Port City of Melaka

Timeline

1. c. 1400–1410mouth of the Melaka River · Melaka StateAfter moving from Palembang, Parameswara founded a city at the mouth of the Melaka River, converted to Islam, and took the title of sultan, attracting Chinese, Arab, and Indian merchants to anchor and trade thanks to the strait's geographic position, laying the foundation of the port city.
2. 1411–1420Port of Melaka · Melaka StateDuring this period the port of Melaka was crowded with merchant ships; Zheng He's fleets visited several times and established tributary relations with the sultanate, and the port became a junction of Indian Ocean monsoon trade and South China Sea routes, with the city's population and storage facilities expanding rapidly.
3. c. 1450–1511Melaka · Melaka StateIn the mid-to-late fifteenth century Melaka became the largest trading port in Southeast Asia, controlling strait tolls and the spice transit trade; after a Portuguese fleet captured it in 1511, the city became a colonial outpost and the independent sultanate came to an end.