Reviewing The Sultanate of Melaka: Archaeology, History and Culture
TEMASEK HISTORY RESEARCH CENTRE
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAMME WEBINAR
About the webinar
The Sultanate of Melaka is a confederation of several Malay states which began as a trading outpost at the estuary of the Melaka river. Parameswara, who founded the Melaka ruling dynasty at the end of the 14th century CE, gradually pacified nearby coastal and riverine settlements such as Muar, Beruas and Klang. This gave Melaka an advantage over the distribution of local resources, especially tin and rainforest products. In the successive decades, the network of ports and polities under Melaka further expanded to Southeast Sumatra and the rest of the Malay Peninsula, giving the main port a monopoly over certain products as well as control over the movement of peoples and goods. By the second half of the 15th century CE, Melaka became a thalassocratic state with written laws, taxation, and foreign diplomatic relations, as well as an established system of rulers, nobles, chieftains and administrators. Long after the fall of Melaka port to the Portuguese, successor states such as Perak, Johor and Pahang still retain the old vestiges in the forms of their jurisprudence, court rituals and social hierarchy. This lecture reviews the archaeological and historical sources on Melaka, based on which its culture, economic and political system will be discussed.
For more information on the webinar series, click here.
About the Speaker
Dr Nasha bin Rodziadi Khaw is a lecturer in the Centre for Global Archaeological Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His MA thesis, “Historiography of Old Kedah: A Socio-Economic Analysis”, was written in Malay under USM’s Academic Staff Training Scheme Fellowship. He completed his PhD in Archaeology at the University of Peshawar, Pakistan, where he documented and interpreted Sanskrit inscriptions found in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Dr Nasha has published widely, especially on the ancient city-states of the Malay Peninsula. Some of his books include “Hubungan Politik dan Sosiobudaya China-Dunia Melayu Hingga kurun ke-15 Masihi” (Political and Socio-Cultural Relation between China and the Malay World until the 15th Century C.E) and “Hubungan Perdagangan Dunia Melayu-China hingga kurun ke-16 Masihi” (Trade Relation between China and the Malay World until the 16th Century C.E). Dr. Nasha also specialises in epigraphy and palaeography.
Registration
This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.
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