ABSTRACT
This chapter presents preliminary results of a study of Chinese mercantile activities in the Malay Archipelago from the 1620s through to 1800 based on some unique contemporary records. There were settlements of Chinese traders in Sumatra, Siam, Burma and Vietnam, but it is extremely difficult to provide even a well-informed guess as to the scale of mercantile activities of Chinese in those areas at this time. The scale of commercial activities of Chinese outside Melaka, Kedah and the port-cities in Sumatra appears to have been rather small and remained so for some time to come. Melaka had a modest population in the late seventeenth century, when as much as half of the population was Chinese. The Chinese traders were more mobile than Malay or European traders. The movement of Chinese traders can be ascertained by looking at the port of origin and destination of a given trader or a ship.
