Gold dinars
Among the region's oldest Islamic coins.
DISDIKBUD Aceh Utara — Public domain · DISDIKBUD Aceh Utara — Public domain
A modern museum beside the tomb of Sultan Malik as-Salih, telling the history of the Samudera Pasai sultanate, the first of the archipelago's Islamic kingdoms, which rose on Aceh's north coast from the thirteenth century as a pepper and trading port visited by merchants from Arabia, India, Persia and China. The museum shows small gold dinars struck by the sultanate, among the oldest Islamic coins in Southeast Asia, copies and fragments of carved gravestones, old manuscripts and Qurans, Chinese ceramics and objects showing the reach of its trade, and maps explaining how Islam spread from here to Malacca, Java and across the Malay world. Entry is free; the museum opens Saturday to Thursday from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon and closes on Fridays. It is the best introduction to the neighbouring tomb and the sultanate monument, so start here to understand what you see next. Lhokseumawe is about five to six hours by car from Banda Aceh or Medan.
Among the region's oldest Islamic coins.
In Arabic script.
From Pasai across the archipelago.
Beuringin, Samudera district, North Aceh
It is the oldest Islamic sultanate attested by dated evidence, though traditions mention older ones such as Peureulak; historians therefore treat Pasai as the documented starting point of Islamic states in the archipelago.
