The ceramics and other relics discovered on Tioman and exhibited in this museum are evidence of maritime trade that once flourished and they show that Tioman served as a trading site where the spices and other natural resources of Southeast Asia could be exchanged for goods from China, India, the Middle East and Europe.

There is evidence that the island has been inhabited for at least the past millenium by a fluctuating human population. Permanent inhabitation has been confined to the coast.

The objects exhibited include 11th to 19th century trade ceramics, coins, maps and sea charts, prints and paintings, and example of the natural resources which were traded in the past. Together, they tell the story of Pulau Tioman when it served as an important link on the maritime trade routes of a by gone era.