( sa, सुवर्णभूमि; Pali: '); my, သုဝဏ္ဏဘူမိ, ; km, សុវណ្ណភូមិ, ''Sovannaphoum''; and th, สุวรรณภูมิ, . is a
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
, that appears in many ancient Indian literary sources and Buddhist texts such as the ''
Mahavamsa'', some stories of the
Jataka tales
The Jātakas (meaning "Birth Story", "related to a birth") are a voluminous body of literature native to India which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is ...
, the ''
Milinda Panha
The ''Milinda Pañha'' () is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: ''Milinda'' ...
'' and the
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...
.
Though its exact location is unknown and remains a matter of debate, Suvarṇabhūmi was an important port along trade routes that run through the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, setting sail from the wealthy ports in
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
,
Ubullah
Al-Ubulla ( ar, الأبلة), called Apologou ( gr, 'Απολόγου 'Εμπόριον) by the Greeks in the pre-Islamic period, was a port city at the head of the Persian Gulf east of Basra in present-day Iraq. In the medieval period, it served ...
and
Siraf
Bandar Siraf ( fa, بندر سیراف), also Romanized as Bandar-e Sīraf; also known as Sīraf, Ṭāherī, and Tāhiri; as well as Bandar-e Ṭāherī and Bandar-i Ṭāhirī ( fa, بندر طاهری, Bandar-e Ṭāherī), is a city in the Ce ...
, through
Muscat
Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...
,
Malabar
Malabar may refer to the following:
People
* Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India
* Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion
Places
* Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...
,
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, the
Nicobars
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of ...
,
Kedah
Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman (Islam), Aman and historically as Queda, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area ...
and on through the
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
to fabled Suvarṇabhūmi.
Historiography
means 'golden land' or 'land of gold' and the ancient sources have associated it with one of a variety of places throughout the Southeast Asian region.
It might also be the source of the Western concept of ''Aurea Regio'' in Claudius
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's ''Trans-Gangetic India'' or ''India beyond the Ganges'' and the
Golden Chersonese of the Greek and Roman geographers and sailors. The ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
'' refers to the Land of Gold, ''Chryse'', and describes it as "an island in the ocean, the furthest extremity towards the east of the inhabited world, lying under the rising sun itself, called Chryse... Beyond this country... there lies a very great inland city called Thina".
Dionysius Periegetes
Dionysius Periegetes ( grc-gre, Διονύσιος ὁ Περιηγητής, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia ...
mentioned: "The island of ''Chryse'' (Gold), situated at the very rising of the Sun".
Or, as
Priscian
Priscianus Caesariensis (), commonly known as Priscian ( or ), was a Latin grammarian and the author of the ''Institutes of Grammar'', which was the standard textbook for the study of Latin during the Middle Ages. It also provided the raw materia ...
put it in his popular rendition of Periegetes: “if your ship… takes you to where the rising sun returns its warm light, then will be seen the Isle of Gold with its fertile soil.”
Avienius
Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (sometimes erroneously Avienus) was a Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of Volsinii in Etruria, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.
Avienius is not identical with the historian Fe ...
referred to the ''Insula Aurea'' (Golden Isle) located where "the Scythian seas give rise to the Dawn".
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
speaks of the "Aurea Chersonesus", which he equates with the
Biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
Ophir
Ophir (; ) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon received a shipment from Ophir every three years (1 Kings 10:22) which consisted of gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
...
, whence the ships of
Tyre and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
brought back gold for the
Temple of Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...
. The city of ''Thina'' was described by Ptolemy's ''
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
'' as the capital city of the country on the eastern shores of the
Magnus Sinus
The Magnus Sinus or Sinus Magnus (Latin; grc-gre, ὀ Μέγας Κόλπος, ''o Mégas Kólpos''), also anglicized as the was the form of the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea known to Greek, Roman, Arab, Persian, and Renaissance cartogra ...
(
Gulf of Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...
).
Location
The location of Suvarnabhumi has been the subject of much debate, both in scholarly and
nationalistic
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: T ...
agendas. It remains one of the most mythified and contentious
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
in the history of Asia.
Scholars have identified two regions as possible locations for the ancient Suvarnabhumi: Insular Southeast Asia or Southern India. In a study of the various literary sources for the location of Suvarṇabhūmi, Saw Mra Aung concluded that it was impossible to draw a decisive conclusion on this, and that only thorough scientific research would reveal which of several versions of Suvarṇabhūmi was the original.
Some have speculated that this country refers to the
Kingdom of Funan
Funan (; km, ហ៊្វូណន, ; vi, Phù Nam, Chữ Hán: ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''(Mandala)''—located in mainla ...
. The main port of Funan was ''Cattigara Sinarum statio'' (
Kattigara
Cattigara is the name of a major port city located on the Magnus Sinus described by various antiquity sources. Modern scholars have linked Cattigara to the archaeological site of Óc Eo in present-day Vietnam.
Ptolemy's description
Cattigara w ...
the port of the
Sinae
The names of China include the many contemporary and historical appellations given in various languages for the East Asian country known as ''Zhōngguó'' (/, "middle country") in its national language, Standard Mandarin. China, the name in En ...
).
Due to many factors, including the lack of historical evidence, the absence of scholarly consensus, various cultures in Southeast Asia identify Suwannaphum as an ancient kingdom there and claim ethnic and political descendancy as its successors. As no such claim or legend existed prior to the translation and publication of the Edicts, scholars see these claims as based in nationalism or attempts to claim the title of first Buddhists in South-East Asia.
Mainland Southeast Asia
Cambodia
Funan
Funan (; km, ហ៊្វូណន, ; vi, Phù Nam, Chữ Hán: ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''(Mandala)''—located in mainla ...
(1st–7th century) was the first kingdom in Cambodian history and it was also the first Indianized kingdom that prospered in Southeast Asia. Both Hinduism and Buddhism flourished in this kingdom. According to the Chinese records, two Buddhist monks from Funan, named Mandrasena and
Sanghapala
Sanghapala (506–518 CE) was a famous Khmer monk who traveled to Southern and Northern Dynasties China.
He, along with the fellow Funan monk, Mandrasena, translated Buddhist scriptures to Chinese.
See also
*List of Buddhists
This is a list o ...
, took up residency in China in the 5th to 6th centuries, and translated several Buddhist sūtras from Sanskrit (or a
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
) into Chinese.
The oldest archaeological evidence of Indianized civilization in Southeast Asia comes from central Burma, central and southern Thailand, and the lower Mekong delta. These finds belong to the period of Funan Kingdom or Nokor Phnom, present day Cambodia and South Vietnam including part of Burma, Lao, and Thailand, which was the first political centre established in Southeast Asia. Taking into account the epigraphic and archaeological evidence, the Suvarnabhumi mentioned in the early texts must be identified with these areas. Of these areas, only Funan had maritime links with India through its port at
Oc Éo. Therefore although Suvarnabhumi in time became a generic name broadly applied to all the lands east of India, particularly Sumatra, its earliest application was probably to Funan. Furthermore, the Chinese name "Funan" for Cambodia, may be a transcription of the "Suvaṇṇa" of Suvaṇṇabhumī.
![Cambodian inscription mentioned Suvarnabhumi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Cambodian_inscription_mentioned_Suvarnabhumi..jpg)
In December 2017, Dr Vong Sotheara, of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, discovered a Pre-Angkorian stone inscription in the Province of
Kampong Speu,
Basedth
Barsedth ( km, បរសេដ្ឋ) is a district (''srok'') in the south of Kampong Speu Province, in southern Cambodia. The district capital is the town of Barsedth located some 50 kilometres south of the provincial capital of Kampong Speu (to ...
District, which he tentatively dated to 633 AD. According to him, the inscription would “prove that Suvarnabhumi was the Khmer Empire.” The inscription was issued during the reign of
King Isanavarman I (616–637 AD) of the Cambodian
Kingdom of Chenla, the successor of Funan and the predecessor of
Khmer Empire. The inscription, translated, read:
“The great King Isanavarman is full of glory and bravery. He is the King of Kings, who rules over ''Suvarnabhumi'' until the sea, which is the border, while the kings in the neighbouring states honour his order to their heads”.
The Inscription is the oldest evidence ever found in Southeast Asia, mentioning Suvarnabhumi and identified it with Chenla. The inscription is now exhibits in the
National Museum of Cambodia
The National Museum of Cambodia ( km, សារមន្ទីរជាតិ) is Cambodia's largest museum of cultural history and is the country's leading historical and archaeological museum. It is located in Chey Chumneas, Phnom Penh.
Overv ...
in Phnom Penh. However, his claim and the findings are yet to be peer-reviewed, and they are remained in doubt with other historians and archaeology experts across the region.
Myanmar
Mon tradition maintains that the
Thaton Kingdom
The Thaton Kingdom, Suwarnabhumi, or Thuwunnabumi ( my, သထုံခေတ် or ) was a Mon kingdom, believed to have existed in Lower Burma from at least the 4th century BC to the middle of the 11th century AD. One of many Mon kingdom ...
in Lower
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
was called Suvannabhumi ( my, သုဝဏ္ဏဘူမိ ''Thuwunnabhumi''). However, dating the Thaton Kingdom independent of traditional chronicles gives an earliest founding year of 825; even this date remains unattested.
There are archaeological sites within
Mon State
Mon State ( my, မွန်ပြည်နယ်, ; mnw, တွဵုရးဍုင်မန်, italics=no) is an administrative division of Myanmar. It lies between Kayin State to the east, the Andaman Sea to the west, Bago Region to the ...
that local archeologists cite as Suvannabhumi. Suvarnabhumi City in
Bilin Township is one such site with limited excavation work. The site, called Winka Old City by other archeologists, contains 40 high-grounds of which only 4 have been excavated. The Winka site, along with nearby walled sites like Kyaikkatha and Kelasa, have been dated as early as the sixth century. While the archaeology of early Lower Burmese sites requires more work, other urban centres in Myanmar like the
Sri Ksetra Kingdom in modern day
Pyay
Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Aye ...
were Buddhist as early as the 5th century.
The scholarly search for Suvannabhumi within Myanmar is attached to various nationalistic and religious narratives about Suvannabhumi. The fifteenth century legend of
Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
enshrining a few hairs of the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...
brought back by Mon merchants highlights the cultural significance placed on early Buddhist missionaries in Myanmar. In many such legends, the narrative of the conversion of Suvannabhumi is Burmanizes key historical Buddhist figures.
Thailand
In Thailand, government proclamations and national museums insist that Suwannaphum was somewhere in the coast of central plain, especially at the ancient city of
U Thong
King U-thongThe Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya''. ( th, พระเจ้าอู่ทอง) or King Ramathibodi I ( th, สมเด็จพระรามาธิบดีที่ ๑ ; 1314–1369) was the first king of ...
, which might be the origin of the
Mon Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th ce ...
Culture. These claims are not based on any historical records but on archaeological evidences of human settlements in the area dating back more than 4,000 years and the findings of 3rd century Roman coins. The Thai government named the new Bangkok airport,
Suvarnabhumi Airport, after the mythic kingdom of Suwannaphum, in celebration of this tradition. This tradition, however, is doubted by scholars for the same reason as the Burman claim.
Suphan Buri (from the Sanskrit, ''Suvarnapura'', "Golden City") in present day west/central Thailand, was founded in 877-882 as a city of the
Mon-speaking kingdom of
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th ce ...
with the name, ''Meuang Thawarawadi Si Suphannaphumi'' ("the Dvaravati city of Suvarnabhumi"), indicating that Dvaravati at that time identified as Suvarnabhumi.
Insular Southeast Asia
One of the clues referring to the Malay Peninsula came from
Claudius Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
's
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
, who referred to it as
Golden Chersonese (literally 'golden peninsula'), which pinpointed exactly that location in South East Asia.
The term Suvarnabhumi ('land of gold') is commonly thought to refer to the Southeast Asian Peninsula, including lower Burma and the
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
. However there is another gold-referring term Suvarnadvipa (the Golden Island or Peninsula, where ''dvipa'' may refer to either a
peninsula
A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...
or an
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
), which may correspond to the
Indonesian Archipelago
The islands of Indonesia, also known as the Indonesian Archipelago ( id, Kepulauan Indonesia) or Nusantara, may refer either to the islands comprising the country of Indonesia or to the geographical groups which include its islands.
History ...
, especially
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
.
Both terms might refer to a powerful coastal or island kingdom in present-day
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, possibly centered on
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
or
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
. This corresponds to the gold production areas traditionally known in
Minangkabau Highlands
The Minangkabau Highlands ( id, Dataran Tinggi Minangkabau, Minang: ''Minang Darek'') is a mountainous area in the province of West Sumatra, located around three mountains— Mount Marapi, Mount Singgalang, and Mount Sago—in west-central Su ...
in
Barisan Mountains
The Bukit Barisan or the Barisan Mountains are a mountain range on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia, covering nearly 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the north to the south of the island. The Bukit Barisan range consists primarily of volca ...
, Sumatra, and interior Borneo.
An eighth century Indian text known as the "Samaraiccakaha" describes a sea voyage to Suvarnadvipa and the making of bricks from the gold rich sands which they inscribed with the name ''dharana'' and then baked. These pointing out to the direction of western part of insular Southeast Asia, especially Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Java.
Benefitting from its strategic location on the narrow Strait of Malacca, the insular theory argued that other than actually producing gold, it might also be based on such a kingdom's potential for power and wealth (hence, "Land of Gold") as a hub for sea-trade also known from vague descriptions of contemporary Chinese pilgrims to India. The kingdom referred to as the center of maritime trade between China and India was
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
. Due to the Chinese writing system, however, the interpretations of Chinese historical sources are based on supposed correspondences of
ideograms
An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarit ...
– and their possible
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
equivalents – with known toponyms in the ancient
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n civilizations.
Hendrik Kern concluded that
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
was the Suvarnadvipa mentioned in ancient Hindu texts and the island of Chryse mentioned in the
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea
The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' ( grc, Περίπλους τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς Θαλάσσης, ', modern Greek '), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and ...
and by
Rufius Festus Avienius
Postumius Rufius Festus Avienius (sometimes erroneously Avienus) was a Latin writer of the 4th century AD. He was a native of Volsinii in Etruria, from the distinguished family of the Rufii Festi.
Avienius is not identical with the historian F ...
.
The interpretation of early travel records is not always easy. The Javanese embassies to China in 860 and 873 CE refer to Java as rich in gold, although it was in fact devoid of any deposits. The Javanese would have had to import gold possibly from neighbouring Sumatra, Malay Peninsula or Borneo, where gold was still being mined in the 19th century and where ancient mining sites were located. Even though Java did not have its own gold deposits, the texts make frequent references to the existence of goldsmiths, and it is clear from the archaeological evidence such as
Wonoboyo Hoard, that this culture had developed a sophisticated gold working technology, which relied on the import of substantial quantities of the metal.
The
Padang Roco Inscription
The Padang Roco Inscription, in Indonesian Prasasti Padang Roco, is an inscription dated 1286 CE, discovered near the source of Batanghari river, Padangroco temple complex, Nagari Siguntur, Sitiung, Dharmasraya Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia.
E ...
of 1286 CE, states that an image of Buddha Amoghapasa Lokeshvara was brought to
Dharmasraya
Dharmasraya, is the capital of the 11th century Buddhist polity known as Melayu Kingdom, based on the Batanghari river system in modern-day West Sumatra and Jambi, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.J.L.A. Brandes, 1902, ''Nāgarakrětāgama; ...
on the Upper
Batang Hari - the river of
Jambi
Jambi is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the east coast of central Sumatra and spans to the Barisan Mountains in the west. Its capital and largest city is Jambi. The province has a land area of 50,160.05 km2, and a sea area of 3, ...
- was transported from ''Bhumi Java'' (Java) to ''Suvarnabhumi'' (Sumatra), and erected by order of the Javanese ruler
Kertanegara
Sri Maharajadiraja Sri Kertanegara Wikrama Dharmatunggadewa, Kritanagara, or Sivabuddha (died 1292), was the last and most important ruler of the Singhasari kingdom of Java, reigning from 1268 to 1292. Under his rule Javanese trade and power devel ...
: the inscription clearly identifies Sumatra as Suvarnabhumi.
Butuan was so rich in treasures that a museum curator, Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, stated that it was even richer than the more well-known western maritime kingdom of
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
; "The astonishing quantities and impressive quality of gold treasures recovered in Butuan suggest that its flourishing port settlement played an until recently little-recognized role in early Southeast Asian trade. Surprisingly, the amount of gold discovered in Butuan far exceeds that found in Sumatra, where the much better known flourishing kingdom of Srivijaya is said to have been located." This despite that most of the gold of Butuan were already looted by invaders.
Bangladesh
A popular interpretation of
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
's poem ''
Amar Shonar Bangla'' serves as the basis for the claim that Suvarnabhumi was actually situated in central
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
at
Sonargaon
Sonargaon ( bn, সোনারগাঁও; pronounced as ''Show-naar-gaa''; lit. ''Golden Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division.
Sonargaon is one ...
. In some Jain texts, it is mentioned that merchants of
Anga
Anga (Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas.
Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts ...
(in present-day
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
, a state of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
that borders with Bengal) regularly sailed to Suvarnabhumi, and ancient Bengal was in fact situated very close to Anga, connected by rivers of the
Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. Bengal has also been described in ancient Indian and Southeast Asian chronicles as a "seafaring country", enjoying trade relations with Dravidian kingdoms, Sri Lanka, Java and Sumatra.
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
tradition holds that the first king of Sri Lanka,
Vijaya Singha
According to the ''Mahāvaṃsa'' chronicle, Prince Vijaya (c. 543–505 BCE) was the first Sinhalese king. Legends and records from both Indian and Sri Lanka sources say that he along with several hundred followers came to Sinhala after they ...
, came from Bengal. Moreover the region is commonly associated with gold - the soil of Bengal is known for its golden color (gangetic alluvial), golden harvest (
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
), golden fruits (
mango
A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...
es), golden minerals (gold and
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
) and yellow skinned people. Bengal is described in ancient
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
texts as '
Gaud
Gaur Brahmins (spelling variations: Gor or Gour), also Gauda Brahmins (spelling variations: Gaud, or God), also known as Adi Gauda/Gaur, is a group of Brahmin communities in India. The Gauda Brahmins are one of the five Pancha Gauda Brahmin comm ...
-Desh' (Golden/Radiant land). During the reign of the
Bengal Sultans and the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
, central Bengal was home to a prosperous trading town called "
Sonargaon
Sonargaon ( bn, সোনারগাঁও; pronounced as ''Show-naar-gaa''; lit. ''Golden Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division.
Sonargaon is one ...
" (Golden village), which was connected to North India by the
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...
and was frequented by Arab, Persian and Chinese travelers, including
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
and
Zheng He
Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...
. Even today, Bengalis often refer to their land as 'Shonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal), and the national anthem of Bangladesh - ''
Amar Shonar Bangla'' (My Bengal of Gold), from the omonym Tagore's poem - is a reference to this theory.
European Age of Discovery
The thirst for gold formed the most powerful incentive to explorers at the beginning of modern times; but although more and more extensive regions were brought to light by them, they sought in vain in the East Indian Archipelago for the Gold and Silver Islands where, according to the legends, the precious metals were to be gathered from the ground and did not need to be laboriously extracted from the interior of the earth. In spite of their failure, they found it difficult to give up the alluring picture. When they did not find what they sought in the regions which were indicated by the old legends and by the maps based thereon, they hoped for better success in still unexplored regions, and clutched with avidity at every hint that they were here to attain their object.
[E.W. Dahlgren, "Were the Hawaiian Islands visited by the Spaniards before their Discovery by Captain Cook in 1778?", ''Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar'', Band 57. No.1, 1916–1917, pp.1-222, pp.47-48, 66.]
The history of geography thus shows us how the Gold and Silver Islands were constantly, so to speak, wandering towards the East. Marco Polo spoke, in the most exaggerated language, of the wealth of gold in
Zipangu
The word '' Japan'' is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon () and Nihon (). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji .
During the third-century CE Three Kingdoms per ...
, situated at the extremity of this part of the world, and had thus pointed out where the precious metals should preferably be sought.
Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim (6 October 1459 – 29 July 1507), also known as and by various forms of , was a German textile merchant and cartographer. He served John II of Portugal as an adviser in matters of navigation and participated in a voyage to We ...
, on his globe of 1492, revived the Argyre and Chryse of antiquity in these regions.
In 1519,
Cristóvão de Mendonça
Cristóvão de Mendonça (Mourão, 1475 – Ormus, 1532) was a Portuguese noble and explorer who was active in South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-easte ...
, was given instructions to search for the legendary Isles of Gold, said to lie to "beyond Sumatra", which he was unable to do, and in 1587 an expedition under the command of Pedro de Unamunu was sent to find them in the vicinity of Zipangu (Japan). According to
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas (1549 – 28 March 1626 or 27 March 1625) was a chronicler, historian, and writer of the Spanish Golden Age, author of ''Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del mar ...
, in 1528
Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón
Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón (often written as Álvaro de Saavedra) (d. 1529) was one of the Spanish explorers in the Pacific Ocean. The exact date and place of his birth are unknown, but he was born in the late 15th century or early 16th century in ...
in the ship ''Florida'' on a voyage from the
Moluccas
The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...
to
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
reached a large island which he took for the ''Isla del Oro''. This island has not been identified although it seems likely that it is
Biak
Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and c ...
,
Manus or one of the
Schouten Islands
The Schouten Islands ( id, Kepulauan Biak, also Biak Islands or Geelvink Islands) are an island group of Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New ...
on the north coast of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
.
“Alvaro de Saavedra….anduvieron 250 Leguas, hasta la isla del Oro, adonde tomaron Puerto, que es grande, y de Gente Negra, y con los cabellos crespos, y desnuda”; Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, ''Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano,'' Madrid, 1601, Decada IV, libro III, cap.iv, p.60.
June L. Whittaker, (ed.), ''Documents and Readings in New Guinea History: Pre-history to 1889'', Milton, Jacaranda, 1975, pp,183-4.
Notes
References
{{Reflist, 30em
See also
* Golden Chersonese
*Greater India
Greater India, or the Indian cultural sphere, is an area composed of many countries and regions in South and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Indian culture, which itself formed from the various distinct indigenous cultures ...
History of Buddhism in Asia
Ancient Indian geography
History of Southeast Asia
Old Cities of Mon people
Mon people
Srivijaya
Funan