Parameswara saw the advantages of the area and proceeded to build a trading port with facilities to store goods. The locals who were then known as Orang Laut (Sea People) were then employed by Parameswara to protect the area from pirates. With a port that provides protection both from the weather and pirates, the port of Malacca soon became an important trading for the Chinese, Javanese, Burmese, Indian, etc. merchants.
The port of Malacca continued to grow for decades after the demise of Parameswara and became one of the most important and riches ports in the area. Even the Portuguese writer and trader, Tom Pires, mentioned that whoever is lord of Malacca shall have his hands on the throat of Venice. After having fallen to the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, and the Japanese; Malacca now boasts some of the most well known historical sites in peninsula Malaysia such as the A’famosa that is one the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Southeast Asia.