The Acehnese past and its present state of study R. Michael ... - kitlv

Aceh as a fi eld for ancient history studies 29
Chinese sources made mention of the country of Lan-wou-Li or Lan-Li, two
toponyms that may be Sinicized forms of Lamri (Kévonian 1998, 2002). Lamri
again appears among the settlements mentioned by Marco Polo at the end of
the thirteenth century (Polo 1955:242). During the fourteenth century, it was
mentioned by Odoric de Pordenone (Bressan 1997:17), then in the Javanese
text Nāgara-kĕrtāgama, dated 1365 (Pigeaud 1960:11). At the beginning of the
fi fteenth century, Ma Huan, writing on the great maritime expeditions of the
Ming dynasty in Southeast Asia and in the Indian Ocean, made mention of
Nan-p’o-Li (Ma Huan 1997:122-4). Thus, between the ninth century and the
beginning of the sixteenth century we have a toponym, or a group of very
closely related toponyms, identifi able at the tip of Aceh. It is possible that we
are dealing with several contemporary and more or less connected harbours,
which alternately dominated the region at various times. It is almost certain
that the discoveries made in the Lambaro and Krueng Raya bays are related
to this group of toponyms. 4
These sites have thus far been little researched. Another complicated case
is presented by the textual evidence for early settlements further down on the
east coast. Pedir, close to the present town of Sigli, was, at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, a major pepper producer visited by ships from Coromandel,
Gujarat and Bengal. Barros, a Portuguese offi cial historian, described it as the
largest kingdom of the region, which was said to have been founded well
before Melaka, dating back to at least the thirteenth century (Dion 1970:145).
A twelfth-century Armenian text made mention of the towns of Samwi and
K’roudayi, tentatively located near Lhokseumawe and Pasai, respectively
(Kévonian 1998:80-6, 2002:63-7). At the end of the thirteenth century Marco
Polo made mention of the trading centres of Basman, in the environs of
Samudra, and Dagroian, between Samudra and Lambri (Polo 1955:242-3), and
the mid-fourteenth-century Javanese text Nāgara-kĕrtāgama made mention
of Tumihang, whose name survives today as the name of a local river and
the town of Tanjung Tamiang near Langsa (Pigeaud 1960:11). Parlak, close
to present-day Peureulak, was also mentioned in the Nāgara-kĕrtāgama, and
appears to be identical with Ferlec, as noted by Marco Polo, and perhaps also
the town of Pourē mentioned in the twelfth-century Armenian text (Kévonian
1998:86-8, 2002:67-70; Pigeaud 1960:11; Polo 1955:242-3). Other sites mentioned
in early extant sources include Aeilabu, an independent kingdom that became
a vassal of Pedir at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Pirada, comprising
two neighbouring cities, was also a vassal of Pedir, but it emerged as its own
kingdom at about the same time as when Pedir enjoyed close relations with
the nearby kingdom of Lide (Cortesão 1990:140- 2).
The west coast of Aceh also had settlements mentioned in some of these
4 This hypothesis was fi rst suggested by McKinnon in 1988.