Early 16M Century, Indonesian Ancestors Already Designed A 24 Meter Boat, Its Cruising Range Exceeded Europe

Research documentation from FIB UI lecturers related to the discovery of an ancient boat in Lambur village, East Jabung, Jambi Province (ANTARA/UI Public Relation)

JAMBI - An ancient boat was found in Lambur village, East Jabung, Jambi Province. Based on research, the ancient boat is 24 meters long and 5.5 meters wide and was made in the early 16th century AD.

Lecturer at the Department of Archeology, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), University of Indonesia (UI) Ali Akbar said, this discovery proves that archipelago ships were able to explore the world before the arrival of Europeans.

Europeans are known as world explorers around the 14th century AD. However, this discovery proves that the Indonesian people were also able to sail to Persia around the 10th century AD.

As a comparison, at the end of the 16th century, in 1596 to be precise, Cornelis de Houtman, the first Dutch sailor to land in Indonesia, brought four ships measuring 24 meters long capable of crossing the oceans from Europe to the archipelago.

"The discovery of this ship shows that the Indonesian nation has been able to build large ships capable of traveling very far in the open seas, even before the arrival of the Europeans," said Ali Akbar, Antara, Wednesday, April 28.

The construction of ancient boat boards used the sewn plank and lashed-lug technique.

This technique is a characteristic of the shipbuilding technique of the Southeast Asian or Austronesian people and was applied from around the 1st century AD. Ancient boats with this technique are found in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, among others.

This boat is believed to be a remnant of the civilization of the Zabaj Kingdom (Sabak), which lies between India and China and is on the equator. This kingdom is a maritime empire with Islamic culture which is famous for its ability to explore ships.

Based on ancient records, the Zabaj boat was also able to sail to Persia, namely to the Port of Siraf in Iran.

This research is the result of collaboration between UI and the Regional Government of Tanjung Jabung Timur with the aim of improving the quality of tourism in the location of the Heritage and Archaeological Heritage of Jambi Province.

"The site is located in a transmigration location which is quite quiet. It is hoped that based on this research, the processing of tourism in the area can be carried out and this site can become a learning medium for the general public," Ali explained.