I. NAVIGATION TOWARDS THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Ibn Majid (in a work dated 1489-90 A.D.) says: “As to what concerns the entry to Malaka while coming from Kalikut, sometimes the monsoon scatters the ships and sometimes carries them beyond it. The only exception is in the case of the well-armed ships coming from Campā, ready to set sail at the commencement of niruz or about that time. The monsoon brings back to Malaka ships from Hormuz and from Mekka and the late ships enter there (Malaka) on the 120th (day of niruz)”.
We may deduce from this passage that Malaka was in regular communication with India, Southern Arabia, the Red Sea and Campā in the last years of the 15th century.
—Ferrand, Malaka Le Malāyu et Malāyur, JA. 11: 11 (1918), p. 401.