The Rise and Fall of the Malacca Sultanate
One of the most important highways of trade in the pre-modern world was the Strait of Malacca. Bordered on its northern side by the Malay Peninsula and the southern side by the island of Sumatra.
The Malacca Sultanate was a powerful maritime and commercial empire that shaped the political, social, and cultural systems of the Malay Peninsula. Parameswara (1401 to 1511) was a Palembang prince of Hindu descent from Srivijaya, in 1402. He was the founder of Malacca. Fleeing north from the Majapahit armies, he reached a fishing village at the mouth of the Bertam River (former name of the Malacca River) where he witnessed a mouse deer outwitting a dog while resting under a Malacca tree. He took what he saw as a good omen and decided to establish a kingdom there, called Malacca.
The Rise of the Malacca Sultanate
In 1414, Parameswara embraced Islam, and change his name to Megat Iskandar Shah and married to a Muslim princess from Pasai, Sumatra. Because of this it attracted Muslim traders to come to Malacca port. He also maintain a good relation with Ming China, he sent mission after mission to Peking in1415, 1416, and 1418.
