Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800

Beneath the modern skyscrapers of Singapore lie the remains of a much older trading port, prosperous and cosmopolitan and a key node in the maritime Silk Road. This book synthesizes 25 years of archaeological research to construct the 14th-century port of Singapore in greater detail than is possible for any other Southeast Asian city. The picture that emerges is of a port where people processed raw materials, used money, and had specialized occupations. Within its defensive wall, the city was well organized and prosperous, with a cosmopolitan population that included residents from China, other parts of Southeast Asia, and the Indian Ocean. Fully illustrated, with more than 300 maps and color photos, Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea presents Singapore's history in the context of Asia's long-distance maritime trade in the years between 1300 and 1800: it amounts to a dramatic new understanding of Singapore's precolonial past.

«Professor Miksic, well-known for his outstanding and often pioneering archaeological work in Singapore, Java, Cambodia and Myanmar, now takes to the sea and documents the external connections of Southeast Asia in the premodern period ... an original and insightful book.» - Ian Glover, Institute of Archaeology, University College London

«New perspectives emerge in this publication, foremost among whith is an understanding of Singapore's historic position and role in the aply-named "Silk Road of the Sea" ... John Miksic also demonstrates that the archaeological encounter with Singapore's precolonial past can indeed be a stimulating and thought-provoking venture into the texture of the island's palimpsest.» - Iskander Mydin, Deputy Director, National Museum of Singapore

«... a lucid overview by an expert of Singapore's role in world trade for more than half a millennium. After decades of fieldwork, the results demonstrate the crucial role of archaeology in revealing the pattern of the past on the Maritime Silk Road, along which passed much of Asia's trade.» - Roland Fletcher, Professor of Theoretical and World Archaeology, University of Sydney

Co-published with the National Museum of Singapore