Editing Majapahit (section)

== Explorations and navigation ==
During the Majapahit era, Nusantaran exploration reached its greatest accomplishment. [[Ludovico di Varthema]] (1470–1517), in his book ''Itinerario de Ludouico de Varthema Bolognese'' stated that the Southern Javanese people sailed to "far Southern lands" up to the point they arrived at an island where a day only lasted four hours long and was "colder than in any part of the world". Modern studies have determined that such place is located at least 900 nautical miles (1666&nbsp;km) south of the southernmost point of [[Tasmania]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=John Winter|title=The travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508|publisher=Hakluyt Society|year=1863}}</ref>{{rp|248–251}}

The Javanese people, like other [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] ethnicities, use a solid navigation system: Orientation at sea is carried out using a variety of different natural signs, and by using a very distinctive [[astronomy]] technique called "[[Star navigation|star path navigation]]". Basically, the navigators determine the bow of the ship to the islands that are recognized by using the position of rising and setting of certain stars above the horizon.<ref>{{Citation|last=Liebner|first=Horst H.|title=Eksplorasi Sumberdaya Budaya Maritim|pages=53–124|year=2005|editor-last=Edi|editor-first=Sedyawati|contribution=Perahu-Perahu Tradisional Nusantara: Suatu Tinjauan Perkapalan dan Pelayaran|contribution-url=https://www.academia.edu/7780936/Perahu-Perahu_Tradisional_Nusantara_Suatu_Tinjauan_Perkapalan_dan_Pelayaran_-_-_Ini_sudah_agak_outdated_ada_tulisan_barunya_Beberapa_Catatan_akan_Sejarah_Pembuatan_Perahu_dan_Pelayaran_Nusantara_|place=Jakarta|publisher=Pusat Riset Wilayah Laut dan Sumber Daya Nonhayati, Badan Riset Kelautan dan Perikanan; Pusat Penelitian Kemasyarakatan dan Budaya, Universitas Indonesia}}</ref>{{Refpage|10}} In the Majapahit era, [[compass]]es and [[magnet]]s were used, and [[cartography]] (mapping science) was developed. In 1293 CE Raden Wijaya presented a map and census record to the Yuan Mongol invader, suggesting that mapmaking has been a formal part of governmental affairs in Java.<ref name=":12" />{{rp|53}} The use of maps full of longitudinal and transverse lines, rhumb lines, and direct route lines traveled by ships were recorded by Europeans, to the point that the Portuguese considered the Javanese maps were the best map in the early 1500s.<ref name=":9" />{{rp|249}}<ref name=":3" />{{rp|lxxix}}<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Nugroho|2011|pp=163–164, 166–168}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nusantarareview.com/teknologi-era-majapahit.html|title=Majapahit-era Technologies|date=2018-10-02|website=Nusantara Review|language=en-US|access-date=2020-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=29 March 2021 |title=Kerajaan Majapahit |url=https://belajarsam.com/kerajaan-majapahit/ |access-date=8 August 2021 |website=Sejarah Kerajaan}} in Indonesian.</ref>

When [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] conquered Malacca (1511), the Portuguese recovered a chart from a Javanese [[maritime pilot]], which already included part of the [[Americas]]. Regarding the chart Albuquerque said:<ref name=":52">Carta IX, 1 April 1512. In Pato, Raymundo Antonio de Bulhão (1884). ''[https://archive.org/details/cartasdeaffonso03albugoog/page/n98/mode/2up?q Cartas de Affonso de Albuquerque, Seguidas de Documentos que as Elucidam tomo I]'' (pp. 29–65). Lisboa: Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencas. p. 64.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Olshin |first=Benjamin B. |date=1996 |title=A sixteenth century Portuguese report concerning an early Javanese world map |journal=História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=97–104 |doi=10.1590/s0104-59701996000400005 |issn=0104-5970|doi-access=free |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/HtNK8HhmxkbycBDLzbp4SWH/?format=pdf&lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019000000/https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/HtNK8HhmxkbycBDLzbp4SWH/?format=pdf&lang=en |archive-date=19 October 2023 }} [https://archive.org/details/portuguese-report-early-javanese-map Alt URL]</ref>{{rp|98–99}}
<blockquote>"...a large map of a Javanese pilot, containing the Cape of Good Hope, Portugal and the land of Brazil, the [[Red Sea]] and the [[Persian Gulf|Sea of Persia]], the Clove Islands, the navigation of the Chinese and the Gores, with their rhumbs and direct routes followed by the ships, and the hinterland, and how the kingdoms border on each other. It seems to me. Sir, that this was the best thing I have ever seen, and Your Highness will be very pleased to see it; it had the names in Javanese writing, but I had with me a Javanese who could read and write. I send this piece to Your Highness, which Francisco Rodrigues traced from the other, in which Your Highness can truly see where the [[Chinese people|Chinese]] and [[Ryukyuan people|Gores]] come from, and the course your ships must take to the Clove Islands, and where the gold mines lie, and the islands of Java and Banda, of nutmeg and mace, and the land of the King of Siam, and also the end of the land of the navigation of the Chinese, the direction it takes, and how they do not navigate farther."

:— Letter of Albuquerque to King Manuel I of Portugal, 1 April 1512.</blockquote>Duarte Barbosa mention places and route which the Majapahit ships visited, which include [[Maluku Islands]], Timor, Banda, Sumatra, Malacca, China, [[Tenasserim coast|Tenasserim]], Pegu ([[Bago Region|Bago]]), [[Bengal]], [[Pulicat]], Coromandel, [[Malabar Coast|Malabar]], Cambay ([[Khambhat|Khambat]]), and Aden. From the notes of other authors, it is known that there were also those who went to the Maldives, Calicut ([[Kozhikode]]), Oman, Aden, and the Red Sea. The passenger brought their wives and children, even some of them never leave the ship to go on shore, nor have any other dwelling, for they are born and die in the ship.<ref name=":4" />{{rp|191–193}}<ref name=":16">Manguin, Pierre-Yves (1993). 'The Vanishing Jong: Insular Southeast Asian Fleets in Trade and War (Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries)', in Anthony Reid (ed.), ''Southeast Asia in the Early Modern Era'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press), 197–213.</ref>{{rp|199}}{{sfn|Nugroho|2011|pp=289–290}}<ref name="end" />{{rp|278}}