The most important entrepot of the 15th century, whose adoption of Islam spread the faith across the Malay archipelago before it was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511.
Conquered by the Portuguese Empire in August 1511, when Governor-General Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city with approximately 17–18 ships and around 1,200 troops, forcing Sultan Mahmud Shah to flee; Portugal held the city for the next 130 years.
Malacca is central to Reid's analysis of the commercial and Islamic transformation of the region.
The Andayas trace the Melaka sultanate from its Sumatran roots and its role as the great 15th-century entrepot that seeded Malay Islamic political culture — the heart of this entry.
Classical Malay literary epic (hikayat, not a chronicle like Sejarah Melayu) romanticizing the legendary warrior Hang Tuah at the court of Malacca during its 15th-century golden age.