Malacca was taken by the Portuguese under Albuquerque in 1511 and held by them until 1641. The kings of Portugal during that period were:—
- Emmanuel, 1495–1321
- John III, 1521–1557
- Sebastian, 1557–1578
and four others to whom it will not be necessary to refer in this paper. From 1641 to 1795 the Dutch held possession of it, from 1795 to 1818 the English, from 1818 to 1824 the Dutch again, and since then the English.
The coins in the collection which date from the time of the first Dutch occupation are nearly all well known, but it is other- wise with a large number of tin coins struck by the Portuguese in Malacca itself; in fact as I said before, it seems doubtful whether any more of these coins exist at the present day. However, the record of the first mint established by Albuquer- que in Malacca, as given in his "Commentaries," and quoted below, leaves no doubt as to their identity.
This mint was the only one ever established in Malacca by Europeans. This was in 1511, immediately after the conquest of the place. In the previous year, 1510, Albuquerque had conquered Goa, and had established a mint there, and as the circum- stances under which those two mints were founded were very similar, and since, as will be shown below, the Malacca coins were struck after the same pattern as those in Goa, although not of the same metals, it may be well first to shortly narrate the history of the founding of the mint in Goa.
Soon after Goa had been taken in 1510 the principal Moors and Hindus of the country went to Albuquerque and told him how the trade of the people suffered because there was no proper currency, bogging him to coin some money or at least to permit the coinage of the Cabaio, the former ruler, to pass current, which he had forbidden. Albuquerque thereupon called a meeting of the goldsmiths, some Portuguese experts, and the native merchants, and discussed the matter, after which he gave orders for the coinage of money in gold, silver and copper, and on the one side they were to stamp a cross of the order of Christ, and on the other a sphere,—the device of the King D. Manuel. And when the money was ready (March 12th,
