ABSTRACT
When the first Portuguese fleets arrived in Asian waters at the turn of the 16th century, there already existed strong maritime commercial links between the three major textile producing areas of India – Bengal, Coromandel and Gujarat – and the entrepot of Malacca. In around 1500, the textiles of these Indian regions, having reached Malacca, were distributed not merely along the Malay Peninsula, but to Java, and the further Archipelago. In return, the spices of the Archipelago, Chinese wares, woods and aromatics, as well as a diversity of noble and base metals reached India via Malacca.
