SRI VIJAYA the first greatest kingdom in

from wikipedia

Srivijaya (-sri meaning glitters or radiant, -jaya meaning success or excellence) was an ancient kingdom based on the island of Sumatra which influenced much of the Malay Archipelago.

One of the early Hindu-Buddhist Kingdoms in Indonesia was Sriwijaya in Sumatra, which rose in the 7th century. Due to its strategic location on the Straits of Malakka between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula , Sriwijaya Kingdom became the first major commercial sea power in Indonesia , controlling much of the trade in Southeast Asia. The Sriwijaya kingdom controlled major marine routes and traded in spices, incense and other goods with China and India.

History

Around 500 the roots of Srivijaya developed around present-day Palembang, around the year 600 Chinese records mention two kingdoms on Sumatra based at Jambi and Palembang, as well as three kingdoms on Java.

Srivijaya was centered in the coastal trading center of what is now Palembang. The empire was a thalassocracy and didn't extend its influence far beyond the coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia. Although historical records and archaeological evidence are scarce, it appears that by the seventh century, Srivijaya established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java, and much of the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, Srivijaya controlled the trade of the region, collected a toll form passing ships, and remained a formidable sea power until the thirteenth century. Serving as an entrep�t for Chinese, Indonesian, and Indian markets, the port of Palembang, accessible from the coast by way of a river, accumulated great wealth.

A stronghold of Mahayana Buddhism, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia. These included the Chinese monk Yijing, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to India in 671 and 695, and the eleventh-century Buddhist scholar Atisha, who played a major role in the development of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet. Travellers to these islands mentioned that gold coinage was in use on the coasts, but not inland.

Some historians claim that Chaiya in the Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand was at least temporarily the capital of Srivijaya, but this claim is largely disputed. However Chaiya was probably a regional center of the kingdom. The temple Borom That in Chaiya contains a reconstructed pagoda in Srivijaya style. The Khmer kingdom may have been a tributary in its early stages.

The name of the empire was rediscovered by George Coed�s in the 1920s, who noticed that the Chinese transcriptions interpreted as Sribhoja and the inscriptions in old Malay refer to the same empire.

At the same time the Jambi kingdom was taken over, starting the domination of the region through trade and conquest throughout the 7th-9th centuries. The kingdom helped spread the Malay culture throughout Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo. Srivijaya influence waned in the 11th century. The island was then subject to conquests from Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Majapahit. At the same time, Islam made its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading through contacts with Arabs and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the kingdom of Samudra (in Aceh) was converted to Islam. At the same time Srivijaya became a tributary of the Khmer empire and later the Sukhothai kingdom.

By 1414 Parameswara, the last prince of Srivijaya converted to Islam, and started the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula