The port of Melaka ("Malacca") on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula was founded around 1400 by Parameswara, a rebel prince of the Srivijaya royal line, who was claimed in the Sejarah Melayu to be a descendant of Alexander the Great. Expelled from Sumatra for killing the ruler of Temasek (modern day Singapore), Parameswara established himself in Melaka. The kingdom rapidly assumed the place previously held by Srivijaya, establishing independent relations with China, and exploiting its position dominating the Straits to control the China-India maritime trade, which became increasingly important when the Mongol conquests closed the overland route between China and the west. Within a few years of its establishment, Melaka officially adopted Islam, and the Raja became a Sultan. The political power of the Malaccan Sultanate helped Islam’s rapid spread through the archipelago, reaching as far as modern day Philippines, while leaving Bali as an isolated outpost of Hinduism. Islam came to the Malay Archipelago via India, and unlike Middle Eastern Islam it was influenced by the mystical traditions of Sufism, and also absorbed some elements of Malay[citation needed] animist and Hindu traditions. Because Islam was introduced by traders and not military conquest, there was no imposition of the Arabic language or Arab political customs.[citation needed] Since most ethnic Malays could not read the Arabic Qur'an, the local version of Islam was much less rigorous than in the Arabic world. And since the indigenous Malay rulers retained their power, the Islamic clergy did not gain the political influence it enjoyed in other parts of the Islamic world.
Melaka's reign lasted little more than a century, but it came to be seen as a golden age of Malay self-rule,[citation needed] and the Sultans of Melaka became the models for all subsequent Malay rulers.[citation needed] Melaka became a cultural centre, creating the matrix of the modern Malay culture: a blend of indigenous Malay and imported Indian, Chinese and Islamic elements. Melaka's fashions in literature, art, music, dance and dress, and the ornate titles of its royal court, came to be seen as the standard for all ethnic Malays. The court of Melaka also gave great prestige to the Malay language, which had originally evolved in Sumatra and been brought to Melaka at the time of its foundation. In time Malay came to be the official language of all the Malaysian states, although local languages survived in many places.
