History of Singapore
"Strategic locations are places important to those with the power to make or break you. It thus follows that external trends, not local efforts, will always decide which locations thrive." Does the rise of regional hubs from Palembang to Melaka confirm or refute this theory?
The Malay world first acquired high strategic value because improvements in shipping technology made seaborne trade more efficient than shorter land-based routes. Combined with the increase in demand for goods traded over long distances for which the land-based routes could not support, this lead to the shift in trade from the Silk Road and trans-isthmian routes to sea routes such as the Cape of Good Hope. With time and experience, there was an improvement of the knowledge of winds and narrow waters which makes sea transport much safer and more efficient. As such we can see that all of the factors above confirms that external influences made the Malay world’s waterways economically strategic.
Zooming closer, Palembang rose to become the first dominant hub in the Malay world because its rulers had enough military power to impose exclusive access to Tang China. Unlike Sung dynasty, Tang China practiced highly restricted trade that didn’t allow Chinese merchants to venture overseas to trade. They declined in strategic value because Sung China began to liberalize trade, denying Palembang exclusive rights. This is further aggravated by Chola India’s raid which gravely diminished Srivijaya’s military presence. As such, this lead to other Javanese kingdoms rising to challenge the weakened Srivijaya’s hold of power. As such we can see that the external trends were actually conditionally conducive to trade for Srivijaya when they held exclusive and dominance trade and military power; Internal factors still plays a crucial role when external factors plays out equally favourable to all.
After Palembang’s decline, Temasek became strategic as Yuan China, much like Sung, practiced open trade, to which
The Malay world first acquired high strategic value because improvements in shipping technology made seaborne trade more efficient than shorter land-based routes. Combined with the increase in demand for goods traded over long distances for which the land-based routes could not support, this lead to the shift in trade from the Silk Road and trans-isthmian routes to sea routes such as the Cape of Good Hope. With time and experience, there was an improvement of the knowledge of winds and narrow waters which makes sea transport much safer and more efficient. As such we can see that all of the factors above confirms that external influences made the Malay world’s waterways economically strategic.
Zooming closer, Palembang rose to become the first dominant hub in the Malay world because its rulers had enough military power to impose exclusive access to Tang China. Unlike Sung dynasty, Tang China practiced highly restricted trade that didn’t allow Chinese merchants to venture overseas to trade. They declined in strategic value because Sung China began to liberalize trade, denying Palembang exclusive rights. This is further aggravated by Chola India’s raid which gravely diminished Srivijaya’s military presence. As such, this lead to other Javanese kingdoms rising to challenge the weakened Srivijaya’s hold of power. As such we can see that the external trends were actually conditionally conducive to trade for Srivijaya when they held exclusive and dominance trade and military power; Internal factors still plays a crucial role when external factors plays out equally favourable to all.
After Palembang’s decline, Temasek became strategic as Yuan China, much like Sung, practiced open trade, to which