Indonesian naval history survives in scattered and filtered records

How extensive are records of naval actions in the Indonesian archipelago before 1400?

They are sparse and dispersed because successive governments filtered older records, though archaeology and trade evidence recover some context.

Records of naval activity before 1400 survive across the Indonesian archipelago, but access and repeated changes of government complicate their recovery. Successor governments preserved information they wanted and discarded material they considered unnecessary, including records whose storage cost money. Archaeology helps fill some of the resulting gaps. The discussion also considers Roman shipping operating from Egypt's Red Sea coast and possibly reaching Southeast Asia. Its precise destination remains uncertain: Vietnam is suggested, and whether Roman ships reached China is left disputed. That uncertainty should remain separate from the evidence for overland travel to China from somewhere in Southeast Asia.