Latest / Majapahit: The Empire That Once Ruled Indonesia — Fexingo History / Majapahit's Lost Navy: The Jongs That Ruled the Seas
Transcript
- Lucas: When we picture Majapahit, it's usually the temples and the rice terraces, right? The stone gateways and the keris. But there is another side to this empire that doesn't get as much attention — and that's its navy. Luna: Oh, I didn't think of them as a naval power. Did they have a big fleet? Lucas: They did — and it was enormous by medieval standards. We're talking about ships called jongs — massive ocean-going vessels that could carry hundreds of soldiers and tons of cargo. Chinese records from the Ming dynasty describe Majapahit sending fleets of these jongs across the archipelago, from Sumatra to the Moluccas and maybe even further. Lucas: In fact, the Negarakertagama — the poem we've talked about — lists over ninety tributary places, and many of them were only reachable by sea. That kind of reach doesn't happen without ships, and not just any ships. They had to be sturdy, fast, and big. Lucas: And you know, speaking of keeping these stories alive — a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. If you've gotten something out of them, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps us keep researching and sharing these histories. Luna: Yeah, it really does make a difference. Now, tell me more about these jongs — what made them so special? Lucas: Well, the jong wasn't just any ship. It was a type of large, plank-built vessel with multiple masts and a distinctive design. Unlike Chinese junks, which had a flat bottom and a central rudder, jongs had a keel and were built with a technique called 'carvel' — planks edge to edge, fastened with dowels, not nails. Lucas: The Negarakertagama mentions that the shipyards were at Ujung Galuh — that's near modern Surabaya, at the mouth of the Brantas River. And from there, the jongs would set out on the monsoon winds, trading and sometimes carrying troops for Gajah Mada's campaigns. Luna: Wait, the Palapa Oath — that was about conquering Nusantara. He must have needed a fleet for that. Lucas: Exactly. The Palapa Oath — Palapa Sumpah — was Gajah Mada's vow not to eat any spiced food until he had unified the archipelago. And to do that, he needed ships. The jongs were the enforcers of that oath. They carried his armies to Bali, to Sunda, to the Moluccas. Lucas: But there's a problem. We have very few physical remains of these ships. Wood rots, especially in tropical waters. What we do have are Chinese records, like the Ming Shilu — the Veritable Records of the Ming — which describe Majapahit ships arriving in China. One entry from 1416 mentions a fleet of six jongs, each carrying about three hundred people. Lucas: And then there's the archaeological evidence. In the 1980s, a wreck was found off the coast of Java, near the town of Cirebon. It was a tenth-century ship, but it showed the same construction techniques — planks lashed with fiber, not nailed. That tradition continued into the Majapahit period. Luna: So, how did these ships compare to, say, the Chinese treasure ships of Zheng He? Lucas: That's a great question. Zheng He's fleets were enormous — some ships were over four hundred feet long. But the jongs were also impressive. Chinese records say they could carry up to seven hundred people. They were built for endurance, not just size. And they could sail in shallow waters, which was crucial for the archipelago. Lucas: But here's the thing: Majapahit's naval power declined after the Paregreg civil war. That was the war between Wikramawardhana and Bhre Wirabhumi in the early fifteenth century. The empire was weakened, and the trade routes shifted. The rise of Malacca, and later the Portuguese, changed the game. Lucas: Still, the legacy of the jongs lived on. The Portuguese, when they arrived in the sixteenth century, wrote about large Javanese ships that they called 'juncos'. And some historians argue that the design of these ships influenced later European shipbuilding in the region. Luna: It's amazing to think about those ships sailing across the Java Sea, carrying all that history. Lucas: It is. And we only know about them through fragments — a poem here, a Chinese record there, a few planks from a wreck. But those fragments tell us that Majapahit wasn't just an empire of land — it was an empire of the sea, held together by wood and wind. Luna: So, are there any surviving jongs today, or any attempts to reconstruct them? Lucas: There have been a few reconstruction projects. In Indonesia, there's a replica called the 'Spice Islander' that was built in the 1990s using traditional methods. It sailed from Indonesia to Africa, following ancient trade routes. But it's not an exact replica — more like a modern interpretation. Lucas: The problem is, we don't have detailed blueprints. We have descriptions, but not plans. So any reconstruction is partly guesswork. Still, it gives us a sense of what these ships might have been like. Lucas: And that's part of the challenge of studying Majapahit's navy — the evidence is scattered. But when you piece it together, you get a picture of a sophisticated maritime network that connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Luna: I'd love to see a replica sail into a port one day — just to imagine what it looked like. Lucas: Yeah, that would be something. Until then, we have the stories — and the Negarakertagama, which tells us that when King Hayam Wuruk traveled, he did so with a fleet. The poem describes his royal progress through eastern Java, and it's clear that the sea was never far away. Lucas: So the next time you look at a map of Southeast Asia, think of the jongs — sailing between those islands, carrying not just goods but ideas, religions, and power. That's the Majapahit that ruled the waves.