Old dutch map of the malacca 1791 overlayed with modern malacca

There is one visitor asked for the modern malacca map overlayed with the old map of the fortress. Here you go. The blue colored area is where the original coastline. Mega reclamation work has been done in these area for the sake of 'tourism', killing the historical geography of the site.

malacca description in Suma Oriental by Tome Pires.

"This king Mansur Syah built the beautiful mosque which used to be where now is the famous fortress of Malacca and which was the finest known in these parts; and he ordered bridges, richly elaborated, to be built over the river."

Suma oriental, page 249 by Tome Pires

artist illustration of ancient malacca in Malacca Museum

Description of The Sultanate Palace in The Malay Annals

Adapun akan Sultan Mansur Syah pun pindahlah, tiada mahu diam lagi pada istana

tempat Hang Jebat mati itu. Maka baginda memberi titah kepada Bendahara Paduka Raja,

menyuruh membuat istana. Maka Bendahara Seri dia mengadap dia, kerana adat Bendahara

pegangannya Bintan. Adapun besar istana itu tujuh belas ruang, pada seruang tiga-tiga depa

luasnya; besar tiangnya sepemuluk, tujuh pangkat kemuncaknya. Pada antara itu diberinya

berkapa-kapa, pada antara kapa-kapa itu diberinya bumbungan melintang dan bergajahmenyusu;

sekaliannya bersayap layang-layang, sekaliannya itu diukir dan berscngkuap. Pada

antara Serigkuap itu diperbuatnya belalang bersagi; sekaliannya dicat dengan air emas.

Kemuncaknya kaca merah, apabila kena sinar matahari, bemyala-nyala rupanya seperti

manikam. Akan dinding istana itu sekaliannya berkambi, maka ditarupali dengan cermin

China yang besar, apabila kena panas matahari bemyala-nyala rupanya, kilau-kilauan tiada

nyata benar dipandang orang. Adapun rasuk istana itu kulim, sehasta lebamya, dan sejengkal

tiga jari tebalnya. Akan birai istana itu dua hasta lebamya, dan tebalnya sehasta, diukimya

rembatan pintu istana itu empat puluh banyaknya, semuanya bercat dengan air emas. Terlalu

indah perbuatan istana itu, sebuah pun istana raja yang di bawah angin ini tiada sepertinya

pada zaman itu. Istana itulah yang dinamai orang 'Mahligai Hawa Nafsu'; atapnya tembaga

dan timah disiripkan.

-Sulalatus Salatin by A Samad Ahmad

“MULTI-DIMENSIONAL NETWORKING: FIFTEENTH-CENTURY INDIAN OCEAN MARITIME DIASPORA IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN PERSPECTIVE” BY KENNETH R. HALL*

Melaka’s Fifteenth-Century Multi-Ethnic Community

http://www.upf.edu/mon/assig/xialmo/mat/hall_3.pdf

The description of Malacca by Ma Huan in Ying Yai Sheng Lan Chio chu

On the south-east ( corrected - should be south-west) of the country is the great sea; on the north-west ( corrected- should be north-east) the sea-shore adjoins the mountains. All is sandy, saltish land. The climate is hot by day, cold by night. The fields are infertile and the crops are poor and the people seldom practice agriculture.

There is one large river whose water flow down past the front of the king's residence to enter the sea; over the river, the king has constructed a wooden bridge, on which are built more than twenty bridge-pavilions, and all the trading in every article takes place on this bridge.

Images/old maps scanned from a book titled " The stadhuys of malacca- the proposal restoration"