When their amirs crossed the Straits it was to lead a jehad against the Christians and to return to their capital, Marrakesh.
The fortresses in the basin of the Po chiefly belong to the era of divided Italy and are now out of date; the chief coast fortresses are Vado, Genoa, Spezia, Monte Argentaro, Gacta, Straits of Messina, Taranto, Maddalena.
Lying near the northern entrance of the Menai Straits, it attracts many visitors.
The colony of the Straits Settlements, and to a lesser extent the towns of the Federated Malay States, carry a considerable heterogenous population, in which most of the races of Asia find their representatives.
There is considerable reason to think, however, that the more frequent ports of call in the Straits of Malacca were situated in Sumatra, rather than on the shores of the Malay Peninsula, and two famous medieval travellers, Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta, both called and wintered at the former, and make scant mention of the latter.