Key Events

• 1404–1406

  Malacca emerges as an important trading center on the Malay Peninsula. It is founded partially as a result of civil wars in Indonesia that lead to the displacement of the ruling elite.

• 1406–1428

  Claiming to restore the Tran dynasty, the Chinese take over Vietnam, enforcing Chinese cultural traditions, including clothing styles and language.

• ca. 1420–1560

  Ceramics are widely produced in different centers of Thailand. Examples painted in underglaze brown and works with green glazes, as well as architectural decorations, are used domestically and imported throughout all of mainland and island Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese ceramic industry also flourishes, producing stonewares with underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamel decoration, which often show Chinese influence in their design. Products are traded in Southeast Asia as well as to West Asia. A bottle, which is rare for its date of 1450, is now in the collection of the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul.

• 1431

  The Thai sack of the capital at Angkor marks the fall of the powerful Khmer empire. A new Cambodian capital is established at Phnom Penh.

• 1438

  Sukhothai, a thriving center for ceramics and the production of bronze sculpture, is incorporated into Ayudhya.

• ca. 1450

  Three major Thai states exist—Ayudhya, Lan Na, and Lan Xang. Different styles of Buddha imagery are associated with each center.

• 1453–1472

  Under the reign of Shin Sawbu, daughter of two earlier kings, Bago is promoted as a center of Buddhism in Burma. Trade also flourishes under her rule.

• 1500–1518

  Raden Patah of Demak in Indonesia also rules Majapahit to the south. He promotes trade and Islam in Indonesia and Sumatra.

• ca. 1511

  The Portuguese, who control the Strait of Malacca as well as the town and port of Malacca, send a mission to Ayudhya in Thailand requesting trading rights in return for Western firearms and ammunition.

• 1558

  Lan Na in Thailand becomes a Burmese vassal state.

• 1563

  Suma Oriental is published in Venice. Based on the notes of the Portuguese Tomé Pires, who traveled in Southeast Asia from 1512 to 1515, it is one of the first European sources for the history of that region.

• 1578–1606

  Manila in the Philippines is a center of commerce as well as home to numerous Spanish Catholic missionaries.

• ca. 1580–1600

  The state of Mataram, which plays a prominent role in the seventeenth century, arises in Indonesia.

• 1595–1598

  The first Dutch trading missions arrive in Indonesia.