The Fall of Srivijaya in Malay History

In a sequel to his earlier work, Early Indonesian Commerce, Professor Wolters discusses the continuity of Malay history. Using two different types of source material, he investigates what happened to the maritime Malays in the second half of the 14th century, when the great Sumatran Malay empire of Srivijaya is supposed to have collapsed, and the rise of the empire of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula was about to begin.

Professor Wolters notes that the Chinese sources, studied within their own context, indicate that restoration of the Sino-Malay tributary relationship (after a lapse of two centuries) was paving the way for the revival of Srivijaya. The Malay source material, comprising the early chapters of the Malay Annals, gives a view of early Malay history that validates the transmission of sovereignty from the ancient kingdom of Srivijaya to Malacca.