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Published: October 2nd 2005
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Melaka is considered the historical hub of Malaysia, a thriving port, conquered sequentially by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese. Now trying to reclaim it's history, and it's future, and some additional land. At the centre of it all is the sea, and it's strategic location on the straits of Malaysia.
Melaka's timeline: 1396 - founding of Melaka by Parameswara, Prince of Palembang
1403 - Chinese envoy, Yin Ching arrives.
1407 - Admiral Cheng Ho and the Chinese fleet visits
1411 - Parameswara visits the Ming Emperor in China
1447 - The Siamese attack, but the Melakan fleet repel it.
1509 - Portuguese traders arrive, led by Dieo Lopez de Sequiera, with a fleet of ships. They set out from the Portuguese colony in Goa.
1511 - Follow a 10 day seige, Melaka falls to the Portuguese armada, commanded by Alfonso D'Albuquerque. The Portuguese rule is set to last 130 years.
1537 - Acehnese attack the Portuguese Melaka.
1545 - Fr. Francis Xavier arrives in Melaka.
1588 - Ralph Ritch, the first English visitor.
1597 - The Dutch attack.
1606 - Dutch and Johor (part of Malaysia) jointly attack Melaka, reinforcements of Portuguese from Goa save
Central Melaka
Historic Buildings Everywhere. the city.
1645 - Cheng Hoon Teng temple is built, by Lee Wei King (Chinese). Now the oldest surviving temple in Malaysia
1650 - Now run by the Dutch, the Stadthuys administrative center is built.
1710 - St Peter's church is built. The oldest functioning church in Malaysia
1795 - The British take over from the Dutch.
1806 - The British start demolishing the Portuguese fortress and abandon Melaka.
1818 - End of the Napoleonic wars, Melaka returned to the Dutch as part of the Treaty of Venice.
1824 - The Treaty of London returns Melaka to the British.
1826 - Melaka, Singapore and Penang part of the Straits Settlement.
1867 - Melaka becomes a British Colony.
1942 - Japanese Occupation
1956 - Proclamation of Independence by Tunku Abdul Rahman - malaysia's first prime minister, in Melaka 20th February.
1957 - August 31st - Malaysia is independent of Britain.
1963 - Melaka joins the Federation of Malaysia
1989 - Melaka is declared a historic city.
Paraphrased from a local free map of the town... I added a little where I could but obviously failed to pay enough attention in the museums to provide the necessary fuller
Maratime Museum
Recreation of a Portuguese Galleon explanations.
But basically each successive administration tried to shut down Melaka in favour of some other preferred port nearby. They did this by raising taxes on cargoes to such high levels that ships would no longer dock there and head to the favoured destinations instead.
What I did in Melaka. I went to a few museums, took some photos, did some work, and slept. Ate famous rice balls, found myself desiring barbecued pork greatly (due to all the signs in my guest house saying pork is forbidden).
All in all - not much happened, ate well, slept well, rested, and prepared myself for Indonesia. I chose to purchase a ticket from AirAsia.com direct to Bali, rather than catch the ferry to Sumatra. Now on the 2nd October, I'm flying into the aftermath of the second set of Bali bombs, I've made the decision to still go. I don't plan to stay near Kuta, the resort that bore the brunt of these bombs, I'll head instead to Lombok and the Gili Islands.
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dAli's mum
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the car
The chemistry teacher at our school had a car just like that in the early 1960@s