REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LHOKSEUMAWE -- Samudra Pasai sites located in Samudra sub-district, North Aceh district, Aceh Province, is the first Islamic kingdom in the archipelago and Southeast Asia, and therefore worthy to be a world historical travel destination.

Ibrahim Qamarius, an academician from Malikussaleh University, stated on Thursday that geographically, Samudra Pasai lies in the world shipping lane of Malacca Straits.

In addition, important records from European and Arabic explorers, such as Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta, have mentioned that Samudra Pasai was the first Islamic kingdom in Southeast Asia. "This shows that as a city with shipping traffic at that time, the Samudra Pasai was already crowded by foreign nationals," he noted, adding that the historical evidences show that the Samudra Pasai Kingdom was well developed at that time.

According to him, the scientific evidences show that from Samudra Pasai, Islam continued to expand into other regions of the archipelago. In fact, six of the nine Islam propagators in Java were related to Samudra Pasai. "The existence of the Sultanate of Pasai had been recognized by the world travelers, namely Marcopolo, Admiral Cheng Ho, and Ibn Batuthah. The Samudera Pasai Sultanate had been recorded in various literatures and media across the world," Ibrahim explained.

He added that the Malikussaleh Sultanate of Samudra Pasai had a great influence in the world civilization, especially in the eastern region, and therefore, it was worthy enough to be a World Heritage City.

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