Maritime Routes Between Indochina and Nusantara to the 18th Century

Abstract

This article offers an overview of historical Chinese, Arab and Vietnamese sources which describe maritime links between the Indochina world and Maritime Southeast Asia from the first century CE until the 18th century. It is in fact from the seventh century that texts begin to provide a number of identifiable toponyms, and the burgeoning of Tang relations with distant societies and polities in the following century saw new maritime routes developing in Southeast Asia. In the 9th century, Chinese sources are supplemented with Arab accounts. Chinese sources of the first millenium CE also contain details regarding the ships which sailed the seas between Indochina and Nusantara, the 10th century being a key period of change in long distance trade through Southeast Asia. By the 14th century the majority of the long-distance trading ships which connected Nusantara and Indochina were Chinese and some possibly Southeast Asian. The beginning of the 15th century brings new maritime route details in connection with the well known voyages led by Zheng He. Further details are provided through three 16th century and 17th century Chinese sources. The article ends with a presentation of data found in a Vietnamese maritime guide dating to 1810 but based on earlier materials.