Relive the Ming Dynasty at Cheng Ho Cultural Museum Melaka

Your decision to visit Melaka can never turn out be the wrong one as there are several tourist attractions in Melaka. The city has a rich history with several historical building, architecture, heritage sites, and museums. Cheng Ho Cultural Museum is one of the prestigious places to visit in Melaka. All the artifacts in the museum are ancient and take you hundreds of years back.

Cheng Ho Cultural Museum

The Museum occupies various shop houses nearby the river in the city. History devotees and enthusiasts visit this fascinating place, fathoming the amazing career of a Chinese admiral Cheng Ho. Cheng Ho (Zheng He) was the Ming dynasty admiral who has a prominent place in Melaka history. It is said that the admiral visited this city-state for at least five of his seven visits to the Western Ocean from China from 1405 to 1433. He setup his own depot, warehouse in this area. The museum is assumed to be built on the original Guan Chang site built by Cheng Ho around 600 years ago. It is also said that the warehouse built by Cheng Ho was also located in the same area.

The museum stretches over three floors which can roughly be divided into various sections such as ship gallery, old Melaka village, treasure ship, antique gallery and garden courtyard. Various old shop houses that date back to the time of Cheng Ho are restored and linked together to establish this archetype museum. It covers a huge place that depicts Cheng Ho’s life and voyages.

The museum has mock-ups of his treasure ships, a life-sized statue of a giraffe that was supposedly bought by him from china. The teas hops and treasure ship living cabins will carry you the past while offering a glimpse of Cheng Ho’s routine. All these ancient objects display his birth into a Muslim family, his career as a eunuch in the palace and counselor to the Ming emperor. The social influence of his voyages in more than 200 treasure ships with more than 28,000 men can be sensed till today. The gallery also exhibits his death during his journey to the Persian Gulf.

Visiting Cheng Ho museum is indeed one of the amusing things to do in Melaka. The museum is strategically located at Jalan Hang Jebat and is also close to the Tan Kim Seng Bridge, making it easily accessible from wherever you are staying in Melaka. It is open daily from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm and the admission charges are RM 10.00 (2.33 USD).

The Cheng Ho Cultural Museum is a must-visit museum in Melaka, especially if you’re interested in a history. If you have visited the museum and would like to share your thoughts, please add comments below.

Straits of Malacca – The longest Strait in the world

Straits of Malacca is a funnel-shaped narrow waterway of 800 km long that connects the South China Sea and Andaman Sea. The Strait of Malacca is running between Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand and Sumatra (Indonesia). The name of the strait came from Malacca Sultanate that ruled the group of islands between 1400 and 1511. The port of Malacca played an important role in trade during 16th and 17th centuries.

The depth of water in the southern side of the street does not exceed 120 feet. Usually, the depth of water is around 90 feet. However, the depth of the water deepens gradually towards the northwestern side and reaches the depth of about 650 feet because the strait join with Andaman Basin.

History of Straits of Malacca

Malacca was an important city situated along the Strait of Malacca during past centuries. Malacca was the major trading port, where sailing vessels loaded with spices from all parts of the world used to come to the harbor. The port was also popular for trading various things such as silk, porcelain, textiles, camphor, sandalwood, mace, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, tin, and gold from various parts of the world. Malacca used to be the safe place as the wind was blowing always towards the right position, so that the sailors can reach the shore safely.

During the 7th century, the Srivijaya Empire based in Sumatra came into power and the empire expanded its power to Java and Malay Peninsula. The Srivijaya Empire gained control in the Strait of Malacca, Sunda Strait and Southeast Asia. The Srivijaya Empire gained military and economic domination along the Strait of Malacca for around 700 years.


Srivijaya enjoyed great benefits through spice trade between Indian, Arab and Chinese merchants. Straits of Malacca helped to establish a sea route for trade between China and India. It continued in later centuries also even after the Malacca Sultanate came into power during the 15th century.

Malacca had faced several conquerors such as English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese during the past centuries. The city of Malacca became prominent for everyone who wanted to rule the Straits of Malacca as the Strait was an important route for spice trading. Hence, Malacca faced so many conquerors from 1400, so that they can reap economic benefits through spice trading.

In the year 1511, Portuguese under the leadership of Alfonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca. However, the Portuguese could not retain the prosperity of Malacca because of the wars, competition and restrictive policies. They ruled Malacca till the year 1641 because the Dutch East India Company conquered the fort “A Famosa” built by the Portuguese during their reign.

After conquering Malacca, the Dutch rebuilt the fort and also built new buildings. Even though the Dutch constructed new buildings, the trade in Malacca declined during their regime. The Dutch conquered Malacca to eliminate the competitors and ensure safe trade in the spice-route. When the Netherlands was conquered by French in 1795, Malacca was given to the British in order to elude French from conquering the city.

In 1808, the British returned Malacca to Dutch, but the city was soon handed over to the British East India Company again. English East India Company ruled the city since 1826. In 1957, anti-colonial protest culminated and independence was proclaimed by the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, His Highness Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.


Importance of Straits of Malacca

Strait of Malacca is one of the important shipping channels of the world even now. Strait of Malacca became the shortest sea channel between Persian Gulf traders and Asian traders. Oil containers from the Middle East is transported to the Pacific Rim, South Korea, Japan, and China through the Strait of Malacca. It is the main oil transport checkpoint in Asia as 35% of the all oil containers are passing through the Strait of Malacca. Approximately around 15.2 million barrels of oil are transported through this waterway. Around 90% of the oil transportation consists of crude oil transportation and rest constitutes petroleum products. Every year, more than 60,000 ships pass through the Strait of Malacca.