Ancient Greek and Roman name for the Malay Peninsula
Details fromNicolaus Germanus's 1467 copy of a map fromPtolemy'sGeography, showing the Golden Chersonese, i.e. theMalay Peninsula ofMalaysia in the modern world. The horizontal line represents theEquator, which is misplaced too far north due to its being calculated from theTropic of Cancer using the Ptolemaic degree that is only five-sixths of a true degree.
The earliest references to a fabulous land of gold that could be interpreted as places in Southeast Asia may be found in Indian literature. In theRamayana, there are mentions ofSuvarnabhumi (Land of Gold) andSuvarnadvipa (the Golden Island or Peninsula, wheredvipa might refer to either apeninsula or anisland)[2][3] Greek knowledge of lands to their east improved after the conquests ofAlexander the Great, but specific references to places in Southeast Asia did not appear until after the rise of theRoman Empire. Greek and Roman geographersEratosthenes,Dionysius Periegetes, andPomponius Mela had written about aGolden Isle (Khrysē,Chryse Insula),[4][5] which some in modern times have argued refers toSumatra while excluding the Malay Peninsula.[6][7]Pliny the Elder inNatural History, however, referred toChryse as both apromontory and anisland.[8]
Ptolemy'sGeography, based on the work byMarinus ofTyre, 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 ofMarcian of Heraclea.[10] Chersonese means peninsula in Greek, and although a few early scholars had attempted to link the Golden Chersonese withLower 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 inPatani andPahang were still mentioned in the 17th century by the Malay-Portuguese writerGodinho de Erédia.[1] Although gold is no longer a major product of modern-day Malaysia, it is still beingmined, for example inRaub in Pahang.[11]
The world map fromUrb. Gr. 82, done according to Ptolemy's 1st projectionc. 1300. The Indian Ocean is depicted as a closed basin. The Golden Chersonese is the peninsula to the far east, just prior to theGreat Gulf.Aurea Cersonese, the Golden Peninsula, near Java in the Indian Ocean, on the map ofAndreas Walsperger, c.1448Martin of Bohemia'sErdapfel
The Golden Chersonese appears in the map ofPtolemy, 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 theIndian Ocean to be a closed sea, and maps based on Ptolemy's work show the Golden Chersonese located within a closed basin.Arab geographers were aware that the idea of the Indian Ocean as a closed basin was a mistake by the 8th century, for example in the work ofal-Khwārizmī,Book of the Description of the Earth. They showed that the Indian Ocean might be linked to theWorld Oceans, with the eastern limit of theinhabited world beyond the Malay Peninsula being theIsland of the Jewel in theSea of Darkness. The Ptolemaic eastern shore became theDragon's Tail peninsula.
The Golden Chersonese is shown on themappa mundi ofAndreas Walsperger made inConstance around 1448. It bears the inscription,hic rex caspar habitavit (here lived King Caspar).Caspar was one of theThree Magi who worshipped the newborn Christ at Bethlehem.
The names of various geographical features and settlements of the Golden Chersonese are given inPtolemy'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 theMediterranean 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]
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, meaning "River of Gold", proposed to be various rivers on the west coast, from the Trang River (in southern Thailand) or Lungu River, to thePerak River or theBernam River, or further south theMuar River.[18][15]
Palandas, proposed to be theJohor River by a number of scholars.
Takola – a tradingemporion, located atTrang in southern Thailand according to most authors.Takua Pa is another suggestion. Takola was known to the Indians in ancient times; a place namedTakkola is mentioned in the 2nd or 3rd century Indian textsMaha Niddesa andMilinda Panha, and it is also considered to be the same as theTalaittakkōlam mentioned in the 1030Tanjore inscription as one of the places conquered byRajendra Chola in hisinvasion of Srivijaya. These Indian sources indicate the existence ofTakola from the 3rd to 11th century.[20]
Konkonagara – a place near theKhrysoanas, with many scholars placing it inPerak (e.g. atKuala Kangsar, in theKinta District, or along the Bernam river), but some placed it further north on theMuda River inKedah, or inKrabi oppositePhuket 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 (orkekolong) andnegara, meaning "the country of mines".[21] Some writers have suggested link withGangga Negara.[22]
Sabara orSabana – the second emporion, variously proposed to be inSelangor or nearKlang, or just south ofMalacca, or southJohor, as well asSingapore.[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. Locations inTerengganu,Pahang andJohor have been suggested.[24][25]
Palanda – suggested to beKota Tinggi by a few authors.
Kalonka – various sites ranging fromChumphon 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 inKelantan, or somewhere betweenKemaman River andKuantan.[26]
CapeMaleou-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]
ThePerimulikos gulf – possibly theGulf of Siam, although alternative proposals ranging from the Bay of Patani to the lake ofTale Sap inSongkhla 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.
