Srivijaya

Srivijaya was a maritime trading empire centered on the island of Sumatra (modern Indonesia) that dominated the sea lanes between China and India from roughly the 7th to the 13th centuries. Unlike the great land empires of its era, Srivijaya's power was based not on territory but on controlling the narrow straits through which virtually all East-West maritime trade had to pass.

The empire's capital, Palembang, sat on the Musi River near the Strait of Malacca — the maritime equivalent of a tollbooth between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Chinese, Indian, and Arab merchants all depended on Srivijaya's ports for resupply, trade, and protection from piracy. The rulers used a combination of naval power and diplomacy to maintain their commercial dominance, extracting tribute and customs fees that made them enormously wealthy.

Srivijaya was also a major center of Buddhist learning. The 7th-century Chinese pilgrim Yijing spent years there studying Sanskrit and recommended it as a place of study before traveling to India. The empire helped spread Mahayana Buddhism across the Malay world. Srivijaya's gradual decline after the 11th century was driven by the rise of rival powers — the Chola dynasty from India raided its ports, while the growing kingdom of Majapahit eventually displaced it as the region's dominant force.