Map of Pasai. (at today's Lhokseumawe of Sumatra, Aceh province.)

Pasai, also known as Samudera and Samudera-Pasai sometimes called Samudera Darussalam was a Muslim harbour kingdom on the north coast of Sumatra from the 13th to the 15th centuries BCE. It was believed the word Samudera derived from Samandara, Semut Besar (big ant) in Malay. According to Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, it was said Merah Silu saw an ant as big as a cat, he caught it and ate it and he named the place Samandara. King Merah Silu later converted to Islam, known as Malik ul Salih, his is the sultan in year 1267 CE. Image File history File linksMetadata Pasai001. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Pasai001. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatara and Sumatera) is the sixth largest island of the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the third largest island of Indonesia after Borneo (of which Kalimantan belongs to Indonesia) and New Guinea. ... Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai (story, chronicle, literary romance) is perhaps the earliest work in Malay on the first Malay-Islamic kingdom of Samudera-Pasai. ... Malik ul Salih established the first Muslim state of Samudera Pasai in the year 1267. ...

Introduction

Pasai exported its culture, and most importantly its language — an early form of Malay written in the Jawi alphabet — to a number of islands. Later, this language became the lingua franca among traders in what is now Indonesia and Malaysia. Pasai is believed derived from Parsi, Pase or Parsee, immigrants of Parsi-Indian to the west coast of India namely Gujarat, and later to northern Sumatra of today's Aceh province. The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ... The Jawi alphabet. ... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... This article is about (members of) the Parsi Zoroastrian community in and from India. ...

Arab and Indian Muslims had traded in Indonesia and China for many centuries. A Muslim tombstone in eastern Java bears a date corresponding to 1082. But substantial evidence of Islam in Indonesia begins only in northern Sumatra at the end of the 13th century. Two small Muslim trading kingdoms existed by that time at Pasai and Peureulak or Perlak. A 1297 royal tomb at Samudra is inscribed entirely in Arabic. By the 15th century several harbour kingdoms developed, all ruled by local Muslim princes, from the north coast of Java and elsewhere to as far east as Ternate and Tidore in Maluku. Marco Polo spent five months here, he had Ferlec, Basma, and Samara (Samudera) mentioned in his travel story. Another famous traveller Ibn Battuta on his way to China stayed 15 days at Samudera. The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ) are an ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian: مسلمان) is an adherent of Islam. ... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Events England - The Rochester Cathedral was completed Europe - The German Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor besieges Rome and gains entry, a synod is agreed upon by the Romans to rule on the dispute between Henry and Pope Gregory VII Styria - Ottokar II succeeds his brother Adalbero (died 1086 or 1087... For other uses, including people named Islam, see Islam (disambiguation). ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatara and Sumatera) is the sixth largest island of the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the third largest island of Indonesia after Borneo (of which Kalimantan belongs to Indonesia) and New Guinea. ... Map of Islamic Peureulak and Pasai. ... Events 8 January - Monaco gains independence. ... The Arabic language (Arabic: ‎ transliterated: ), or simply Arabic (Arabic: ‎ transliterated: ), is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... A 1720 depiction of Ternate. ... Tidore is an island and town in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, just west of the larger island of Halmahera. ... This page is about the geography and history of the island group in Indonesia — for the political entities encompassing the islands, see Maluku (Indonesian province) and North Maluku. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254, Venice; or Curzola, Venetian Dalmatia — January 8, 1324, Venice) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay) and visited the... Ibn Battuta (1304–1377). ...

Early economy

The establishment of the first Muslim centres in Indonesia was probably a result of commercial circumstances. By the 13th century the collapse of Srivijayan power, drew foreign traders harbours on the northern Sumatran shores of the Bay of Bengal, safe from the pirate lairs at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca. Northern Sumatra had a hinterland rich in gold and forest produce, and pepper was being cultivated at the beginning of the 15th century. It was accessible to all the merchants of the archipelago who wanted to meet ships from the Indian Ocean. By the end of the 14th century, Samudra-Pasai had become a wealthy commercial centre, giving way in the early 15th century to the better protected harbour of Malacca on the south-west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Majapahit attacked and looted the place in the middle of the 14th century. Srivijaya empire at its peak. ... This wide-angle map of south-east Asia shows that the Strait is the most direct route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. ... State motto: Bersatu Teguh Capital Malacca Town Governor Tun Datuk Seri Utama Mohd. ... The Malay Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Tanah Melayu) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. ... The Majapahit Empire was based in eastern Java and ruled much of the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali from about 1293 to around 1500. ...

Pasai's economic and political power depended almost entirely on foreigners. Muslim traders and teachers probably participated in its administration from the beginning and were bound to introduce religious practices that made them feel at home. The first Muslim beachheads in Indonesia, especially Pasai, were to a considerable extent genuine Muslim creations that commanded the loyalty of the local population and encouraged scholarly activities. Similar new harbour kingdoms formed on the northern coast of Java. Tomé Pires, author of the Suma Oriental, writing not long after 1511, stresses the obscure ethnic origins of the founders of Cheribon, Demak, Japara, and Gresik. These Javanese coastal states served commerce with India and China and especially with Malacca, an importer of Javanese rice. The rulers of Malacca, despite their prestigious Srivijayan origin, accepted Islam precisely in order to attract Muslim and Javanese traders to their port. 1511 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cheribon is a city in Indonesia on the north coast, east of Djakarta. ... Demak is a main town in Central Java, Indonesia. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

The Portuguese occupied Pasai in 1521, 10 years after their conquest of Malacca.

See also

• Malik ul Salih
• Malaysian Mamak