ABSTRACT
The best recognized authority on the early history of the Malays is a book styled Sejara Malayu, the Malay annals. In 1641 the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Malacca, and at once proceeded to firmly establish themselves behind the strong fortifications. The Dutch made Malacca the headquarters of their enterprise in the Malay Peninsula, and opened trading stations—factories, as they were called—in Perak, Selangor, and other Malay States, where tin was bought and commodities bartered with the Malays. Manuel Godinho de Eredia states that the name "Malacca" was only given in 1411, and that it was derived from a tree; a likely enough supposition and one generally accepted. Twenty-five miles to the north-west of the town of Malacca is a rocky promontory, called, in Godinho's time and to this day, Tanjong Tuan by Malays, Cape Rachado by Europeans.
