aspect of Malacca for this history of Indonesia
The most interesting aspect of Malacca for this history of Indonesia is the vast trading network which reached out to the Indonesian islands, for this network has implications for how we understand the geographical integrity of Indonesia. #Thus it was not only the spread of Islam but also economic self-interest that provided connecting threads among the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian archipelago states in the pre-colonial period. As they exchanged goods on the basis of their individual comparative advantages and needs, they entered a web of relationships which made the region – not a nation – but in important senses a network of related economic as well as cultural communities. #At Malacca, this Indonesian trading system was linked to routes reaching westward to India, Persia, Arabia, Syria, East Africa and the Mediterranean, northward to Siam and Pegu, and eastward to China and perhaps Japan. This was the greatest trading system in the world at this time, and the two crucial exchange points were Gujerat in northwest India and Malacca. [unique_solution]The spices of Indonesia were one of the prize products of this system, but it needs to be remembered that the products which kept the system going were bulk items of a more mundane nature, especially Indian textiles and Javanese rice. The key to Malacca’s success was less that it was a good port (for there were others) than that the ruler’s policies had succeeded in creating an international community of traders who found its facilities advantageous. The Portuguese were soon to dis