_ 138 _ and Chittagong and at Pulicat and Nagapattinam on the Eastern Coast of Vijayanagar. The network of “leeward lands” included the rice, benzoin and lacquer ports of Pegu (in Burma) and those on the North Coast of Sumatra (Pidir, Atjeh and especially Pasai) concerned with raw silk and long pepper. The foundation of Malacca, situated at the end of the Malay peninsula, served to intensify the coordination of these various trading systems. ‘Cabo de Monçoes, principio d' Outras’ (the end of some monsoons and the beginning of others) was how Tomé Pires described this place, predestined to become meeting point. The effect of the rajah of Malacca's conversion to Islam at the beginning of the 15th century was to extend the Muslim trading network beyond the Moluccas. It is important to understand that at the very time when the Portuguese were beginning to explore the eastern Ocean a fundamental change was taking place in the Indonesian archipelago. The medieval agrarian kingdoms, Hindu in culture, were in the process of becoming Islamic. Gradually a new type of sultanate was taking over, similar to those of Pasai and Malacca. In these Malay sultanates there was no separation of powers between the political and the economic sphere such as existed in India between king and traders. Instead,
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