Founded around the beginning of the 15th century by Sultan Parameswara, the great Malay trading state The Sultanate of Malacca founded by Sultan Parameswara, was, as the most important trading centre of the Southeast Asian archipelago, a centre of foreign Muslims, and it thus appears a supporter of the spread of Islam. Parameswara, himself is known to have converted to Islam, and taken the name Iskandar Shah after the arrival of the Hui-Chinese Admiral Zheng He. From Malacca and elsewhere, gravestones survive showing not only its spread in the Malay archipelago but as the religion of a number of cultures and their rulers in the late 15th century.