[1] The kingdom was believed to have been founded by Merah Silu, who later converted to Islam and adopted the name Malik ul Salih, in the year 1267 CE.

[2] After the 1521 Portuguese invasion, the garrison evacuated Pasai in 1524 and the first Sultan of Aceh, Ali Mughayat Syah, annexed the territory.

Based on the fourteenth century chronicle Hikayat Raja-raja Pasai, 'Samudera' can be inferred to have come from the word "Semudera" ([səmudəra]), which meant 'a very large ant'.

Literature also indicates the origin of the name 'Pasai' which came from Si-Pasai, the hunting dog of Sultan Malik al Salleh, who was Merah Silu after his conversion to Islam.

[5][6] The earliest inscription found during this period is the tombstone of Ibnu Mahmud in Leubok Tuwe, Meurah Mulia, North Aceh.

By the 15th century several harbour kingdoms developed, all ruled by local Muslim princes, from the north coast of Java and elsewhere to as far east as Ternate and Tidore in Maluku.

By the 13th century the collapse of Srivijayan power, drew foreign traders to harbours on the northern Sumatran shores of the Bay of Bengal, safe from the pirate lairs at the southern end of the Strait of Malacca.

Muslim traders and teachers probably participated in its administration from the beginning and were bound to introduce religious practices that made them feel at home.

Tomé Pires, author of the Suma Oriental, writing not long after 1511, stresses the obscure ethnic origins of the founders of Cirebon, Demak, Japara, and Gresik.

The rulers of Malacca, despite their prestigious Srivijayan origin, accepted Islam precisely to attract Muslim and Javanese traders to their port.