Rise and fall of the 7th-13th century Srivijaya empire
Rise and fall of the 7th-13th century Srivijaya empire
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I catch an RSS feed called " Maps on the Web ", that has all kinds of odd stuff.
This caught my eye because it appeared that the "Srivijaya empire" was pretty significant a thousand years ago... but I had never even heard of it. Ethnocentric blindspot, much???
Srivijaya ... was a dominant thalassocratic city-state based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 8th to the 12th century. In Sanskrit, sri means "fortunate", "prosperous", or "happy" and vijaya means "victorious" or "excellence".
The earliest evidence of its existence dates from the 7th century: a Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months. The earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century, i.e., the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682. Between the late 7th to early 11th century Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia, involved in close interactions often rivalries with the neighboring Medang Kingdom, Khmer Empire and Champa. Srivijaya's main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which continued from the Tang dynasty to the Song dynasty. Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala Empire of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East. The kingdom ceased to exist in the 13th century due to various factors, including the expansion of the Javanese, Singhasari, and Majapahit empires.
After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Coeds of the cole franaise d'Extrme-Orient formally postulated its existence. An aerial photograph taken in 1984 near Palembang (in what is now Sriwijaya Kingdom Archaeological Park) revealed the remnants of ancient man-made canals, moats, ponds, and artificial islands, suggesting the location of Srivijaya's urban center. Several artifacts such as fragments of inscriptions, Buddhist statues, beads, pottery and Chinese ceramics were found, confirming that the area was once a dense human habitation. By 1993, Pierre-Yves Manguin had shown that the centre of Srivijaya was along the Musi River between Bukit Seguntang and Sabokingking (situated in what is now Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia). However, in 2013, archaeological research led by the University of Indonesia discovered several religious and habitation sites at Muaro Jambi, suggesting that the initial center of Srivijaya was located in Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi on the Batang Hari River, instead of on the originally-proposed Musi river.
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I wonder if Indonesian children learn about this...