ABSTRACT
Forest and sea were the interconnected environments upon which the economic, political and social development of the Straits region were anchored in the past. The forest, with its diverse range of products, ranging from the everyday to the exotic, from sago and bamboos to camphor and precious woods, provided goods for both subsistence and trade. The seas and estuaries of the region were arteries along which flowed both the forest products and the products of the sea-pearls, fish, trepang. Those sea-lanes also brought with them goods from outside the region as well as the peoples, ideas, and religions which were to animate the urban and commercial life of the islands of Java and Sumatra, the many islands of the Straits region and the Malay peninsula. The interactions of those environments, coupled with the geo-strategic importance of the Straits themselves, created a range of opportunities for the development of economic and political life.
