Materials for the Medieval History of Indonesia

Java1291.Marco.Polo.

Report of Marco Polo about 1291. Description of Java in the Majapahit era, by Marco Polo who probably touched Sumatra or even Java on his way back to Europe: political and economical importance, products of the islands, relations to China. Marco Polo, Milione - red. toscana and franco-italiana, ed. Gabriella Ronchi, 5th ed., Milano, 2005. Marco Polo, ch. iii, vii, p. 334.

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Of the Island of Java.

Departing from Ziamba,(1) and steering between south and south-east, fifteen hundred miles, you reach an island of very great size, named Java,(2) which, according to the reports of some well-informed navigators, is the largest in the world, being in circuit above three thousand miles. It is under the dominion of one king only, nor do the inhabitants pay tribute to any other power. They are worshippers of idols.

The country abounds with rich commodities. Pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galangal, cubebs, cloves, and all the other valuable spices and drugs, are the produce of the island; (3) which occasion it to be visited by many ships laden with merchandise, that yields to the owners considerable profit. The quantity of gold collected there exceeds all calculation and belief. From thence it is that the merchants of Zai-tun and of Manji in general have imported, and to this day import, that metal to a great amount, and from thence also is obtained the greatest part of the spices that are distributed throughout the world. That the grand khan has not brought the island under subjection to him, must be attributed to the length of the voyage and the dangers of the navigation.(4)

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(1) in the area of modern Cambodia.
(2) Marco Polo combines here information about Java and Borneo which cannot clearly be distinguished.
(3) while pepper is produced both on Borneo and Java, cloves and nutmegs may have come from the Moluccas, describing the dominance of Majapahit also in this region.
(4) while gold only came from Borneo, the last remark relates rather to Java.