24 – Reconsidering the Sumatran Locations in the Dade Nanhai zhi (1304)

The Dade Nanhai zhi 大德南海志 (preface 1304) was a major local chronicle of Guangzhou and the adjacent regions. Only some parts of this text prepared during the Dade reign have survived. That includes a long list of toponyms related to coastal areas of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The internal arrangement of the list follows a very special structure: Most names appear in association with major oceanic spaces and thus with sea routes. The present study examines the names related to both the west and east side of Sumatra. It tries to identify them, one by one, mostly by consulting earlier and later material, but also by considering their sequence in the list. Furthermore, it briefly looks at the question of how one should interpret the Sumatran “part” of that list in the context of Chinese maritime activities.