In Heidi Roupp, ed. Teaching World History: A Resource Book (1997, reissued as Teaching World History in the Twenty-First Century), the section on Malay sailors is in the chapter:
"MARITIME SOUTHEAST ASIA TO 1500 - Lynda Norene Shaffer"
Roupp's book is described as "a resource book for teachers of world history at all levels. The text contains individual sections on art, gender, religion, philosophy, literature, trade and technology."
The chapter is Shaffer's classic study of early Austronesian / Malay navigation. As quoted from Shaffer:
"Malay sailors were highly skilled navigators, sailing over the oceans for thousands of miles without a compass or written charts. 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 something like 30 miles from its shores by analysing the behaviour of various birds, the animal and plant life in the water, and the patterns of swells and waves."
In the same chapter, Shaffer adds two other key points. Roupp is included for classroom use:
Sail technology: "Malays independently invented a sail, made from woven mats reinforced with bamboo, at least several hundred years b.c.e." and "The Malays were also the first to use a balance-lug sail, an invention of global significance. Balance-lugs...can be pivoted sideways, which makes it possible to sail into the oncoming wind at an angle."
Monsoon discovery: "Sometime in the first millennium BCE, the Malays made one of the most significant discoveries in the history of navigation—how to ride the monsoons, the seasonal winds of Asia."
That discovery is why Shaffer notes Malay outrigger fleets reached the East African coast, Madagascar, and a Malay settlement near Aden (Yemen) by around 31 BCE, "more than 3,000 miles to their west".
Others:
- The Inquiry: Malays The Master Navigators and Sailors.
Hj Zulheimy Maamor
29 September 2026: 11:30 p.m.
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