THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO

Drawn and engraved by John Rapkin (Published by The London Printing & Publishing Company about 1856).

Royalty free map available at Steve Bartrick Antique Prints and Maps.

The use of tin currencies issued by the Malay Peninsula was not restricted to areas in the peninsula but extends to a large area in the Malay Archipelago. Although the term Malay Archipelago is widely used, there is no official definition for this area. The widely accepted definition would include Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula, including southern Thailand that connects the Peninsula to the Asian mainland), Brunei, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and islands in the waters surrounded by these large islands. (Source - Bank Negara Malaysia, 1995. Pameran Matawang Perdagangan Kepulauan Melayu (18 Mei - 14 Jun 1995) Unit Muzium Matawang, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, p. 9.)


Thursday, May 20, 2010

WELCOME TO MY WEB LOG

This blog was first created in early 2009. In mid 2009 I retracted my postings and re-posted them in what I think was a better presentation. However, due certain commitments I was unable to develop the blog as intended. I apologize to those who visited the blog earlier for the inactivity of the blog.

Although bogged down by other matters, during this period of blog inactivity I somehow managed to complete the writing of my first book on numismatics entitled The Forgotten Tin Ring Currency of the Malay Peninsula. I am now working on my next book entitled The Mysterious Animal Currency of the Malay Peninsula. The idea of developing this blog concurrently with the writing of the first book sounded like a good idea at the outset but the research and thinking that was going on at that point in time created a conflict between sharing the current findings and final conclusions that would come later hence the decision to defer the postings on the blog.

Although I am currently working on my second book, unlike the first book that required in-depth research, a pictorial concept was adopted for the second book as such it will not give rise to the kind of conflict that arose during the writing of the first book.

With this I look forward to develop my web log with regular postings.

Thank you.

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