Kota Batu stands on the Brunei river a few kilometres above the bay and is the excavated candidate for the centre of Po-ni.
The Chinese notices (the embassies of 977 and 1082; the Zhufan zhi of about 1225) and the English Wikipedia page 'Brunei Empire' picture a capital within wooden defences with a palace roofed in nipa palm leaf, at the head of a bay; the campaign board adds Tang and Song coin and a heavy load of Chinese ceramics at Kota Batu. The excavated town is mostly of later centuries (the brief's warning; by tradition the sultans' seat from the later fourteenth century), so the Song sherds are an early layer and not proof that the king of 977 or of 1200 sat here. The royal town of 1200 may lie elsewhere on the river.
Who holds it
- Title
- The king's household and harbour officers (no names)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The king is not named for 1200; see the king record.
Lord in 1200
The king of Po-ni, not named for 1200 (see King of Po-ni).
What the town holds
- The landing and the royal town
- Harbour dues and first purchase (inference)
- The camphor and wax that the upriver peoples bring
Allies and rivals
Chinese junk captains from Fujian and Guangdong; Javanese and Malay shipping; the upriver peoples.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200.
Wealth
Camphor, hornbill casque, tortoise shell and wax go out (the 977 gifts, as the English page 'Brunei Empire' lists them, add agarwood, sandalwood, raksamala wood and elephant tusks); Chinese stoneware, silk and coin come in (the finds). Sago from the Klias and Padas victuals the ships. No craft quarter is recorded.
Threats
- Sea raiders
- Loss of the China trade to a rival port
- A poor monsoon
Council
The king's household and the leading traders (inference); no council is recorded.
Communities
Not known. The ceramics show Chinese goods, not a Chinese quarter; the Arab-named envoys of 977 show Muslim traders at the court, not a Muslim community or court.
Fairs and markets
The junks come on the northeast monsoon and wait out the turn at the bay (board); no fair is recorded.
Militia
Not known; warships are mentioned in the later notices. No figure counts for 1200.
Walls and castle
A capital within wooden defences and a palace roofed in nipa palm (English page 'Brunei Empire'; no trace on the ground is claimed).
Trade and crafts
Camphor, hornbill casque, tortoise shell and wax go out (the 977 gifts, as the English page 'Brunei Empire' lists them, add agarwood, sandalwood, raksamala wood and elephant tusks); Chinese stoneware, silk and coin come in (the finds). Sago from the Klias and Padas victuals the ships. No craft quarter is recorded.
Places of note
- Kota Batu: Archaeological park on the Brunei river, the campaign board's centre of Po-ni.
- Bandar Seri Begawan: Modern capital on the same river, a few kilometres up (not a 1200 name).
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry id po-ni-kota-batu is 'contested' as a site for the centre; agreed. The Kota Batu archaeological park is mostly of later centuries (the brief).
Evidence: The Chinese notices and the spade agree on a trading town on this river; whether this site is the royal town of 1200 is not proved. The campaign board marks it 'contested'.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: The royal town's true position on the river is not known; near land only.
Primary sources for Po-ni
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Description of the Foreign Peoples (Chau Ju-kua), Zhao Rukuo (趙汝适) (about 1225, while superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou). The Song customs officer's survey of the overseas world, compiled from merchants and from Zhou Qufei, a generation after 1200 but describing trade routes that were the same in 1200. Read online
- The Description of the Country, called the Nagarakretagama, Mpu Prapanca (1365 at the Majapahit court). A Majapahit court poem of 1365 listed here only for its retrospect. Read online
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Brunei Empire' (read in this pass): the 977 embassy, the Song-era description of Boni, the western Borneo reading (Kurz 2013, 2014)
- Wikipedia, 'History of Brunei' (read in this pass): Boni in the Ming and Yuan records, the 1365 Nagarakretagama list, the 1225 Zhao Rukuo notice
- Wikipedia, 'Kota Batu, Brunei' (read in this pass): the archaeological park and its Song porcelain
- Wikipedia, 'Brunei-China relations' (read in this pass): over 50,000 sherds of the tenth to fourteenth centuries at Kampong Limau Manis
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.