Chinese ships laden with precious silks and porcelain glide majestically at full mast up the Straits of Malacca as villagers watch in awe. Sampans hurriedly set off to welcome Emperor Yung-lo’s most recent envoy to the Malacca Sultanate. These were thevignettes of a romantic era, writes SUHAINI AZNAM.
JUST as China was reaching its peak as a world power, Malacca too was emerging as a port polity in insular South-East Asia. Both had common interests to ensure that the Straits of Malacca was not threatened by Siam and Java.