Malacca received protection from the Ming Dynasty China through the celebrated Muslim eunuch emissary, Cheng Ho.

"Srivijaya is  remembered today not for its temples or even its own literary records  but in the literature of foreign countries, whose merchants enjoyed the facilities of the Malay seafarers " ( O. Wolters )

"In the sea of Champa ( South China Sea) is the empire of Maharaja, the king of the islands, who rules over an empire without limit and has innumerable troops. Even the most rapid vessels could not complete in two years a tour round the isles which are under his possesssion. The territories of this king produce all sorts of spices and aromatics, and no other sovereign of the world gets as much wealth from the soil."

The famous Arab Al Ma'sudi 943 AD on Srivijaya/Zabag/ Sribuza.

Malaccan : ll start by saying that I've always had a fascination with the links between Sailendra and Srivijaya. Sailendra was the builder of Borobodur, and intermarried with the Sriivijayans. In fact, when rulership of Buddhist Sailendra was usurped by Patapan from the Hindu Kingdom of Sanjaya (the builders of Prambanan in answer to Borobodur), the Sailendran prince Balaputra escaped to Srivijaya which also practised Buddhism, where he ascended the throne almost unchallenged.

Do u mean this man Zheng He he is the chinese Admiral who travel over SEA India and Africa. And he solve the conflict between Siam and Malaka

http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/journey2001/ He even the god of the boatman in Thai

Transition to new religion probably make them break with the old past and old manuscripts etc were not copied anymore etc but its alive in other records , therefore xtra interesting to reconstruct.

Many people have not read the professional studies of experts and only know internet info. Sometimes usefull though but I warn people on this, they should be taken with some salt here and there, especially when the original works of the experts and the ancient records tell a different story.Haha, hear me now . Like I m on an academic history forum gna.
I 'll get back later.

Ok. The great maritime empire of Srivijaya, Sumatra(Indonesia) based kingdom but also with important bases on Malay peninsula( and far beyond) that played important role at several times.

Well at that time they were already family for sure!
Historians  agree Srivijayans and Sailendras are related by intermarriage but there is still much to puzzle and views are sometimes changing. It s agreed that  Balaputra  was the one that emerged with Srivijaya ( he had Sailendra and Srivijayan blood ). Interesting is that the Sojomerto inscription on Java ( Kedu plain ) was in Old Malay( just as Srivijaya used ). Indonesian Boechari considers this as earliest Sailendra inscription ( 650-700 Ad ) . In that case.. it can mean several things though but it looks like some friendship/relation was already there.

I'm from Srivijaya.

Kingdom centered on Sumatra, recorded from the late 7th century into the 12th century. The state is believed to have been established in the third century, and to have succeeded FUNAN as controller of the Malacca Straits in the 7th century. The capital was PALEMBANG. At its height, its rule extended over Sumatra, Java, western Borneo, the Malay peninsula including the isthm of Kra. Visiting Chinese Buddhist monk I Ching observed numerous Buddhist monks at Srivijaya's capital; he recommended it as a place to learn Sanskrit. Inscriptions from the 680es report of Srivijayan conquests - Jambi, Bangka, of a planned expedition against western Java. Srivijaya was thalassocratic; it is assumed, that she controlled long coastlines and river banks, but that her influence did not extend much into the interior. Unlike the states on Java, Srivijaya did not produce major architectural sites which survived into our time.
The structure or the Srivjayan Empire seems to have been a large number of city-kingdoms based on maritime trade, which recognized the sovereignty of Srivijaya. A number of inscriptions recording military campaigns, within the sphere of power of Srivijaya, lead to the assumption that many of them were punitive expditions to force renegade rulers back into the fold rather than attempts to expand the Empire.
Srivijayan traders sailed to southern Arabia, Africa's east coast, southern China. Srivijaya long controlled the maritime trade between India and China. Srivijayan trade may have profitted from the fact, that due to the wars and raids of the Huns (7th century), the silk road had become unsafe.
Buddhism, both Hinayana and Mahayana, spread, and records describe the Srivijayan capital Palembang as a center of Buddhist learning. Buddhist and Hinduist artefacts and architecture are found on Sumatra and Java, showing a distinct style usually referred to as Javanese.
In 1025, Srivijaya was raided by the Indian Cholas. Worse, it lost control over the maritime trade connecting China with India; Srivijaya declined. Vassal princes, such as Kertanagara of Singhasari, broke off and expanded at the expense of Srivijaya. From 1088 Melayu (Jambi), a former dependance, now made (a much reduced) Srivijaya a dependance of hers; Melayu's supremacy lasted 2 centuries.
Unfortunately, south east Asian history is poorly documented. Main sources consist of reports by foreign visitors, of inscriptions, of archeological findings, of sculptures and other pieces of art and of legends.

The very same man


Compared to the other kingdoms of its time, there really is surprising little by way of published materials on Srivijaya. I'd attended a talk on where different speakers on southeast Asian history gave some updates on classical SEA history at SOAS Uni of London, and one of them said that "Srivijaya is a black hole, we know very little about it compared to the other Indianised states of southeast Asia."

I only thought of introducing this thread when a new member from the Thai chat put down that he came from Srivijaya . He's active in the Religion section, talking about Buddhism. Srivijaya was indeed a centre of Mahayana Buddhism and scholars from China studied there for a period of time before progressing to India. Remember our previous misunderstanding Tony?

It would've great if Srivijaya built great monuments like its sister state the Sailendra, but it didn't. Some theories put it down that only agrarian-based cultures like the Sailendra and Angkor do that, while Srivijaya's lifeline was trade, as was its subsequent successors in the straits, Malacca and eventually, Singapore.

Thanks rasibiduk, AnAtta.

Increasingly more archaelogical sites are being found concerning Srivijaya at Sumatra, but what I meant was none of them are to the extent of say Borobodur are they? While there are minor sites excavated, even these aren't as celebrated as the ones found at say My Son, which belonged to the Malay Hindu kingdom of Champa.

Most of the texts and scholars say that  when the Sailendra line was extinguished in Java but continued in Srivijaya, they adopted the latter's policy of giving primary attention to trade and commerce to the neglect of traditional Sailendran devotion to building Buddhist monuments. 

Srivijaya's history belongs to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Srivijaya shows that the ties of southern Thailand to the Malay peninsula predates the coming of the Tais from the north (disclaimer: this is NOT an endorsement for any separatist cause etc ) Srivijaya's heartland is geographically in modern-day Indonesia and it's ties to Sailendra and rivalry with Mataram/Singhasari/Majapahit further cements that. But it affects Malaysia most as it was the immediate Malay (as opposed to Javanese) political entity that gave rise to Malacca, the turning point event of modern-day Malaysia 

The largest province of the South located 685 kilometers from Bangkok is Surat Thani the province with a name that literally means "City of the Good People. A former capital of the Srivijaya Empire, the province covers an area of approximately 12,891 square kilometers. Surat Thani Province borders the Gulf of Thailand to the north and east, Chumphon Province to the north, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Krabi Provinces to the south, Phang-Nga and Ranong Provinces to the west and Nakhon Si Thammarat Province to the east.
source

Srivijaya (200s-1400) was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra which influenced much of the Malay Archipelago. Records of its beginning are scarce while estimations range from the 200s to the 500s. The kingdom ceased to exist around 1400. In Sanskrit, sri means 'shining' or 'radiant' and vijaya means victory or excellence.

Formation and growth
Around year 500, Srivijayan roots begun to develop around present-day Palembang, Sumatra in Indonesia. Chinese records dated 600 mention two Sumatran kingdoms based in Jambi and Palembang as well as three other kingdoms on Java.

Srivijaya was a coastal trading center and was a thalassocracy. As such, it did not extend its influence far beyond the coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia. The empire was organised in three main zones — the estuarine capital region centred on Palembang, the Musi River basin which served as hinterland and rival estuarine areas capable of forming rival power centres. The capital was administered directly by the ruler while the hinterland remained under its own local datus or chiefs who were organized into a network of allegiance to the Srivijaya maharaja or king. Force was the dominant element in the empire's relations with rival river systems such as the Batang Hari which centered in Jambi. The ruling lineage intermarried with the Sailendras of Central Java.

Srivijaya remained a formidable sea power until the thirteenth century.


Vajrayana Buddhism
A stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. These included the Chinese monk Yijing, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to study at Nalanda in India in 671 and 695, and the eleventh-century Buddhist scholar Atisha, who played a major role in the development of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet. Travellers to these islands mentioned that gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but not inland.


Relationship with regional powers
Although historical records and archaeological evidence are scarce, it appears that by the seventh century, Srivijaya established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java and much of the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, Srivijaya controlled both the spice route traffic and local trade, charging a toll on passing ships. Serving as an entrepôt for Chinese, Malay, and Indian markets, the port of Palembang, accessible from the coast by way of a river, accumulated great wealth.


The Jambi kingdom was the first rival power centre absorbed into the empire, starting the domination of the region through trade and conquest in the 7th and 9th centuries. Srivijaya helped spread the Malay culture throughout Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo. Srivijaya influence waned in the 11th century. The island was in frequent conflict with, and ultimately subjugated by, from Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Majapahit.

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 Khmer kingdom may also had been a tributary in its early stages. They also maintained close relations with the Pala Empire in Bengal and an inscription that dates 860 records that the maharaja of Srivijaya dedicated a monastery at the Nalanda university in Pala territory. Relations with the Chola dynasty of south India were initially friendly but it deteriorated into actual warfare in the eleventh century.


Golden age
After trade disruption at Canton between 820 to 850, the ruler of Jambi was able to assert enough independence to send missions to China in 853 and 871. Jambi's independence coincided with the troubled time when the Sailendran Balaputra, expelled from Java, seized the throne of Srivijaya. The new maharaja was able to despatch a tributary mission to China by 902. Only two years later, the expiring Tang dynasty conferred a title on a Srivijayan envoy.

In the first half of the tenth century, between the fall of Tang and the rise of Song, there was brisk trade between the overseas world and the Fujian kingdom of Min and the rich Guangdong kingdom of Nan Han. Srivijaya undoubtedly benefited from this, preparatory to the prosperity it was to enjoy under the early Song. Circa 903, Muslim writer Ibn Rustah was so impressed with the wealth of Srivijaya's ruler that he declared one would not hear of a king who was richer, stronger or with more revenue.


Decline
In 1068, Virarajendra, the Chola king of Coromandel, conquered Kedah from Srivijaya. The Cholas continued a series of raids and conquests throughout what is now Indonesia and Malaysia for the next 20 years. Although the Chola invasion was ultimately unsuccessful, it gravely weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive agriculture rather than coastal and long distance trade

Islam made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading through contacts with Arabs and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the kingdom of Pasai in northern Sumatra converted to Islam. At the same time, Srivijaya was briefly a tributary of the Khmer empire and later the Sukhothai kingdom. The last inscription dates to 1374, in a crown prince, Ananggavarman, is mentioned.

By 1402 Parameswara, the last prince of Srivijaya founded the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula. He converted to Islam in 1414.

The name of the empire was rediscovered by George Coedës in the 1920s, who noticed that the Chinese references to Sanfoqi, previously read as as Sribhoja and the inscriptions in Old Malay refer to the same empire.

why is malay's kingdom of srivijaya located in sumatra and not in malay penninsula??? isnt that your center of origin? what is the kingdom in malay pennisula?

wait im confused.

so the origin of the malay people is sumatra and then the malay people transmigrated to malay penisula and bring with them the srivijaya culture, later they were converted to islam and then brought under english colonization which eventually lead to malaysian state?

wait im confused.

so the origin of the malay people is sumatra and then the malay people transmigrated to malay penisula and bring with them the srivijaya culture,

The 12th century Arab geographer El Idrisi writes in Kitab Rujar about the inhabitants of Zabaj who travel to Sofala and Zanj on the coast of sub-Saharan Africa: The residents of the Zabaj go to the land of Sofala and export the iron from there supplying it to all the lands of India. No iron is comparable to theirs in quality and sharpness......The inhabitants of Zabaj call at Zanj in both large and small ships and trade their merchandise with them, as they understand each other's language

^How does the quote relate to Srivijaya, IM?

Malaccan : 
Unlike the Buddhist Thais which Aeroforce so rightly emphasised still mantain their identity, and the Javanese who had been exposed to Hinduism by way of the great kingdom of Majapahit and its successors for a few more centuries to come, the Malays were/are not as appreciative of its pre-Islam past, in which the Buddhist trading kingdom of Srivijaya looms large.

Rasibiduk :
thanks for the link Malaccan, yes- it is just seems odd for an area with such strategic location and recorded historical past like the Malay peninsula to not produce any major Hindu/Buddhist archaeological remains. We can only wonder what the forest hides and buries underneath.

Hey... it was not the religion, it were the people
Srivijaya was also great religious centre but its succes as having the monopoly of the S E asian maritime tradewas not due to dancing or religion. Srivijaya was in the first place a  seapower controlling former  piracy in the southern part of the Straits, offering best facilities and creating a large trading network with conquests and allegiances.

Interesting isn't it how piracy was a problem back then in the Malaccan Straits, just like it is today. A port offering the best facilities, with large trading networks and allegiances/agreements. That just described Singapore. 

At the time of Funan, trade from India to China was done via an overland route across the isthmus of Kra rather than through Malaccan Straits. What is the reason for the change in status quo?

The presence of Melayu in western Indonesian Ocean began to decline from the 8th century under the pressure of the emerging Muslim competition. However, by the 10th century, the Malays tried to reconquer the African coasts with an enormous expedition (Arabic texts talk about a thousand ships) but without success.[10] Since then, they had ceased to frequent the region

[10] MAUNY, Raymond. "The Wakwak and the Indonesian invasion in East Africa in 945 A.D.", Studia (Lisboa), 1965, 15, pp.7-16. MOLLAT, Michel. "Les contacts historiques de l'Afrique et de Madagascar avec l'Asie du Sud et du Sud-Est: le rôle de l'Océan Indien", Archipel, 21, 1981: 35-53.

In about the year 945, the island of
|anbalå, probably situated in the archipelago of the Comoros, was the object of invasions by marine pirates possibly based on Madagascar. The book of The marvels of India by Buzurg b.÷9ahriy§r, a Persian ofR§mhurmuz, states in fact: “Ibn Lakis tells me that he has seen the people of the W§Î-w§Î perform amazing things. It is thus that in 334/945-6, they came upon them in a thousand ships and fought them with the utmost vigour, without however achieving their end, since |anbalå is surrounded by a strong defensive wall around which stretches the water-filled estuary of the sea, so that |anbalåis at the centre of this estuary like a fortified citadel. When people of theW§Î-W§Î subsequently came ashore there, they asked them why they had come specifically there and not elsewhere. They replied that this was because among them there were to be found products sought after in their country and in China, such as ivory, tortoise shell, panther hides and ambergris, and because they were seeking out the Zanù3, on account of the ease with which they endured slavery and on account of their physical strength. They said that they had come from a distance of one year's sailing, that they had pillaged islands situated six days' journey time from |anbalå and had taken possession of a certain number of villages and towns of Sof§laof the Zanù3, to say nothing of others which they did not know. If these people spoke the truth and if their account was accurate, this would confirm what Ibn Lakis said of the islands of the W§Î-w§Î: that they are situated opposite China”. Today there is a consensus that these pirates were Indonesians based in Madagascar who pillaged the Comoros and the coast of the Zanù3
http://www.encislam.brill.nl/data/EncIslam/S4/SIM-4724.html