Srivijaya

Srivijaya was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire centered on the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia, rising to prominence in the seventh century from a base near modern Palembang and dominating maritime trade through the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait for several centuries. The empire's wealth and power rested on its control of the sea lanes linking India and the Middle East to China, collecting tribute and customs from passing trade and extending its influence over parts of the Malay Peninsula, western Java and other coastal areas of the Malay Archipelago. Srivijaya became a major center of Buddhist learning, visited and described by the Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing in the late seventh century, who spent years there studying before continuing to India, and the empire maintained close diplomatic and religious ties with the Pala dynasty of Bengal. Srivijaya's power was seriously damaged by a large Chola dynasty naval raid from southern India in 1025, and the empire declined over the following centuries under pressure from rising regional rivals including the Javanese kingdoms, disappearing from historical record by around the thirteenth century as the rising Majapahit empire came to dominate the archipelago.