WA1 History Essay

The first reason for Singapore’s decline as a trading port after the 14th century is
Singapore getting overshadowed by a new port city to its north: Melaka.

In the middle of the 14th century, Melaka was founded by Parameswara. He

converted his religion to Islam, which attracted many Muslim traders to his kingdom. He
also established Melaka as a Chinese vassal so it had China’s protection from threats
by rivals in the region, which made Melaka a safe port city. This peace between China
and Melaka also attracted many Chinese traders who flocked to Melaka instead of
Singapore. Melaka was situated in a convenient location between the Indian Ocean and
South China Sea which provided a safe harbour for many traders who travelled along
that route. Thus, Melaka became one of the dominant trading centres in the region and
soon extended control over much of the Malay Peninsula.

Due to this, Singapore was overshadowed by Melaka’s success as a major

trading centre in Southeast Asia and it ceased to serve its role as the centre of trade
linking India and China, which led to its decline as a trading port by the end of the 14th
century.

The second reason leading to Singapore’s decline as a trading port is the severe
changes in weather patterns in the 14th century.

Scientific evidence collected shows that weather patterns underwent severe

changes in the 14th century. These severe changes contributed to droughts and
famines in China, which led to the collapse of Chinese economy under this strain. As a
result, trade between China and Southeast Asia suffered because China did not have
much valuable goods to trade when it was already suffering due to lack of food in the
country itself.

This reduced one of the major sources of early Singapore’s wealth through trade,
causing its decline as not just a trading centre but also a kingdom.
 Due to these two reasons, Singapore declined as a trading port after the 14th
century.