The European conception of a state was also
inappropriate in much of the archipelago where a
type of political entity had evolved which enabled
several kingdoms to join together and yet
maintain a fundamentally equal status.
• According to the Portuguese chronicler Joao de
Barros, there were once twenty-nine kingdoms
along the coasts of Sumatra, 'but since we
became involved with these oriental states,
favouring some and suppressing others according
to the way they received us . . . many have been
absorbed to the territory of their most powerful
neighbors