The face of the native is wide with a wide nose and round eyes. Both genders are polite and fans of any form of classy entertainment, especially music, ballads and poetry.

The rich live the life to the fullest in their rural homes in Bertam surrounded by abundant fruit orchards. Most of them have separate business places in the city where they run business. They are especially fond of developing the art of sex and war. They get easily offended and won't let anyone touch them.. -

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Varthema for comments ... One of the Venetians who gave information to Viaggi fatti alla Tana (1543) from his experiences in India noted that the Malacca people were small and reddish, wore long black turbans, fought with deadly poisonous arrows, paid tributes in the form of cloves to Portugal, and bought porcelain from China.

-head or shoulders. Often malicious and dishonest, they pride themselves on their ability to wield dexterity against their personal enemies. In bigger battles, they fought in groups with bows and arrows, spears and kris.

In their belief, they were faithful Moors. Their so-called language Malay" is reported to be the most polite and polite language in the whole East. "The language is easy to learn by foreigners, and is the language of communication for all regions." And, at this point it is interesting to remember that (Pigafetta) has supplied a brief vocabulary to Europe of Malay commercial terms that are republished and widely available through its inclusion in the Ramusio collection (1550). When Savier was in Malacca in 1545, he translated very difficult into Malay the Ten Commandments of Allah, the General Confession, and other chapters of faith. The following year he wrote to European fathers from Ambon the following:

Malay language, which is used in Malacca, is very common throughout this region.... It is a great handicap on these islands that they have no writings, and know only a little about writings; and the language they used was Malay and the alphabets were Arabic, which the Moor preachers taught them to write and is still taught to them to this day. Before they became Moors, they did not know how to write.

While European writers without exception comment on the importance of Malacca in the international world, they don't talk much about the conditions across the Malay Peninsula. They explained that Pahang, as well as the two Sumatian empires, were followers of Malacca and that the remaining states of the peninsula continued to be submissive to the governors of Siamese. While trading is occasionally mentioned in other ports on the east and west coast, not much has been said about conditions there. Except for Malacca, Barros insists, the entire west coast has nothing but forests, marshes and a few fishing villages. The wild animals in the countryside, including large and wild animals, are so ferocious that people sleep at night in the tallest trees and build huge bonfires to drive away the tigers. Even the cities themselves are sometimes invaded by tigers roaming everywhere.....

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12/2/2025: 1.04 p.m