History of Melaka in brief
Melaka's famous Hang Li Po's Well
The ancient city of Melaka has had a remarkable history and enjoyed an extremely prosperous position as Europe's foremost port in Southeast Asia for centuries. Melaka, or Malacca as it is sometimes spelt, is a state capital which was awarded the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
According to the influential Malay Annals which were penned in the 16th century, the city got its name from an exiled Hindu prince from Java called Parameswara. It claims that whilst out hunting in the area he witnessed one of his ferocious dogs being startled by a mouse deer and falling into the river.
He took this as a prophetic sign about the weak overcoming the strong in this location and decided to build his new capital here, named after an Indian gooseberry tree or 'Melaka' which he sheltered near. Other accounts claim the name was derived from the Arabic word for market of 'Malakat'.
The city's ample fresh water supply and navigable harbour, which was sheltered by Sumatra across the narrow straits, meant it was ideally placed to aid passing ships. Melaka enjoyed a prime place relative to the changing monsoon wind and so soon became a prosperous merchant town. After the adoption of Islam as the official religion in the 14th century, Melaka's stall continued to rise as Arab traders were attracted from the Middle East. But Melaka was not off limits to different races and all people flocked here to trade.
After the Chinese Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho visited Melaka in the middle of the 15th century, renewed ties between the settlement and China were strengthened further. Melaka became a vassal state to Ming China in exchange for protection against Siam to the north. To this end a powerful new kingdom was established by the Sultan of Samudra-Pasai.
Things changed when the Portuguese arrived in 1509. At first they were welcomed, but soon traders from India turned the Sultan against the Europeans who were forced to flee. But the Portuguese returned two years later and seized the city at their second attempt. This victory marked the start of the area's large Eurasian community and the Portuguese turned Melaka into a huge walled fortress protected with cannons.
Statue of imposing Zhen He
But it was not long before other European nations came to challenge the Portuguese for a slice of the lucrative Southeast Asian market, and the Dutch took advantage of an agreement with the Sultanate of Johor Bahru to erode much of Melaka's power. A Dutch navy blockade on Melaka in 1641 lasted for six months until the Portuguese were forced to flee, and much of the settlement was destroyed.
Only after 150 years of Dutch rule did Melaka change hands once again. The Netherlands were conquered by the French in 1795 and the British took advantage of this to seize control of Dutch holdings in the Orient, including Melaka. But by this time Melaka had lost a great deal of its strategic importance with the establishment of Penang farther north and the silting of her harbour greatly reducing her usefulness and appeal.
The A Famosa gate is the sum remnants of Dutch and Portuguese fortifications in Melaka, as the British destroyed the old city walls before ceding the territory back to the Dutch at the culmination of the Napoleonic Wars. Founder of Singapore, the young British officer Sir Stamford Raffles, saved the imposing gate at the last minute. Shortly after being returned to Dutch rule, the British and Netherlands governments decided to swap the British colony of Bencoolen in Sumatra for Dutch Melaka.
Melaka remains the centre of Peranakan culture from when Chinese immigrants arrived in the city to work as merchants, miners and coolies and took local Javanese, Achenese or Batak brides. The result is that many of these interesting local Malay and Oriental customs have remained with men addressed as babas (or 'master') and women called Nonyas (or 'mistress') by servants. And a diminishing number of Portuguese-descendent Eurasians still speak a unique brand of creole called Cristão or Kristang to this day, and practice a strange version of Christianity.
