Samudra Pasai and the spread of Islam into Indonesia
- Date
- c. 1267 CE
- Category
- Religion & ideology
- Region
- Maritime Southeast Asia (Sumatra)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
Around 1267 the ruler Merah Silu of Samudra Pasai, on the northern coast of Sumatra, converted to Islam and took the name Malik al-Salih, founding what is generally regarded as the first Islamic sultanate in Southeast Asia.
A royal tomb dated 1297, inscribed in Arabic, provides the earliest firm material evidence of an established Muslim dynasty in the archipelago, corroborated by the traveller Marco Polo, who noted Muslim towns on the Sumatran coast in the same era. Islam spread chiefly through commerce rather than conquest, carried by Muslim merchants from India, Arabia and Persia drawn to the Strait of Malacca after the decline of Srivijaya. From these northern Sumatran ports the new faith diffused along the maritime trade routes to the Malay Peninsula, Java, Borneo and eventually the southern Philippines, gradually transforming the religious map of maritime Southeast Asia, today home to the world's largest Muslim population.
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Empires active in c. 1267 CE
- Mongol Empire1206 CE to 1368 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE to 1900 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE to 1279 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE to 1453 CE
- Kilwa Sultanate957 CE to 1505 CE
- Sukhothai Kingdom1238 CE to 1438 CE
Related religion & ideology events
- King Lalibela carves the rock-hewn churches of a 'New Jerusalem'c. 1181 to 1221 CE
- The Western Schism divides the Latin Church1378 to 1417 CE
- Guru Nanak Begins Preaching and Founds Sikhismc. 1499
- The Investiture Controversy and the Walk to Canossa1075 to 1122 (Investiture Controversy)
- Anawrahta establishes Theravada Buddhism across the Pagan realm1057 CE
- The East-West Schism splits Latin and Greek Christianity16 July 1054
Essential reading
- Kilwa's Husuni Kubwa palace marks the Swahili coast's golden ageearly-mid 14th century CE
- Timbuktu emerges as a centre of Islamic learningc. 1325
- Rise of the Kingdom of Ife, cradle of Yoruba civilisationc. 1170 CE
- Kuwae Eruption (Vanuatu)c. 1452 CE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Religion
Accessible sweep of humanity's faiths and belief systems from prehistory to the present.
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