2 min read
Why the old town is red
The Stadthuys, Christ Church and the clock tower are the colour on every postcard of Melaka. For most of their history, they were white.
Ic. 1400 to 1957
Past tense
Sultans, spice fleets and the empires that came for them.
Melaka was founded around 1400 and spent the next five and a half centuries being fought over. These essays follow the sultans, traders, priests and governors who passed through, and the stones they left standing.
3 min read
One gate, two empires
Of the great Portuguese fortress of A Famosa, only one gate survives. It carries a Dutch coat of arms, and it may owe its survival to an Englishman.
3 min read
Under the Melaka tree
A prince on the run, a hunting dog and a very brave mouse deer: how a settlement on a muddy river became the busiest port in Southeast Asia.
