Melaka (Malacca)

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The following is Mills' note on Melaka:

Melaka (Malacca) is a port on the west coast of the Malay peninsula, 2º 12’ N, 102º 15’ E. At the time of Zheng He's maritime voyages (1405-1433) it was politically unimportant, but of considerable and rapidly increasing importance as an entrepôt of international trade, where for the first time the commerce of the world’s major trade-route, between Venice and the Molucca islands, was concentrated in one central point according to a definite plan.

- J. V. G. Mills, trans., ed., Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores [1433], Hakluyt Society Extra Series 42 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 1970), "The Country of Man-la-chia [Malacca], p. 108, n. 1

Historic Buildings of Melaka