Southeast Asia Civilization: 
Khmer,  Srivijaya, Funan, Melaka, Maritime Kingdom.




Maritime Kingdom
Kingdoms near the sea between 1st Century CE to 13th Century CE, the two major maritime kingdoms in Southeast Asia were the Funan and Srivijaya Kingdoms. It had all started as coastal villages, with large fertile river valleys.

 Factors for rise of Maritime Kingdoms
 1)Rice 
 2)Trade 
Rice
- Southeast Asia could’ve been the first to grow rice
- First to use water buffalo to plough rice fields.
- Rice farmers made profit from selling rice
- Growing of rice allowed ancient Southeast Asia to prosper.
- Village grew into cities. There was enough food for the people and population grew






Trade-Skilled in making boats
          -Sail to trade
          -Villages near/beside coast acted as small ports
          -Goods traded and people earned money and port became popular.
          - Ivory, coconuts, rice, bronze tools, bracelets and big ceremonial drums.


SUMMARY
-More rice = More food = Income + Increase in population.
-More trade = More money = Income 


FEATURES:Government, Different occupations and Writing


Government: Early Southeast Asia was ruled by kings. There was decentralised rule in the ancient Southeast Asia Civilizations. Every city had a religion and thus, there would be a religious building such as temples which is usually made of stone. The kings had used to see themselves as divine rulers but stopped after they converted to Islam around the 14th CE.


Different Occupation:  Traders, farmers, craftsmen, fisherman, priest..... 
                  
Writing: People had started to keep record of important events by around 200 CE. Records were initially written in Sanskrit but slowly developed their own writing script (e.g. The Jawi Script, Malay script using the arabic alphabets, still used today)

  Srivijaya

Srivijaya was a Malay thalassocracy centered on Sumatra existing from the 7th to the 13th century. Historical evidence is scanty, consisting of a number of inscriptions, a few reports by mostly Chinese visitors, archaeological evidence. Srivijaya expanded, annexing Melayu (Jambi) c.680, taking control of the Malacca Straits.  It has prospered due to trade that brought wealth.






On the Indonesian island of Sumatra, directly to the west of the city of Palembang, are ruins and artifacts that appear to date back to the Kingdom of Srivijaya. Indications are strong that the Palembang region of south Sumatra formed the heartland of the kingdom.
Srivijaya at its climax controlled Sumatra, Western Java, the western and northern coast of Borneo and the Malay Peninsula.


thalassocracy   [thal-uh-sok-ruh-see] dominion over the seas, as in exploration, trade, or colonization. 
CAUSE OF ITS DECLINE:

Srivijaya lost its importance as traders travelled directly to East Java. In the Malay Archipelago it had a rival in Sailendra, another thalassocracy centered on Central Java. Its had took away land from Srivijaya.


The Srivijayan empire came to an end when Majapahit occupied Palembang and Jambi in the 13th century.

Religion of the kingdom was initially Indic, then Hindu, then, circa 425, Buddhism arrived. By the late 13th century, Islam became the domininant religion.

A  Buddhist temple

MALACCA-Where it all began

Malacca had started from a humble small fishing village to a major spice trading route. 

It was developed into a large trading city by Parameswara. Parameswara had formed friendship with the Chinese Ming emperor the ensure protection from enemies. He had also converted to Islam after marrying a Muslim princess, thus, winning the support of Arab and Indian traders.The Golden Age of the Malacca Sultanate unfortunately lasted only for less then a century.


Malacca had adopted Islam in the 15th century and converted to sultanate. This had attracted traders from the middle east. Parameswara had officials to take care of the needs of the traders.

The original inhabitants of Melaka were fishermen and when Parameswara settled at Melaka in about 1400, he was soon joined by other refugees from Palembang and then he became the first ruler of the famed Melaka Sultanate. He subsequently embraced Islam and established the foundations of an empire which reached its heyday during the reign of Sultan Mansor Shah.

Melaka had the advantage of being on the narrowest part of the Straits where the deep water channel was near to the Malaysian side. The river mouth formed a small harbor overlooked by the hill on which the ruler and his chiefs could build a fortified stockade protected on the land side by marshes. At first, no doubt, piracy and fishing were the main occupations but soon traders began to call and the little settlement prospered.

Its lucrative spice trade and importance as a sea port made it a prized possession in the Far East, resulting in the Portuguese conquest in 1511. After 130 years of Portuguese rule, the Dutch wrested control of Melaka in 1641 and ruled the state until 1826 when it was taken over by the British, who stayed on until the country attained independence in 1957.

Malacca's harbour:

• Sheltered harbour
• Abundant of water
• Strong wind

COLONIZATION

A century later, the Portuguese came, saw and conquered Malacca in 1511. This was a milestone for the Western colonists looking to extend their empire to the East Indies. Malacca continued to prosper under Portuguese rule until the Dutch came into the picture. With the help of the Sultan of Johor (descended from a Malaccan Sultan), the Dutch captured the port and ruled over it until 1795, where Malacca was ceded to the British under an exchange programme for Batavia (Jakarta) In Indonesia.




FUNAN

• Though regarded by Chinese envoys as a single unified empire, Fúnán may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes warred with one another and at other times constituted a political unity.
• Fúnán 扶南 was the Chinese name of an ancient pre-Angkor, since the 4th century AD   
• Archeological evidence shows that extensive human settlement in the region may go back as far as the 4th century B.C.E. It was Southeast Asia's first great economy. It became prosperous through maritime trade and agriculture
• At its height, Fúnán and all its principalities covered much of mainland Southeast Asia, including within its scope the territory of modern day Cambodia and Southern Vietnam, as well as parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, and extending into the Malay Peninsula.
• Little is known about Fúnán, except that it was a powerful trading state, as evidenced by the discovery of Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods during archaeological excavations at the ancient port of Oc Eo in southern Vietnam.

                     (Funan antique)

• The Funanese Empire reached its greatest extent under the rule of Fàn Shīmàn 范師蔓 in the early 3rd century CE, extending as far south as present-day Malaysia and as far west as present-day Myanmar. 
• The Funanese established a strong system of mercantilism and commercial monopolies that would become a pattern for empires in the region.
• Funanese culture was a mixture of native beliefs and Indian ideas. The kingdom is said to have been heavily influenced by Indian culture
• Sanskrit was the language at the court, and the Funanese advocated Hindu and, after the 5th century, Buddhist religious beliefs. 

• At the Oc-eo site coins have been found bearing Pali inscriptions, which shows the existence of Buddhism in this region around the 5th cent. CE.Records show that taxes were paid in silver, gold, pearls, and perfumed wood.
• Archaeological evidence largely corresponds to Chinese records. The Chinese described the Funanese as people who lived on stilt houses, cultivated rice and sent tributes of gold, silver, ivory and exotic animals.

                                     

• Fúnán was Southeast Asia's first great economy. The Kingdom was rich because of trade and agriculture. Fúnán grew wealthy because it dominated the Isthmus of Kra, the narrow portion of the Malay peninsula where merchants transported trade goods between China and India. They use their profits to construct an elaborate system of water storage and irrigation. 
• Citizens lived relaxed lifestyles. The Funanese population was concentrated mainly along the Mekong River: the area was a natural region for the development of an economy based on fishing and rice cultivation. The Funanese economy depended on rice surpluses produced by an extensive inland irrigation system.
•  Maritime trade also played an extremely important role in the development of Fúnán. Archaeological remnants of what was the kingdom's main port, Oc Eo, were found to include Roman as well as Persian, Indian, and Greek artifacts.
• King Fàn Shīmàn, one of the greatest king of Fúnán, and his successors sent ambassadors to China and India. The kingdom likely accelerated the process of Indianization into Southeast Asia. Later kingdoms of Southeast Asia emulated the Funanese court

                           (Coin used in the funan empire)

KHMER

The Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor.

Angkor bears testimony to the Khmer empire's immense power and wealth, as well as the variety of belief systems that it patronised over time. The empire's official religions included Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, until Theravada Buddhism prevailed, even among the lower classes, after its introduction from Sri Lanka in the 13th century. Modern researches by satellites have revealed Angkor to be the largest pre-industrial urban center in the world.
(temple statue)

Much of what is known of the ancient Khmer comes from the many stone murals. They offer first hand accounts of the 13th century and earlier. The ancient Khmer relied heavily on rice growing. The farmers planted rice near the banks of rivers or in the hills when it was flooded. The farms were irrigated by giant water reservoirs and canals. 

Sugar palm trees, fruit trees and vegetables were grown in the villages. 

Fishing gave the population their main source of protein, which was turned into Prahok or dried or roasted or steamed in banana leaves. Rice was the main staple along with fish. Pigs, cattle and poultry were kept under the farmers houses as they were on stilts to keep away from flooding.

Houses of farmers - were situated near the rice paddies on the edge of the cities, the walls were of woven bamboo, thatched roofs and were on stilts. A house was divided into three by woven bamboo walls. One was the parents' bedroom, another was the daughter's bedroom, and the largest was the living area. The sons slept wherever they could find space. The kitchen was at the back or a separate room. 

Nobles and kings lived in the palace and much larger houses in the city. They were made of the same materials as the farmers' houses, but the roofs were wooden shingles and had elaborate designs as well as more rooms. 


The common people wore a sampot which the front end was drawn between the legs and secured at the back by a belt. Nobles and kings wore finer and richer fabrics. Women wore a strip of cloth to cover the chest while noble women had a lengthened one that went over the shoulder. Men and women wore a Krama. The main religion was Hinduism, followed by Buddhism in popularity.
(Sompat)(Krama)