Special Exhibition
Harboring the Past: Maritime Southeast Asia as Crossroads of Trade, Art and Cultural Migration
Exhibition Overview
“Maritime Southeast Asia” is the geographical region found where the Indian Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean. Within its scope lie the Southeast Asia’s numerous archipelagos, as well as the southern reaches of the Malay Peninsula. The ocean itself is this area’s most important transportation thoroughfare. Dotted with as many islands as the night sky is dotted with stars, the region’s undulating shorelines and open water channels provide for countless maritime shipping routes and relay stations. Not only do the harbors and inland districts at each locale provide sailors with supplies and opportunities to exchange goods, they also serve as nuclei of cultural interchange and political maneuvering.
Austronesian peoples were Maritime Southeast Asia’s primary inhabitants in ancient times. Skilled oceanic navigators, they traded their resources between islands. Much later, as though following the cycles of seasonal monsoons, sailors from the Indian, Chinese, Arabian, and European landmasses were delivered to Southeast Asia upon the trade winds. Arriving in droves, they spurred the creation of enormous mercantile networks and altered the course of history. Each of the cultures and beliefs brought by visitors from disparate regions has surged and receded just like the tides. Yet, as aspects of each of them were absorbed and reimagined by the inhabitants of Maritime Southeast Asia, they began to precipitate into unique, home-grown forms. Over the course of millennia, this process has given rise to a local temperament that is—just like the oceans themselves—dynamic, open, and broadly inclusive.
The expansiveness of the ocean and the inclusiveness of harbors are what give this exhibition its background symbolism. The exhibition’s guiding principle is “Coming Ashore,” a term that encompasses the dual meanings of cultural “migration” and “arrival” throughout history. “Coming Ashore” is a term that can imply what others witness in their journeys, as people’s returns to their own homelands and familiar environs. The history of Maritime Southeast Asia is as intricately complex and profoundly deep as the ocean of stars in the night sky. This exhibition brings together items from the NPM’s collections along with those of numerous other museums, in an attempt to trace along the astrological charts left to us by our forebears, as we embark upon an expedition in search of our collective pasts.
This exhibition is divided into three sections:
I. “Harbors Connected by Wind and Sail” paints a portrait of East Asian and European understandings of Maritime Southeast Asia prior to the 19th century. This section also reveals these outsiders’ varied motivations for making the long journey to the region.
II. “Marvelous Objects of a Rich and Fertile Island” centers upon Borneo in order to show how material culture was brought to the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia, as well as the ways in which these cultural imports were absorbed into the rituals and daily lives of local indigenous populations.
III. “Competing Coastlines and Coexisting Cultures” focuses on the shorelines on either side of the Strait of Malacca (spelled “Melaka” in Malay) and the many islands found in the Java Sea. This section presents the cultural exchanges between different ethnic groups. It also shows how different peoples blended with one another whilst simultaneously preserving their distinct ethnic identities, revealing the diversity and coexistence that characterize Maritime Southeast Asia’s cultural milieu.
I. Harbors Connected by Wind and Sail
It was a period like nothing any of us have experienced, a time when travelers had to wait for the winds to arrive before unfurling their ships’ sails and setting out to sea. Before the invention of the steam engine, seasonal winds were the only means of crossing the ocean. Since ancient times, the densely linked ports of Asia’s maritime regions have been used by merchants of different ethnic groups and religious faiths to ship goods from the Gulf of Aden to the Sea of Japan—in so doing, they built enormous trade networks that linked east and west. Following the movement of people and goods, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam all reached the numerous seaside kingdoms of Maritime Southeast Asia, where each of the religions flourished.
These thriving exchanges were not merely reflected in the eyewitness accounts written by travelers from different countries—they were also encapsulated in a material record that still exists today. This record includes Japanese copper bars, European silver coins, pottery fired in the kilns of southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia (present-day Vietnam and Thailand), silks and patterned cotton textiles exported from northwestern India, and dyed fabrics from India’s southeastern coast. These artifacts—some of which were recovered from shipwrecks, others of which were passed down through history—speak wordlessly of the journeys that took them across oceans. Some of these items even record the magnificent stories of how they were traded with residents of Maritime Southeast Asia’s islands in exchange for locally-produced goods.
II. Marvelous Objects of a Rich and Fertile Island
Borneo is Maritime Southeast Asia’s largest island, and it is also located along the equator in an area seldom touched by typhoons. Borneo’s ancient rainforests stretch from the mouths of its rivers into its high altitude hinterlands, providing the resources that sustain the island’s animals, plants, and its different ethnic groups. These rainforests are a crucial foundation for Bornean society and economy.
Borneo’s bountiful forests and its mineral resources attracted both merchants and political forces that sailed in on the wind. Pottery and bronzeware from southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia, as well as glass beads and coins from India, China, and Europe, all became indispensable currency in the trade in timber and other precious products from the forests. These items were brought to Borneo’s shores by Malay or Chinese merchants, and often worked their ways up the rivers, changing hands until they arrived deep in the rainforests. Compared with objects made from the forests’ own resources, items imported from overseas were more durable and slower to deteriorate in the hot, humid climate. At the same time, due to their cool surfaces, these objects were often attributed symbolic spiritual meaning by rainforest cultures. Together with local products such as bird feathers, barkcloth, weavings, basketry, and woodcarvings, these imported items intertwined to shape the rich beliefs and ritual life of indigenous Borneans.
III. Competing Coastlines and Coexisting Cultures
Since antiquity, the Strait of Malacca has served as an important channel linking the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The strait’s two shores and the many islands of the Java Sea were once places where merchants from around the world gathered, leading its ports to achieve widespread fame. Alongside its homegrown traditions, this region has ceaselessly absorbed cultures brought from India, the Muslim world, China, and Europe. The process of selectively accepting and localizing aspects of foreign civilizations has allowed Maritime Southeast Asia’s unique cultural milieu to take shape.
The material culture produced by this region’s native populations ranges from world-renowned keris daggers all the way to an extraordinary variety of fabrics. These objects are all reflections of how cultural diversity leads to fusion and renaissance. This region’s textiles are especially remarkable, as they display the meticulous decorative patterning of Islamic art, while simultaneously preserving the influence of patterns that originated in the cultures of West Asia, India, and China. This section of the exhibition also makes use of portraits, stele rubbings, newspaper reports, and Qing dynasty imperial memoranda to offer a glimpse of the “Chinese of Southeast Asia.” People from China constitute one of the largest immigrant populations in Southeast Asia in the modern era. In the process of settling in and putting down roots, these newcomers have sought for balance and choice while adapting to their new homes and establishing their identities. Their experience is a microcosm of Maritime Southeast Asia’s culture of diversity and coexistence.