The city used be the capital of the ancient kingdom of Srivijaya[?], a partly Buddhist, however in 1025 it was raided by pirates from the Chola[?] region of southern India and declined in importance. Srivajaya's capital moved northward to Jambi-Melayu[?].
In colonial times, the Dutch gained control of Palembang. Their architectural legacy is still visible.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump