The Strait of Malacca narrows to about 2.8 kilometres at its tightest point, and for the merchants who built the Melaka Sultanate into a trading power not long after 1400, that narrowness was the entire business model.

A medieval port that controlled a chokepoint transformed geography into a business empire—by offering something merchants needed more than the goods they carried. The post The Strait of Malacca narrows to about 2.8 kilometres at its tightest point, and for the merchants who built the Melaka Sultanate into a trading power not long after 1400, that narrowness was the entire business model. appeared…