This is another book written and edited by the prolific scholar Peter Borschberg which allows insight into new historical information and interpretations of the early modern period in the Malay world for scholars, historians, and students. The early modern period was a dynamic one in Malay history, where important events shaped Southeast Asia; but this is also an era that has long been forgotten by local historians and scholars. This dearth of research has been due, in part, to the difficulty of understanding and acquiring contemporary Malay sources, as most documents and manuscripts pertaining to the era were written in diverse languages, kept in archives around the world, and have at times been difficult to locate. Scholars venturing into research on this period of Southeast Asian history have had to be very versatile and have a good command of several languages — as well as adept with archaic languages and handwritten texts — in order to be able to understand and reconstruct its history. Thus pursuing research into the Malay world has often been accompanied by frustration and disappointment. However, the very diversity of documents written in many languages clearly shows the importance and the impact of the Malay world on global history, revealing its intricate interconnectedness during the early modern period.

With this volume Peter Borschberg has opened a door for many young researchers and more established historians to understand this history through the eyes of a contemporary observer: Jacobus van de Koutere, alias Jacques de Coutre (and later also Jaques do Couto), a native of Bruges. De Coutre was an independent trader, dealing chiefly in precious stones, bezoars, and Indian textiles. He lived and traded for more than three decades in the port towns of Asia and Southeast Asia, especially Melaka where he was based between 1594 and 1603. His autobiography and memoirs written for the Spanish crown and the Portuguese viceroy in Goa, translated by Roopanjali Roy, have been made available in English for the first time. These documents recount De Coutre's personal life alongside reports and accounts of Southeast Asia, and his experiences of living in the Malay world. They include accounts of contemporary Melaka, and other Malay kingdoms of the peninsula and Melaka Strait, and the vast web of trading relations maintained by Portugal and Spain from the east coast of Africa to Japan. According to Borschberg, De Coutre was clearly interested in far more than trade and commerce, and his writings provide an astonishingly detailed overview of the peoples, cultures, and regions he came into personal contact with, thus yielding rare glimpses into a pre-colonial Asian world that has long been eclipsed by imperialism and industrialisation.

Scholars exploring the maritime history of the Malay world will greatly benefit from reading this book. De Coutre's accounts allow insight into an incredible period of transition which included the disintegration of the Melaka empire, the establishment of the Johor kingdom, and the rise of Portuguese power in the Straits. One of the most interesting pieces of information pertains to the Portuguese colonisation of the Straits before the Dutch East India Company. The period from the 1520s to the 1600s in the Straits is always considered an era of conflict, war, and plunder among the kingdoms of Aceh, Portuguese Melaka, and the Johor Malays. Nevertheless, De Coutre's memoirs show how trade still flourished, especially between Portuguese Melaka and the Johor kingdom.

These documents also reveal valuable information on contemporary weapons, money, precious stones, local kingdoms, orang laut, and most importantly, an account of the port of Singapore, which is mentioned as one of the best in the East, a thriving port rather than the ‘backwater’ it was misleadingly described as later by Stamford Raffles. This new information suggests that a critical reassessment of widely held views on the history of Singapore is necessary.

Likewise, the memoirs shed light on many aspects of the Malay world during the early modern period. Notes concerning the trade in diamonds and bezoars, for example, are the first known reference to diamonds being traded by the local Malay kingdoms, though sadly de Coutre did not mention where or how the stones were found and mined. The various types of local fruit mentioned are intriguing too. This translation suggests that the rambeis, for instance, may have been wrongly interpreted in many later accounts because of its phonetic resemblance to a type of fruit called rambai, and hence assumed to be rambutans; but which actually has a closer resemblance to langsat and duku. There are also descriptions of local dress, especially during special occasions and events. De Coutre goes into great detail about Malay clothing: an invaluable source of information for scholars today, given the dearth of contemporary accounts on the topic.

Peter Borschberg has provided us with an incredibly rich source of historical information and made it accessible to a wide audience with this detailed, careful translation by Roopanjali Roy. The book also provides us with a clear, comprehensive and descriptive analysis of the Malay world, its connections with European counterparts, and how it later shaped modern Southeast Asia. This is also a richly illustrated account of Jacques de Coutre the man and the story of his personal connections with the Malay world at this extraordinary time. The memoirs shed light on the Malay kingdoms of Johor, Pahang, Pattani, and Siam, and life in port cities such as Melaka. Borschberg's efforts to bring visibility to this neglected domain are a truly worthy intellectual contribution to the understanding of the socioeconomic history of Southeast Asia's early modern period, and this book will be a valuable resource for many scholars for years to come.