The most detailed references to Melaka are in Arabic navigational manuals created during the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century by two South Arabian navigators, Ahmad b. Majid (1421-c.1500) and Sulayman al-Mahri (1480-1550). Ibn Majid’s poem (urjuza) al-Ma’laqiyya (which title refers to Melaka) describes both the route and the port, in verse. The use of Malay words, such as ‘tukang’, in Ibn Majid’s work, suggests Middle Eastern ships may have used a local pilot to guide them through the Melaka Straits. References to Melaka are also found in Sulayman al-Mahri’s al-‘Umda al-Mahriyya fi’l-‘ulum al-Bahriyya.

Passing references in the Arabic and Persian historical and geographical sources also indicate an awareness of Melaka in the fifteenth century, but more important are the documentary materials, in particular a long letter in Persian composed shortly after its conquest by the Portuguese which offers a detailed, firsthand account of the fall of the city.

In Ottoman Turkish sources, Melaka is mentioned in navigational texts, references in the archival record, and references to the fall of Melaka in a little known chronicle by Kutahyali Firaki, the Seadetname, composed around 1527. Although the Turkish references lightly postdate the fall of Melaka, they indicate the impression that it made on the broader Muslim world as far west as Istanbul, and reflect memories of Melaka’s significance as a Muslim entrepot.