ofthe SAME TREE

economically and culturally the center of Aceh. Prior to that time the continuing
pre-eminence of Aceh’s coastal culture reaffirmed Aceh’s position as a
leading Malayu polity.
A second theme that emerges from the history of the northeast coast is
the close links between the elite groups in the various port polities. Because
of the nature of early foreign sources, where lists of toponyms each followed
by short descriptions is the norm, one can be forgiven for believing that
the coastline was littered with small, independent polities with an existence
separate from their neighbors. Despite the tendency among early Portuguese
chroniclers to characterize local politics as being riddled with coups and
countercoups involving a ruler, a regent, and external allies, 14 the reality was
far less dramatic. In Pasai, leadership was obviously seized and held by “men
of prowess,” whatever and wherever their origin. 15 Within a space of about
seventy-five years and nine rulers, four of the latter are clearly recognizable
as outsiders: one from Aru, another from Pidië, a third from Pidada, and the
last from Oman. Aru, Pidië, and Pidada were neighboring ports, and the willingness
of Pasai to accept a prince from these places to become its ruler was
based on marriage ties that had created a single family. Pasai’s rise, therefore,
may not have been due to any inherent superiority to its neighbors, but to an
agreement by neighboring polities who were bound together through marriage.
The ease and frequency with which leaders from the other ports were
raised to be rulers in Pasai appear to confirm this view. Pasai itself was later
absorbed by Aceh in a political scenario typical of this coast.
Pasai emerged as an important entrepot not only because it could supply
forest products, but also because it became a major producer of pepper grown
in the interior. By the early sixteenth century, Pires reports that Pasai produced
some eight to ten thousand bahar of pepper (Piper nigrum, Linn.) annually. 16
Pepper was introduced to Southeast Asia from India as early as perhaps the
beginning of the Common Era and was grown alongside the indigenous pepper
varieties. In Sumatra the earliest date for pepper cultivation is either the
fourteenth or the fifteenth century, with Pasai listed as a major pepper-growing
area. One of the attractions of the pepper plant as a crop is that it does not
require fertile soils, but flourishes under hot, humid conditions and an annual
rainfall of about 2,500 millimeters (98 inches). These requirements are met
in the interior of Sumatra. In early centuries, despite the plant’s slow maturation,
cultivators were encouraged to grow pepper because it commanded high
prices in the international marketplace. Major demand came from China and
Europe, while Gujarati traders were eager to supplement their own Indian
supplies destined for the European market. Pepper consumption in Europe
reached saturation point by the 1680s, and subsequent VOC policy discouraged
production, leading to a decline in pepper cultivation in Sumatra. 17
112 Chapter 4