Majapahit

We would constitute those today.

I was interested in Majapahit and Srivijaya and, you know, these, these Kediri, these sorts of entities that existed, uh, prior to the coming of outside, major outside forces into the region.

The sort of, um, weird synthesis of, and this isn't to say negative weird, but the weird synthesis of sort of local deities and folk beliefs into Hinduism and Buddhism, which had come to the islands, uh, Thousands of years prior to, say, Islam showing up there.

All these things were very interesting to me, anthropologically, etc., when I was a teenager.

So very alien, very otherworldly, but in a transcendent sort of way, uh, So that's what got me into studying Southeast Asia culturally and anthropologically when I was younger.

They've obviously had a very deep – I mean, again, as I was saying earlier about the fantasy setting, they've had a huge impact on those civilizations.

I mean, like Majapahit have had a huge impact on how the Lautani are described, how that civilization operates, the belief system they hold, the folk beliefs that they hold, the food that they eat.

etc but that only got more pronounced when i actually got there you know it was one thing to study it at at arm's length but especially after i'd gotten out of the cancerous university system and was then just as an individual going out to you know put your foot in a creek and get it cold feel the temperature of the water etc in a far-flung land um I, you know, it's too hot.

By the 7th century, the Proto-Indonesian states had become primarily Hindu-Buddhist, leading to a syncretic status quo that would last through the 15th century.

These states, of which the most influential was Srivijaya, that was from the 7th to the 11th century, and Majapahit, from the 13th to the 16th, engaged in significant cultural exchanges with one another while also competing for territory and control of trade and resources.

Fluctuations in religion and culture would not stop there, as trade from the Arab and Persian world brought Muslim traders to the Proto-Indonesian states in the 9th century.

These traders contributed to a gradual process of elite and popular conversion to Islam, which gained significant influence in the 13th century and achieved majority status throughout Central and Western Indonesia during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Old World were first networked by Arab Daos and first comprehensively explored by a Chinese eunuch admiral.

From Africa's Swahili coast to Asia's Majapahit Empire, the sea was always an international interzone, and remains so until this day.

Because it would be hard to find a more ethnically diverse cohort than the crew of any random ship plying the seas in the 21st century.

The captain might hail from Gujarat, the officers from Ukraine, and the engineers from the Philippines.

The Javanese tried to block the passage with boats, but when the Yuan forced passage, the Javanese retreated.

A messenger from Radenvijaya then arrived to inform the Yuan forces that Jaya Katwang had pursued Radenvijaya to his home base, Majapahit.

The Uyghur commander Yigmish then heard information that Jaya Katwang's army would arrive that evening.

So the Yuan forces marched for Majapahit.

Qadiri's army, in fact, arrived to attack Raden Wijaya, and the Yuan forces arrived in turn to fight them.

On April 22, 1293, the Yuan forces divided into three groups to attack Qadiri in three directions.

At the Battle of Daha, Yuan forces defeated the Qadiri men, who fled, and while they fought, Ravan Wijaya led his troops into the walled city and rescued a princess, whom Jaya Khatwang had previously taken prisoner.

Jaya Khatwang ultimately surrendered to the Yuan army.

Yes, for just 100 years.

After that, the whole city was burned down by the Majapahit invaders from Indonesia, from Java.

So after that, Singapore, strangely enough... did not sort of exist as a port until Raffles came along.

But from that moment onwards, it has prospered continuously up to today.

From roughly the 7th to the 13th centuries, it controlled or influenced important parts of the Strait of Malacca.

And later, the Majapahit Empire, which was based in Java, modern-day Indonesia as well, became a powerful force too.

These kingdoms though were not modern nation states.

They didn't have borders like we think of right now.