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Srivijaya, also spelled Sri Vijaya or Sriwijaya, was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia) that influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th to 11th century. Srivijaya was the first polity to dominate much of western Maritime Southeast Asia.
In addition, its economy became progressively reliant on the booming trade in the region, thus transforming it into a prestige goods-based economy.
The earliest reference to it dates from the 7th century. A Tang dynasty Chinese monk, Yijing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya for six months in 671 AD. The earliest known inscription in which the name Srivijaya appears also dates from the 7th century in the Kedukan Bukit inscription found near Palembang, Sumatra, dated 16 June 682. Between the late 7th and early 11th century, Srivijaya rose to become a hegemon in Southeast Asia.
Srivijaya's main foreign interest was nurturing lucrative trade agreements with China which lasted from the Tang to the Song dynasty. Srivijaya had religious, cultural and trade links with the Buddhist Pala of Bengal, as well as with the Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East.
Although it was once thought of as a maritime empire, new research on available records suggests that Srivijaya was primarily a land-based polity rather than a maritime power; fleets were available but acted as logistical support to facilitate the projection of land power. In response to the change in the maritime Asian economy, and threatened by the loss of its dependencies, the kingdoms around the Strait of Malacca developed a naval strategy to delay their decline. The naval strategy was mainly punitive; this was done to coerce trading ships to be called to their port. Later, the naval strategy degenerated to raiding fleet.
The kingdom may have disintegrated after 1025 following several major raids launched by the Chola Empire upon their ports. Chinese sources continued to refer a polity named Sanfoqi thought to be Srivijaya for a few centuries, but some historians argued that Srivijaya would no longer be the appropriate name for the overlord's centre after 1025, when Sanfoqi referred to Jambi. After Srivijaya fell, it was largely forgotten. It was not until 1918 that French historian George Cœdès, of the French School of the Far East, formally postulated its existence.
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