ABSTRACT

European influence in the archipelago reached only the fringes, while the bulk of the island population continued to be governed by indigenous rulers and their time-tested traditions. Archaeological and linguistic researches have revealed plentiful evidence of cultural and perhaps political links with the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires as well as of general Indian influences in folklore, languages, and art. Elsewhere, the pre-nineteenth-century European contacts remained largely coastal and commercial, affecting a small segment of the population. Whether in the coastal or inland areas, the majority of the people continued to live without any significant European impact. Malacca was, at the time of the Portuguese arrival in Southeast Asia, the most prosperous port of the region. A balanced treatment of the pre-nineteenth-century history should include a more intensive coverage of the developments in the indigenous states and societies and their interrelationships with each other.