Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c14.t2.50

v2.c14.t2.50

Thus by the beginning of the fifteenth century A.D. the northern states of Sumatra passed from the sphere of influence of Java to that of China, and gradually adopted the Islamic religion. The importance of Sumatra as a centre of Islam was no doubt due to the fact that Pasai (Sumatra) had succeeded Kedah as the chief centre of trade. In the fifteenth century Malacca succeeded Pasai and played the rôle of the leading Muslim state, as we shall see in the next chapter. After the fall of Malacca at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Acheen in northern Sumatra became the chief centre of trade and of Islam. "From Acheen Islamic faith spread to Ulakan, from Ulakan into Menangkabau. In the seventeenth century the people along the coast of the Lampong district began to be converted, and in the eighteenth Islam spread to the up-country. In the middle of the sixteenth century a missionary went from Palembang to Borneo and made converts at Sukadana and Madan. In 1606 A.D. a Menangkabau trader converted the Raja of Pallo in Celebes.”¹