SSA2211: EVOLUTION OF A GLOBAL CITY STATE

LECTURE 3

THE WORLD OF 14TH 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

How did this Island become know asSINGHAPURA, 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 /Zheng-he 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.

“And Sri Tri Buana came to a very large rock. He climbed 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, “Let’s 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

PROBLEMS IN READING THE SM

• 29 variant versions of the SM:– Earliest is Raffles’ copy of a 1621 version– Latest is an 1860’s version incorporated in a

Bugis history of the Riaus, the Tuhfat al-Nafis / The Precious Gift

• 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.

THE SEJARAH MELAYU SEJARAH MELAYU on the founding of Singhapura

FACTOR

“ 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

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON 9 AUG 1965?

• VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE– Photographs– Newspaper/Official Reports– Declarations

• MEMORIES– What we as Individuals/as a Group remember/forget

• MYTHS/STORY– A turning point in Singapore’s 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.”

MYTH /MYTHOLOGY IN THE WRITING OF HISTORY

THE MYTHS WE LIVE BY:The Social Contract / Democracy:

• Contemporary history is about Democratization and Human Rights?

• Whose Democracy?

Democracy as a Myth We Live By

MYTH /MYTHOLOGY IN THE WRITING OF HISTORY

THE MYTHS WE LIVE BY:– THE

OMNICOMPETENCE OF SCIENCE to explain everything

– How to “scientifically explain” this photograph?

One Man’s “Reality” is another Man’s Mythology?

MYTH /MYTHOLOGY IN THE WRITING OF HISTORY

• THE MYTHS WE LIVE BY:– SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DRIVING US TO

A BETTER FUTURE• Climate Change?• Energy Scarcity?• Food Shortage?

The Myths some of us live by:

Real World?

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 TUANKUHow to Read/Understand the SM?

Search for Corroborative Textual Evidence

The search for contemporaneous Javanese, Malay and Chinese textual records corroborating the Sejarah MelayuSejarah Melayu stories of Singhapura

…..inconclusive….

So, confirming that the Sejarah Melayu Sejarah Melayu stories are more fiction than fact?

16th Century Portuguese Reports

“…Parimicura…fled with his wife, his children and his 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 Malacca…When 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 d’Albuquerque

READING THE PORTUGUESE REPORTS

• What is the INTENT of the Portuguese reports?• From WHOM /WHERE did they learn what they

reported?

READING WHAT THE PORTUGUESE INFORMANTS SAID:

• Paramesvara fled Palembang after an Abortive Revolt

• “Crossing the Sea” to Temasek• Welcomed as a spiritually Powerful “stranger”• Murders his host, for which Act, he has to again

flee Temasek/Singhapura

COMPARING THE SM AND THE PORTUGUESE REPORTS

• Divine “Stranger” Welcomed and Made Ruler

• “Crossing the Sea”• Founding a new

Emporium• Tragic Departure of

Descendents

• Tragic Departure from Palembang

• “Crossing the Sea”• Welcomed as a

Divine “stranger” at Temasek

• Tragic Departure for killing Host

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/

Dean of Faculty of Arts (1966-1969)

How could nothing of historical relevance occurred on a strategically located island?

THE PARADOX OF SINGAPORE HISTORY

If Singapore’s development is in large part because of its strategic location, THEN WHY WAS THERE NO PORT ON SINGAPORE BEFORE RAFFLES?

THERE MUST HAVE BEEN EARLIER 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 Raffles . . .A Failure of Historians to find Evidence?

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

The mainstream interpretation of Singapore’s past

Singapore’s 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???

Singapore’s STRATEGIC LOCATION is a Singapore’s STRATEGIC LOCATION is a creation creation of Raffles and those after him?of Raffles and those after him?

DrJohn Crawfurd saw on Fort Canning on 4 Feb 1822:

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….

Archaeological Evidence for a 14th century Emporium on Singapura

The search for archaeological evidence of earlier settlement on Singapore did not start with Raffles, but with what

The Archaeological Evidence

Excavations on Fort Canning, Parliament Houses, Empress Place and Colombo Court have recovered:

• Chinese Ceramics

• Local earthenwares

• Glass & iron slag

•Organic remains - sea shells

LOOKING AT A YUAN DYNASTY STEM CUP

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?

WHAT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

TELLS US• There was a settlement on Singapore inside the

area that is today Fort Canning, Stamford Road, Connaught Drive and the Singapore River

• This settlement was established at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century and abandoned at the end of the 14th century.

• The layout of the settlement conforms to other ports of trade in the Straits of Melaka in the 14th century and Singapore in the 19th century

IS SINGAPORE STRATEGICALLY LOCATED?

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

Singapore’s regionalisation of its economy (Singapore Inc.) and take off to GLOBAL CITY S STATUS in 1990’s a result of:

• Foresight and planning by PAP government?• End of the Cold War and Globalization of trade?

EARLIER CYCLES OF GLOBALIZATION OF TRADE

TRADE, a driver of GLOBALIZATION connecting Singapura and Southeast Asia with East, South, West Asia and Europe

The Maritime Trading World of 14th century Temasek

THE MARITIME SILK ROAD• The Han-Roman World: Oc-Eo

– Funan, 100BCE-600 CE• The Tang & the Nan-hai: The

Buddhist Trading World of Srivijaya, 600CE-900CE

• Al-Hind: An Indo-Islamic Trading World: Jambi/Melayu,1300CE-1900CE

• Song Capitalism & Ming Consumerism:Temasek/ Melaka, 900-1400CE

• Rival Empires of Trade, 1600-1800

• Trade in the Making of Colonial & Imperial Worlds, 1800-2000

TANG

SONG/MING INDO-ISLAMIC

600 CE

900 CE

1400 C

E

1600 CE

1800 CE

2000 CE

EUROPEAN TRADING EMPIRES

COLONIALISM

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)

The Pre-colonial Trading World of Maritime Asia:The Pre-colonial Trading World of Maritime Asia:Commodities & MerchandiseCommodities & Merchandise

• Spices (export from Southeast Asia)– Pepper, Cloves, Nutmegs

• Aromata (export from Southeast Asia)– Mainly Plant Origins, e.g. camphor, Benzoin, Gharuwood, Lakawood,

Sandalwood– Some Animal Origins, e.g. civet

• Food (export from/import into Southeast Asia)– Rice, coffee, sugar

• Ceramics (export from China)• Household ware (export from China)

– Woks, pots, hoes

• Textiles (export from India)– Cottons (from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat after the 15th century)– Muslins (from Bengal)– Silks (also China, Persia)

SUNG CAPITALISM/YUAN PEACEAn “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

TRADE RECESSION: 1350-1450 CEThe Collapse of Temasek/Singapura

• “Dragons RisingDragons Rising” The collapse of the Yuan 1358 CE.

• The Uncertain Future of a new Ming Dynasty. Reassertion of “Tribute Trade”

• The “Black Death” in Europe• The evidence of Maritime Archaeology: A “Ming

Gap” in the ceramic trade. The development of “hybrid ships”

• The collapse of Temasek/Singapura in a time of uncertainity/trade recession.

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

• The Great Empires (14th-17th centuries)– Ottoman Turkey– Safavid Persia – Mughal India A Persian Mercantile World?Melaka and Persian Mercantilism

An “Age of Commerce: 1450-1680 CE

• Ming Consumerism, dependence upon a globalizing South China Sea maritime trade.

• Shipwreck evidence of Ming exports• The evidence for the “Island of the Shabandar” as the

“best port in the Eastern Seas” (de Coutre)• Entry of Portuguese and Spanish trading companies,

and introduction of a silver economy. •

http://www.butterfields.com/lib/images/7541/7541F-3750.jpg

Some Estimates of Volume of TradeSome 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:The Pre-Colonial Trading World of Maritime Asia:Emporia Trade & Great Port TownsEmporia Trade & Great Port Towns

The Straits of Melaka

Linking/Interfacing

Two Trading Worlds:

The Chinese Trading World of the Nanhai

The Indian Ocean Trading World