Majapahit Empire

The Majapahit Empire, based on the island of Java in what is nowIndonesia, was a wealthy trading state that controlled one of the key choke-points along the Indian Ocean trade routes, the Straits of Malacca. It lasted from 1293 to 1527. At its height, the Majapahit Empire ruled most of maritime Southeast Asia, from Sumatra in the west to New Guinea in the east, and also including areas that now make up Singapore, Brunei, East Timor, the southernPhilippines, Malaysia, and southern Thailand.

Sources on Majapahit are scarce and none too explicit. Archaeological evidence is scanty, mostly because the ruins of this mighty empire have been swallowed up by the rainforest, and few sites have been excavated.  Historical sources from the region in the pre-Islamic period consist mainly of epic poems, which certainly give us some historical context, but which also tend to emphasize legendary or even mythological aspects of Majapahit's development.