Nicolo de Conti — more properly Niccolò de’ Conti (Venice, c. 1395–1469) — was the Venetian merchant-traveller whose ~1430 voyages through the Malay Archipelago produced the first European-language account of Sumatra’s east coast and the Atjehnese sphere, and the first European record of the place-name Cernovem — which De Roo de la Faille identifies with Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera-Aroe. His account, preserved in the Historia rerum ubique gestarum of Pope Pius II (the apostolic secretary to whom De Conti confessed his travels), is the principal pre-Portuguese European witness to the Aru-Pasej complex.
Voyage to Sciamthera and Cernovem
Sailing from Mailapoer (later Portuguese São Tomé) on the Coromandel coast, De Conti reached “the isles deinceps Taprobanes, which in the language of the Sciamuthera-people is called the city of the island” — i.e. Sumatra — and stayed a full year in that “nobilissimum emporium”. The name Sciamthera De Roo de la Faille decodes as syam-oe-thera, a bedekte taal form for syama Tara, the Buddhist goddess who was patroness of Sumatra. De Conti then proceeded to Tenasserim, a Malay land under Siamese sovereignty, and from there — by several land and sea journeys — up a “Ganges” so broad that one sailing in mid-stream could see neither bank, through heavy reed-beds and rich fisheries, to the city of Cernovem.
Decoding: Cernovem and the “Ganges”
The “Ganges” up which De Conti sailed is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, no Indian river but the river of Tandjoengpoera at the head of the bay of Aroe — the same Moeware perhentian or Moeware Sija-na-ma-tara whose minjak tanah (white earth-oil) the bay produced. The arundo (reed) on the banks is read as bamboe petoeng; the fishery apparatus as the sero’s of the Aru coast. The city of Cernovem De Roo de la Faille identifies with Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera — the Persian “New City” of the Sadjarah Malajoe’s Awi Ditjoe episode — and with the Xarnauz of the Roteiro of Vasco da Gama.
Marahatian and the products of the land
Three months up the “Ganges”, De Conti reached Marahatian (alternative reading Maarazia), where there was “a great plenty” of aloë-wood, gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls. De Roo de la Faille decodes Marahatian as m-oe-aram-oe-ara sija-mata-ra — i.e. the perhentian (stopping-place) of the goddess Tara — which fixes the location as Pangkalan Soesoe at the head of the bay of Aroe.
Significance
For AcehWiki, De Conti is the principal pre-Portuguese European witness to the Aru-Pasej-Atjeh complex, and the only European traveller to record the place-name Cernovem — the bedekte taal form that De Roo de la Faille decodes as Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera. His Marahatian identification with Pangkalan Soesoe also fixes the white petroleum of the bay as the trade-good whose fame reached pre-Portuguese Europe.
See Also
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Tandjoengpoera
- Aroe-baai
- Pangkalan Soesoe
- Minjak tanah
- Cyama-Tara
- Marco Polo
- Ibn Battuta
- Vasco da Gama
- Bedekte taal
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 26-28.
Nicolo de Conti — more properly Niccolò de’ Conti (Venice, c. 1395–1469) — was the Venetian merchant-traveller whose ~1430 voyages through the Malay Archipelago produced the first European-language account of Sumatra’s east coast and the Atjehnese sphere, and the first European record of the place-name Cernovem — which De Roo de la Faille identifies with Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera-Aroe. His account, preserved in the Historia rerum ubique gestarum of Pope Pius II (the apostolic secretary to whom De Conti confessed his travels), is the principal pre-Portuguese European witness to the Aru-Pasej complex.
Voyage to Sciamthera and Cernovem
Sailing from Mailapoer (later Portuguese São Tomé) on the Coromandel coast, De Conti reached “the isles deinceps Taprobanes, which in the language of the Sciamuthera-people is called the city of the island” — i.e. Sumatra — and stayed a full year in that “nobilissimum emporium”. The name Sciamthera De Roo de la Faille decodes as syam-oe-thera, a bedekte taal form for syama Tara, the Buddhist goddess who was patroness of Sumatra. De Conti then proceeded to Tenasserim, a Malay land under Siamese sovereignty, and from there — by several land and sea journeys — up a “Ganges” so broad that one sailing in mid-stream could see neither bank, through heavy reed-beds and rich fisheries, to the city of Cernovem.
Decoding: Cernovem and the “Ganges”
The “Ganges” up which De Conti sailed is, in De Roo de la Faille’s reading, no Indian river but the river of Tandjoengpoera at the head of the bay of Aroe — the same Moeware perhentian or Moeware Sija-na-ma-tara whose minjak tanah (white earth-oil) the bay produced. The arundo (reed) on the banks is read as bamboe petoeng; the fishery apparatus as the sero’s of the Aru coast. The city of Cernovem De Roo de la Faille identifies with Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera — the Persian “New City” of the Sadjarah Malajoe’s Awi Ditjoe episode — and with the Xarnauz of the Roteiro of Vasco da Gama.
Marahatian and the products of the land
Three months up the “Ganges”, De Conti reached Marahatian (alternative reading Maarazia), where there was “a great plenty” of aloë-wood, gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls. De Roo de la Faille decodes Marahatian as m-oe-aram-oe-ara sija-mata-ra — i.e. the perhentian (stopping-place) of the goddess Tara — which fixes the location as Pangkalan Soesoe at the head of the bay of Aroe.
Significance
For AcehWiki, De Conti is the principal pre-Portuguese European witness to the Aru-Pasej-Atjeh complex, and the only European traveller to record the place-name Cernovem — the bedekte taal form that De Roo de la Faille decodes as Sjahroe’n Noewi/Tandjoengpoera. His Marahatian identification with Pangkalan Soesoe also fixes the white petroleum of the bay as the trade-good whose fame reached pre-Portuguese Europe.
See Also
- Sjahroe’n Noewi
- Tandjoengpoera
- Aroe-baai
- Pangkalan Soesoe
- Minjak tanah
- Cyama-Tara
- Marco Polo
- Ibn Battuta
- Vasco da Gama
- Bedekte taal
- P. de Roo de la Faille
- Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java
Source
Historische Curiositeiten uit Malajoe en Java, by P. de Roo de la Faille (Den Haag: Maart 1954), chapter “Over Sjahroe’n Noewi”, pp. 26-28.