The earliest references to a fabulous land of gold that could be interpreted as places in South East Asia may be found in Indian literature. In Ramayana, there are mentions of Suvarnabhumi (Land of Gold) and Suvarnadvipa (the Golden Island or Peninsula, where dvipa might refer to either a
peninsula or an
island)[2][3] Greek knowledge of lands further to their east improved after the conquests of
Alexander the Great, but specific references to places in South East Asia did not appear until after the rise of the
Roman Empire. Greek and Roman geographers
Eratosthenes,
Dionysius Periegetes, and
Pomponius Mela had written about a Golden Isle (Khrysē, Chryse Insula),[4][5] which some in modern times argued to mean
Sumatra while excluding the Malay Peninsula.[6][7]Pliny in Natural History, however, referred to Chryse as both a
promontory and an
island.[8]
Ptolemy's Geography, based on the work by
Marinus of
Tyre, contains the best-known and perhaps the earliest reference to the Golden Chersonese.[9] However, Geography includes information added by later geographers, and the first specific mention of the Golden Chersonese may be in the work of
Marcian of Heraclea.[10] Chersonese means peninsula in Greek, and although a few early scholars had attempted to link the Golden Chersonese with
Lower Burma, the term is now generally accepted to mean the Malay Peninsula. The Malay Peninsula is thought to have been a producer of gold in ancient times, and gold mines in
Patani and
Pahang were still mentioned in the 17th century by the Malay-Portuguese writer
Godinho de Erédia.[1] Although gold is now not a major product of modern-day Malaysia, it is still being
mined, for example in
Raub in Pahang.[11]
Cartographic references
The Golden Chersonese appears in the map of
Ptolemy, which gives some geographical locations on the peninsula. The earliest surviving maps of Ptolemy, however, came from the end of the 13th century. Note that Ptolemy, like many early geographers, believed the
Indian Ocean to be a closed sea, and maps based on Ptolemy's work show Golden Chersonese to be located within a closed basin. To the east of the Golden Peninsula is the
Great Gulf, which is enclosed further east by the border of terra incognita (unknown lands).
Arab geographers were aware that the idea of the Indian Ocean as a closed basin was mistaken by the 8th century, for example in the work of
al-Khwārizmī, Book of the Description of the Earth. They showed that the Indian Ocean might be linked to the
World Oceans, with the eastern limit of the
inhabited world beyond the Malay Peninsula being the
Island of the Jewel in the
Sea of Darkness. The Ptolemaic eastern shore became the
Dragon's Tail peninsula.
The Golden Chersonese is shown on the mappa mundi of
Andreas Walsperger made in
Constance around 1448. It bears the inscription, hic rex caspar habitavit (here lived King Caspar).
Caspar was one of the
Three Magi who worshipped the newborn Christ at Bethlehem.
The names of various geographical features and settlements of the Golden Chersonese are given in Ptolemy's Geography, including towns and rivers. Different identities however have been suggested by different scholars for these names.[14] Although coordinates are given for many of these places, they are not considered reliable for places so far away from the
Mediterranean as they may not be based on astronomical observation, and therefore cannot be reliably used for identification.[1] Ptolemy's work was also copied and translated over many hundreds of years, with the oldest surviving version copied over a thousand years after it was written, and errors may have been introduced.[15][16]
Rivers
The Ptolemy map shows three rivers which are joined together to form as their source a single river which does not actually exist. It has however been suggested that this might be an indication of the existence of an ancient transpeninsular route that linked Perak and Pahang, a short cut between the east and west coasts of the Malay Peninsula.[17]
Khrysoanas river, meaning "River of Gold", proposed to be various rivers on the west coast, from the Trang River (in southern Thailand) or Lungu River, to the
Perak River or the
Bernam River, or further south the
Muar River.[18][15]
Palandas river, proposed to be
Johor River by a number of scholars.
Attabas river, which most authors agreed to be the
Pahang River.[19]
Settlements
Takola – a trading
emporion, located at
Trang in southern Thailand according to most authors.
Takua Pa is another suggestion. Takola was known to the Indians in ancient times; a place named Takkola is mentioned in the 2nd or 3rd century Indian texts Maha Niddesa and Milinda Panha, and it is also considered to be the same as the Talaittakkōlam mentioned in the 1030
Tanjore inscription as one of the places conquered by
Rajendra Chola in his
invasion of Srivijaya. These Indian sources indicate the existence of Takola from the 3rd to 11th century.[20]
Konkonagara – a place near the Khrysoanas, with many scholars placing it in
Perak (e.g. at
Kuala Kangsar, in the
Kinta District, or along the Bernam river), but some placed it further north on the
Muda River in
Kedah, or in
Krabi opposite
Phuket in Thailand. It is thought to be an Indian name, but it has also been proposed to be a hybrid of Malay and Sanskrit – kolong-kolong (or kekolong) and negara, meaning "the country of mines".[21] Some writers have suggested link with
Gangga Negara.[22]
Sabara or Sabana – the second emporion, variously proposed to be in
Selangor or near
Klang, or just south of
Malacca, or south
Johor, as well as
Singapore.[23]
Tharra – at least 10 different sets of coordinates have been given in different texts for this site, it is therefore difficult to pinpoint and there is no agreement in its identification.[24][25]
Palanda – suggested to be
Kota Tinggi by a few authors.
Kalonka – various sites ranging from
Chumphon Province in southern Thailand to the Pahang River basin have been proposed.
Kole polis – thought to be located on the north east coast of the Malay Peninsula, and suggested to be in
Kelantan, or somewhere between
Kemaman River and
Kuantan.[26]
Cape Maleou-kolon – the name appears to refer to a "Malay Point", perhaps the south east corner of the Malay Peninsula. Some have identified it as Tanjung Penyabong or Tanjung Tenggaroh in Johor to Tanjung Gelang in Pahang.[28][29]
The Perimulikos gulf – possibly the
Gulf of Siam, although alternative proposals ranging from the Bay of Patani to the lake of
Tale Sap in
Songkhla have been suggested.[27]
^H. Kern, "Java en het Goudeiland Volgens de Oudste Berichten", Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, Volume 16, 1869, pp.638-648.
[1]
^Udai Prakash Arora, “Greek Geographers on the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia”, in Chattopadhyaya, D. P. and Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy, and Culture (eds.), History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1999, Vol.1, Pt.3, C.G. Pande (ed.), India's Interaction with Southeast Asia, Chapter 6, pp.184-185.