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{{Short description|Ancient sailing ship from Java or Sumatra}}
{{Unfocused|reason=it is not clear what the topic is, or whether the various reports of ships spanning centuries all refer to the same type of ship|talk=Unfocused|date=December 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2022}}
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| name = ''K'un-lun po'', ''Kun-lun po'', ''Kunlun po'', ''K'un-lun bo'', ''Kun-lun bo'', ''Kunlun bo'', ''kolandiapha'', ''kolandiapha onta'', ''kolandiaphonta'', ''kolandia'', ''colandia'',<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Coedès|first=George|title=The Indianized States of South-East Asia|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1968|isbn=9780824803681|pages=29, 273}}</ref> ''崑崙舶''
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| type = Sailing ship
| displacement = 1667 to 2778 tons<ref name=":18">{{Cite journal |last=Averoes |first=Muhammad |date=2022 |title=Re-Estimating the Size of Javanese Jong Ship |url=https://archive.org/details/size-of-javanese-jong |journal=HISTORIA: Jurnal Pendidik Dan Peneliti Sejarah |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=57–64 |doi=10.17509/historia.v5i1.39181 |s2cid=247335671|doi-access=free }}</ref>
| tons_burthen = 1000 to 1667 tons<ref name=":18" />
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| sail_plan = [[Tanja sail]]
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'''K'un-lun po''' (also called '''Kun-lun po''', '''Kunlun po''', or '''K'un-lun bo'''; {{zh|c=崑崙舶}}) were ancient sailing ships used by [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] sailors from [[Maritime Southeast Asia]], described by Chinese records from the [[Han dynasty]]. In the first millennium AD, these ships connected [[Austronesian maritime trade network|trade routes between India and China]]. Ships of this type were still in use until at least the 14th century.

== Description ==
The characteristics of this ship are that it is large (more than 50–60 m long), the hull is made of multiple plankings, has no [[outrigger]], mounted with many masts and sails, the sail is in the form of a tanja sail, and has a plank fastening technique in the form of stitching with plant fibers.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|27–28}}<ref name=":3" />{{rp|41}}<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|275}}<ref name=":2" />{{rp|262}}<ref name=":11" />{{rp|347}}

These ships are observed by the Chinese as visiting their southeastern ports and identified as ''K'un-lun po'' (or ''bo''), which means "ships of the southern people". They were not made by the people around the Malacca straits, large shipbuilding industry only existed in the eastern half of Java.<ref name=":02">Halimi, Ahmad Jelani (2023, June 20). ''Mendam Berahi: Antara Realiti dan Mitos'' [Seminar presentation]. Kapal Mendam Berahi: Realiti atau Mitos?, Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC), Malacca, Malaysia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3OsSc56Kk</ref>

== History ==
Greek astronomer [[Ptolemy]] said in his work ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' (ca. 150 AD) that huge ships came from the east of India. This was also confirmed by an anonymous work called ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea|Periplus Marae Erythraensis]]''. Both mention a type of ship called ''kolandiaphonta'' (also known as ''kolandia'', ''kolandiapha'', and ''kolandiapha'' ''onta''),<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Dick-Read|first=Robert|title=The Phantom Voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian Settlement in Africa in Ancient Times|publisher=Thurlton|year=2005}}</ref>{{rp|41}} which is a straightforward transcription of the Chinese word ''K'un-lun po''—meaning "ships of ''[[Kunlun Slave|Kun-lun]]''".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Dick-Read|first=Robert|date=July 2006|title=Indonesia and Africa: questioning the origins of some of Africa's most famous icons|journal=The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa|volume=2|issue=1|pages=23–45|doi=10.4102/td.v2i1.307|doi-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|27–28}} K'un-lun is a rather broad term, it may be an ethnolinguistic term or a region consisting of southern mainland of Southeast Asia and the Maritime Southeast Asia, these include Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Champa, and Cambodia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Donkin |first=R. A. |title=Between East and West: The Moluccas and the Traffic in Spices Up to the Arrival of Europeans |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=2003 |isbn=9780871692481}}</ref>{{rp|153}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boussac |first=Marie-Françoise |title=Athens, Aden, Arikamedu: Essays on the Interrelations Between India, Arabia, and the Eastern Mediterranean |last2=Salles |first2=Jean-François |publisher=Manohar |year=1995 |isbn=9788173040795}}</ref>{{rp|172}}

The 3rd century book ''[[Yiwu Zhi|Strange Things of the South]]'' (南州異物志 — Nánzhōu Yìwùzhì) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes ships capable of carrying 600–700 people together with more than 10,000 ''hu'' (斛) of cargo (250–1000 tons according to various interpretations<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Manguin|first=Pierre-Yves|date=September 1980|title=The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach|journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies|volume=11|issue=2|pages=266–276|doi=10.1017/S002246340000446X |s2cid=162220129 }}</ref>{{Rp|275}}—600 tons deadweight according to Manguin).<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Manguin|first=Pierre-Yves|date=1993|title=Trading Ships of the South China Sea. Shipbuilding Techniques and Their Role in the History of the Development of Asian Trade Networks|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|pages=253–280}}</ref>{{rp|262}} These ships came from ''K'un-lun''. The ships are called ''K'un-lun po'' (or ''K'un-lun bo''), could be more than 50 meters in length and had a [[freeboard]] of 5.2–7.8 meters.<ref group="note">In the original text, the length of the ship is listed as 20 ''chang'' or more and the freeboard 2–3 ''chang''. Here 1 ''chang'' (or ''zhang'') is taken as 2.6 meters.</ref> When seen from above they resemble covered galleries.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal|last=Christie|first=Anthony|date=1957|title=An Obscure Passage from the "Periplus: ΚΟΛΑΝΔΙΟϕΩΝΤΑ ΤΑ ΜΕΓΙΣΤΑ"|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|volume=19|pages=345–353|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00133105|s2cid=162840685}}</ref>{{rp|347}} Wan Chen explains the ships' sail design as follows:<ref name=":6"/>

{{blockquote|The people of foreign parts call ships ''po''. The large ones are more than fifty meters in length and stand out of the water four to five meters (...) They carry from six to seven hundred persons, with 10,000 bushels of cargo.<ref group="note">According to various interpretations, from 250 to 1000 tons</ref> The people beyond the barriers, according to the size of their ships, sometimes rig (as many as) four sails which they carry in row from bow to stern. (...) The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts. Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.|Wan Chen, ''[[Yiwu Zhi|Strange Things of the South]]''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Genius of China: 3000 Years of Science, Discovery Invention|last=Temple|first=Robert|publisher=Andre Deutsch|year=2007|location=London}}</ref>{{rp|207}}<ref name=":2" />{{rp|262}}|source=|title=}}

A 260 CE book by K'ang T'ai (康泰), quoted in ''[[Taiping Yulan]]'' (982 AD) described ships with seven sails called ''po'' or ''ta po'' (great ship or great junk) that could travel as far as [[Syria (region)|Syria]] (大秦—[[Ta-chin]], [[Roman Syria]]). These ships were used by the [[Indo-Scythians|Indo-Scythian]] (月支—[[Yuezhi]]) traders for transporting horses. He also made reference to monsoon trade between the islands (or archipelago), which took a month and a few days in a large ''po''.<ref name=":11" />{{rp|347}}<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 4642">Needham, Joseph (1971). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=l6TVhvYLaEwC&pg=PA464 Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics]''. Cambridge University Press.</ref>{{rp|602}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Worlds of the Indian Ocean: A Global History. Volume 1, From the Fourth Millennium BCE to the Sixth Century CE |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-108-42456-1 |editor-last=Beaujard |editor-first=Philippe}}</ref>{{rp|406}} The word "po" might be derived from the [[Old Javanese]] ''parahu'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zoetmulder |first=P. J. |url=http://sealang.net/ojed/ |title=Old Javanese-English dictionary |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |year=1982 |isbn=9024761786 |location=The Hague}}</ref>{{Rp|1280}} Javanese word ''prau'', or the Malay word ''[[perahu]]'', which means large ship.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sunyoto|first=Agus|url=https://archive.org/details/atlaswalisongo/page/n43/mode/2up?q=kun-lun|title=Atlas Walisongo|publisher=Pustaka IIMaN|year=2017|location=South Tangerang}}</ref>{{rp|21}} Note that in modern usage, perahu refers to a small [[boat]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rafiek|first=M.|date=December 2011|title= Kapal dan Perahu dalam Hikayat Raja Banjar: Kajian Semantik|url=|journal=Borneo Research Journal|volume=5|pages=187–200}}</ref>{{rp|193}}

[[Faxian]] (Fa-Hsien) in his return journey to China from India (413–414) embarked a ship carrying 200 passengers and sailors from ''K'un-lun'' which towed a smaller ship. A cyclone struck and forced the passengers to move into the smaller ship. The crew of the smaller ship feared that the ship would be overloaded, therefore they cut the rope and separated from the big ship. Luckily the bigger ship survived, the passengers were stranded in ''Ye-po-ti'' ([[Yawadwipa]]—Java). After 5 months, the crew and the passengers embarked on another ship comparable in size to sail back to China.<ref>Groeneveldt, Willem Pieter (1876). "[https://archive.org/details/notes-on-the-malay-archipelago/page/n7/mode/2up?q= Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, Compiled from Chinese Sources]". Batavia: W. Bruining.</ref>{{rp|6–7}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jacq-Hergoualc'h|first=Michel|url=https://archive.org/details/malaypeninsulacr00jacq|title=The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk-Road (100 BC–1300 AD)|publisher=BRILL|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/malaypeninsulacr00jacq/page/n90 51]–52|isbn=9789004119734 |url-access=limited}}</ref> In ''I-ch'ieh-ching yin-i'', a dictionary compiled by [[Yiqiejing Yinyi (Huilin)|Huei-lin]] ca. 817 AD, po is mentioned several times:<ref name=":6"/><ref name=":11" />{{rp|348}}<ref name=":2" />{{rp|262}}<ref name=":11" />{{rp|348}}

<blockquote>Ssu-ma Piao, in his commentary on Chuang Tzü, said that large ocean-going ships are called "po". According to the Kuang Ya,<ref group="note">''Kuang Ya'' was a dictionary compiled by Chang I about 230 AD, while Ssu-ma Piao lived from ca. 240 to ca. 305 AD.</ref> po is an ocean-going ship. It has a draught of 60 feet (18 m).<ref group="note">Might be a mistranslation. A ship of such draught is manifestly absurd. Instead, it may refer to the height of the ship's hull, from the keel to the open deck. [[Paul Pelliot|Pelliot]] proposed that the figure should be translated as "six or seven feet". See Pelliot, Paul. "Quelques textes chinois concernant l'Indochine hindouisśe." 1925. In: ''Etudes Asiatiques, publiées à l'occasion du 25e anniversaire de l'EFEO''. Paris: EFEO, II: 243–263. p. 258.</ref> It is fast and carries 1000 men as well as merchandise. It is also called k'un-lun-po. Many of those who form the crews and technicians of these ships are kunlun people.

With the fibrous bark of the coconut tree, they make cords which bind the parts of the ship together (...). Nails and clamps are not used, for fear that the heating of the iron would give rise to fires. The ships are constructed by assembling several thicknesses of side planks, for the boards are thin and that they fear they would break. Their length is over 60 meters (...). Sails are hoisted to make use of the winds, and these ships cannot be propelled by the strength of the men alone.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|262}}</blockquote>

Champa was assaulted by Javanese or [[Kunlun]] vessels in 774 and 787.<ref name="(Japan)1972">{{cite book |author=Tōyō Bunko (Japan) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5nWAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Memoirs of the Research Department |year=1972 |page=6}}{{cite book |author=Tōyō Bunko (Japan) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBkkAQAAIAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko (the Oriental Library) |publisher=Toyo Bunko |year=1972 |page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9vaAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Proceedings of the Symposium on 100 Years Development of Krakatau and Its Surroundings, Jakarta, 23–27 August 1983 |publisher=Indonesian Institute of Sciences |year=1985 |page=8}}</ref><ref name="Society1934">{{cite book |author=Greater India Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onEZAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Journal |year=1934 |page=69}}</ref> In 774 an assault was launched on Po-Nagar in Nha-trang where the pirates demolished temples, while in 787 an assault was launched on Phang-rang.<ref name="Smith1979">{{cite book |author=Ralph Bernard Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lJuAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Early South East Asia: essays in archaeology, history, and historical geography |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1979 |page=447| isbn=978-0-19-713587-7 }}</ref><ref name="Fisher1964">{{cite book |author=Charles Alfred Fisher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LLhAAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=South-east Asia: a social, economic, and political geography |publisher=Methuen |year=1964 |page=108| isbn=9789070080600 }}</ref><ref name="RenardFund1986">{{cite book |author1=Ronald Duane Renard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZVuAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Anuson Walter Vella |author2=Mahāwitthayālai Phāyap |publisher=University of Hawaii at Manoa. Center for Asian and Pacific Studies |others=Walter F. Vella Fund, Payap University |year=1986 |page=121}}</ref> Several Champa coastal cities suffered naval raids and assault from Java. Java armadas was called as ''Javabala-sanghair-nāvāgataiḥ'' (fleets from Java) which are recorded in Champa epigraphs.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKFhAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient |publisher=L'Ecole |year=1941 |page=263}}</ref><ref name="HallNguyễn1968">{{cite book |author1=Daniel George Edward Hall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=caMLAAAAIAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya |title=Đông Nam Á sử lược |author2=Phút Tấn Nguyễn |publisher=Pacific Northwest Trading Company |year=1968 |page=136}}</ref>

''Pingzhou Ketan'' by [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] (made between 1111 and 1117 AD) mentioned sea-going ships of Kia-ling (訶陵 — ''Holing'' or [[Kalingga Kingdom|Kalingga kingdom]] of Java), in which the large ships could carry several hundred men, and the smaller ones over a hundred men. The people of the Kalingga kingdom are the principal traders of Java, Sumatra, and possibly China. The ships described here were certainly not built or crewed by the Chinese.<ref>{{cite book |author=Friedrich Hirth, William Woodville Rockhill |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924023289345#page/n7/mode/2up |title=Chau Ju-kua: His Work On The Chinese And Arab Trade In The Twelfth And Thirteenth Centuries, Entitled Chu-fan-chï |publisher=Printing office of the Imperial academy of sciences |year=1911 |location=St. Petersburg}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>{{rp|30–31}}

[[Wang Dayuan]]'s 1349 composition ''[[Daoyi Zhilüe|Daoyi Zhilüe Guangzheng Xia]]'' ("Description of the Barbarian of the Isles") described the so-called "horse boats" at a place called Gan-mai-li in Southeast Asia. These ships were bigger than normal trading ships, with the sides constructed from multiple planks. The ships uses neither nails or mortar to join them, instead they are using coconut fibre. The ships has two or three decks, with deckhouse over the upper deck. In the lower hold they carried pressed-down [[frankincense]], above them they are carrying several hundred horses. Wang made special mention of these ships because pepper, which is also transported by them, carried to faraway places with large quantity. The normal trading ships carried less than 1/10 of their cargo.<ref name="kwee">Kwee, H. K. (1997). ''Dao Yi Zhi Lue as a maritime traders' guidebook''. Unpublished honour's thesis, National University of Singapore.</ref>{{rp|33}}<ref>{{Cite book|author1-link=John N. Miksic|last=Miksic|first=John M.|title=Singapore and the Silk Road of the Sea, 1300-1800|publisher=NUS Press|year=2013|isbn=9789971695583}}</ref>{{rp|170}}<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 4642"/>

== Controversy ==
Indian historians usually call this ship '''[[colandia]]''' ({{langx|ta|சொழாந்தியம்}}), which they attribute to the [[Early Chola]] navy.<ref>"'''Periplus''' mentions 3 ports in Tamil country of which kaveripatnam as center, as the places from which great ships which calls '''colondia''' sailed to pacific islands" – K.M.Panikkar in "geographical factors in indian history", ப-81.</ref><ref>[http://www.google.co.in/#hl=en&q=colandia&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2238l6956l0l7953l8l8l0l0l0l0l1362l1362l7-1l1l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbm=bks&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=e120df0eaafdebbc&biw=1366&bih=646] ''The Colandia type of vessels were employed for voyages between the Coramandel coast on the one hand and the Gangetic delta and Khryse''</ref> ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea|Periplus Marae Erythraensis]]'' mentioned two varieties of vessels. The first kind, known as the Sangara, includes vessels both large and small. The second variety, called kolandiaphonta, was very large in size and these types of vessels were used for voyages to the [[Ganges]] and the [[Chryse (ancient Greek placename)|Chryse]], which was the name of various places occurring in ancient Greek geography. The Indians believe Chola had voyages from the ancient port of [[Puhar, Nagapattinam|Puhar]] to the [[Pacific Islands]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iDVuAAAAMAAJ&q=colandia Two kind of vessels]</ref><ref>[http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-ENG/cha.htm Naval Warfare in ancient India by Prithwis Chandra Chakravarti]</ref>

It is now generally accepted that ''kolandiaphonta'' was a transcription of the Chinese term ''Kun-lun po'', which refers to an [[Indonesia]]n vessel.<ref>Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China, Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics.'' Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. pp. 459–460.</ref> The Sangara is likely to have been derived from Indonesian twin-hulled vessels similar to Pacific [[catamaran]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dick-Read|first=Robert|date=July 2006|title=Indonesia and Africa: questioning the origins of some of Africa's most famous icons|journal=The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa|volume=2|pages=23–45|doi=10.4102/td.v2i1.307 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Borobudur ship]]
* [[Junk (ship)]]
* [[Jong (ship)]]
* [[Kunlun Nu]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101128040214/http://www.indianarmy-arichhistory.com/ancienthistory.htm Ancient history of India]
{{Austronesian ships}}{{Indonesian traditional vessels}}{{Ancient seafaring}}

[[Category:Four-masted ships]]
[[Category:Five-masted ships]]
[[Category:Six-masted ships]]
[[Category:Seven-masted ships]]
[[Category:14th-century ships]]
[[Category:Indonesian inventions]]
[[Category:Ship types]]
[[Category:Ships of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Merchant ships]]
[[Category:Austronesian ships]]
[[Category:Maritime history of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Traditional sailboats]]

K'un-lun po - Revision history

Antoniomec at 20:57, 19 December 2025