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On the island of Sumatra from 200s-1400, Srivijaya (-jaya meaning success or excellence) was a kingdom which
was to influence much of Indonesia, the Malay peninsula, and the Philippines. Srivijaya was centered in the coastal trading center of what is now Palembang. The empire was thalassocratic and didn't extend its influence far beyond the
coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia.
Travellers to these islands mentioned that gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but
not inland.
Pagoda in Srivijaya style in Chaiya, Thailand
Some historians claim that Chaiya in the Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand was at least temporarily the capital of Srivijaya, but this
claim is largely disputed. However Chaiya was probably a regional center of the kingdom. The temple Borom That in Chaiya contains
a reconstructed pagoda in Srivijaya style.
The name of the empire was rediscovered by George Coedės in the 1920s, who noticed that the Chinese transcriptions interpreted as Sribhoja and the
inscriptions in old Malay refer to the same empire.
History
The major cultural influence on these islands was Indic, first Hindu, then Buddhist. Buddhism came to Sumatra by year 425. Around 500 the roots of Srivijaya developed around present-day Palembang, around the year 600
Chinese records mention two kingdoms on Sumatra based at Jambi and Palembang, as well as three kingdoms on Java.
689 till 695 the chinese monk I-Ching visited Palembang. His
recordings are one of the rare sources about the early times of Srivijaya. At the same time the Jambi kingdom was taken over,
starting the domination of the region through trade and conquest throughout the 7th-9th centuries. The kingdom helped spread the
Malay culture throughout Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo. Srivijaya influence waned in the 11th century. The island was then subject to conquests
from Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and subsequently Majapahit. At the same time, Islam
made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading through contacts with Arabs and
Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the monarch of Samudra kingdom (in Aceh) was
converted to Islam. At the same time Srivijaya became a tributary of the Khmer
empire and later the Sukhothai kingdom.
By 1414 Parameswara, the last prince of Srivijaya converted to Islam, and
started the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula, which would fall August 24th 1511 to the Portuguese.
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