Beruflich Dokumente
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LECTURE 3
THE WORLD OF
TH 14
CENTURY TEMASEK
STRUCTURE OF LECTURE Where did the name SINGHAPURA come from? Archaeological Evidence for a 14th century Emporium on this Island The Maritime Trading World of 14th century Temasek
Archaeological Evidence
Cycles of Globalization
How did this Island become know as SINGHAPURA, the Lion City?
Island known as Dan ma xi to Wang Dayuan in c. 1330. Known as Temasik/Tumasik in the east Javanese Majapahit court chronicle, Desawarnana / Nagarakertagama in 1365. The later Javanese text Pararaton reports that the Majapahit Prime Minister Gajahmada conquered Tumasik, c. 1347 Identified in the Wu bei zhih chart of Cheng-ho /Zhenghe voyages as Dan ma xi.
THE SEJARAH MELAYU / MALAY ANNALS Raffles and the Study of the Sejarah Melayu A series stories about the origins, achievements and downfall of the Melaka and Johor sultans.
on to the top of this rock and looking across the water he saw that the land on the other side had sand so white that it look like a sheet of (?) cloth. And he asked Indra Bopal, What is that stretch of sand that we see yonder? What land is that? And Indra Bophal replied, That, Your Highness, is the land called Temasek. And Sri Tri Buana said, Lets go thither.
And they all beheld a strange animal. It seemed to move with great speed; it had a red body and a black head; its breast was white; it was strong and active in build, and in size was rather bigger than a he-goad. And Sri Tri Buana inquired of all those who were with him, What beast is that? But no one knew. Then said Demang Lebar Daun, Your Highness, I have heard it said that in ancient times it was a lion that had that appearance. I think that what we saw must have been a lion. Sejarah Melayu, chapter 3
THE SM ON SINGHAPURA Sri Tri Buana /Sang Utama as a DIVINE person who descended out of the sky onto a sacred hill in Palembang with two brothers As a spiritually powerful Stranger he is accepted into the society and invited to become its King His crossing the seas to Bintan and then to Temasek he renames Singhapura Succeeded by 4 generations, the last of whom goes on to found a new Emporium, Melaka
Underlying theme is about the right to power and rule over the Malay peoples of the Riaus Reliable EVIDENCE for study of the Malay past?
The Sejarah Melayu episodes on Singhapura as the core of a story about the founder of Melaka as a descendent of a divine being, his right to rule the Malays and the consequences of disobeying him.
FACT
OR
A hotchpotch of Chola and Palembang folk-lore [out of which] little can be made. Sir Richard
Winstedt in A History of Malaya, chapt II, sect. IV on
Tumasik or old Singapore
VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE
Photographs Newspaper/Official Reports Declarations
MEMORIES
What we as Individuals/as a Group remember/forget
MYTHS/STORY
A turning point in Singapores story of its past: about standing up for meritocracy/equality/justice/freedom
Now I LEE KUAN YEW Prime Minister of Singapore, DO HEREBY PROCLAIM AND DECLARE on behalf of the people and the Government of Singapore that as from today the ninth day of August in the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-five Singapore shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation, founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of her people in a more just and equal society.
Fiction World?
UNDERSTANDING THE SM
The SM as a Description of a very Different (Strange) World: Different Norms of who qualifies to be a Ruler Different Criteria of the Right to Rule
DAULAT TUANKU
How to Read/Understand the SM?
The search for contemporaneous Javanese, Malay and Chinese textual records corroborating the Sejarah Melayu stories of Singhapura ..inconclusive. So, confirming that the Sejarah Melayu stories are more fiction than fact?
servants, and some remnants of his forces, in a junk, and reached Singapura, which was a very large and very populous city - as is witnessed by its great ruins which still appear to this very day - before the founding of MalaccaWhen the king Parimicura had arrived at this port, the captain of the city, whom name was Tamagi, seeing him come in plight, entertained him in his house, and showed him many honours. But Parimicura, as payment for the good treatment he had received, our of covetousness for the richness of the land, murdered him with a creese a week after his arrival, and became Lord of the Channel and population that were in it.
Alfonso dAlbuquerque
Was there a Settlement/EMPORIUM on Temasek that either Sri Tri Buana founded or as Paramesvara, took over?
The greatest asset Singapore has, and one which has played a dominant role in the economic transformation of the island, is its strategic location at one of the major maritime crossroads of the world. Ooi Jin Bee Professor of Geography/
If Singapores development is in large part because of its strategic location, THEN WHY WAS THERE NO PORT ON SINGAPORE BEFORE RAFFLES?
SETTLEMENTS AND PORTS ON SINGAPORE FOR WHICH WE HAVE NOT FOUND THE EVIDENCE so, widen/intensify the search for evidence of pre-1819 settlements and ports?
no historian has yet adequately explained why Singapore failed to be a major trading centre before the nineteenth century.
Wong Lin Ken Raffles Professor History, 1981 . . . the search for settlement on Singapore before
Modern Singapore began in 1819. Nothing that occurred on the island prior to this has particular relevance to an understanding of the contemporary scene; it is of antiquarian interest only.
K G Tregonning Raffles Professor of History, 1969
Singapores development is because of its STRATEGIC LOCATION There is no conclusive, verifiable information of a port on Singapore before 1819 Therefore, Singapore before 1819 is not STRATEGICALLY LOCATED??? Singapores STRATEGIC LOCATION is a creation of Raffles and those after him?
The greater part of the west and northern side of the mountain is covered with the remains of the foundations of buildings, some composed of baked brick of good quality. Among these ruins, the most distinguished are those seated on a square terrace, of about forty feet to a side near the summit of the hill. On the edge of this terrace we find fourteen large blocks of sandstone; which, from the hole in each, had probably been the pedestals of as many wooden posts which supported the building. This shows us, at once, that the upper part of the structure was of perishable materials; an observation which, no doubt, applies to the rest of the buildings as well as to this.
Excavations on Fort Canning, Parliament Houses, Empress Place and Colombo Court have recovered:
Chinese Ceramics
Local earthenwares Glass & iron slag Organic remains - sea shells
A new product from Jingdezhen for the Yuan market is exported/imported into Temasek
HOW TO READ/INTERPRET THE EVIDENCE FOR A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE 14TH CENTURY SETTLEMENT OF TEMASEK/ SINGAPURA?
If Singapore is strategically located, then why is there no evidence of settlement before the 14th century and why was it abandoned from the 14th to the 19th centuries?
CYCLES OF TRADE IN THE MARITIME TRADING WORLD OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
CYCLES OF GLOBALIZATION
Singapores regionalisation of its economy (Singapore Inc.) and take off to GLOBAL CITY S STATUS in 1990s a result of: Foresight and planning by PAP government? End of the Cold War and Globalization of trade?
TRADE, a driver of GLOBALIZATION connecting Singapura and Southeast Asia with East, South, West Asia and Europe
SONG/MING
TANG
INDO-ISLAMIC
COLONIALISM
1400 CE
1600 CE
1800 CE
2000 CE
900 CE
600 CE
A BUDDHIST TRADING WORLD Tang China Demand for AROMATICS and BUDDHIST RELICS The rise of SRIVIJAYA Still a high value & small volume trade? The evidence of the Tanjung Batu Hitam Wreck (60,000 artefacts: export ceramics from Changsha, gold/silver objects)
SUNG CAPITALISM/YUAN PEACE An Asian Trade Boom 900-1300 CE Temasek/Singapura Rising at the Closing of the Asian Trade Boom
Southern Sung: A capitalist economy, dependent upon maritime trade for its consumer needs. Quanzhou a Global City. Decline of Srivijaya: Rise of Melayu The Yuan expansio. Pax Mongolia. Emergence of rival Emporia competing for the Legacy of Srivijaya. Singapura a claimant to the Srivijaya Legacy A pre-modern cycle of GLOBALIZATION
AL-HIND: AN INDO-ISLAMIC TRADING WORLD Early (c.700-1300 CE) Arab & Persian traders in the Indian Ocean The Mongol Legacy:
Sufi Islamisation of Southeast Asia Emergence of Cairo and the karimi merchants
Some Estimates of Volume of Trade Textiles: Melaka (pre-1511) imported from Gujarat (5 ships), from Malabar (3-4 ships); Pulicat (1-2 ships); Bengal (1 ship) annually textiles to value of 460,000 cruzados, equivalent of 20 tons of silver. In 1602 estimated 10 ships called from Gujarat at Aceh, from Bengal about 6 ships. In 1675 Dutch estimated Coromandel coast exports worth 10-20 million guilders (= 100-120 tonnes of silver) to Southeast Asia. Pepper: 1501 100 tonnes exported to Lisbon; 1513 478 tonnes exported; 1558 1,500 tonnes exported.
The Pre-Colonial Trading World of Maritime Asia: Emporia Trade & Great Port Towns