Malaysia

GeographyTraditional Life

Malaysia - Map

Geography The Malay peninsula links

mainland and archipelagic South East Asia.

The present day country can only be understood with a wider regional framework.

The straight of Malacca bisects this realm and has long been a cultural crossroad.

Influences are from China, India, the Middle East and Europe

Geography Today Malaysia is

made up of three states.

Peninsular, Sarawak and Sabah.

Each region has developed in unique ways.

History

Modern habitation may date to as much as 40 000 years ago.

Neolithic culture was well established by 2500 BC to 1500 BC.

The people who are now modern Malays, migrated into the region from China and Tibet during the 1st Millennium BC

History Small Malayan kingdoms

began to appear in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

This coincided with Indian maritime exploration.

The Indians brought with them concepts of religion, government and the arts.

Indian and Indigenous ideas were synthesized to form an unique Malyan culture.

History Approximately 30 small indianized states rose

and fell in Malaya, mostly along the east coast during the 1st millennium AD.

Malaya developed an international reputation as a source of gold and tin, populated by renown seafarers.

During the Srivijaya era (the Sumatra based empire) the Cambodian Angkor, Javanese Majapahit empires and the Thai Ayutthaya Kingdom also claimed suzerainty in the region.

History - Advent of Islam Islam and its arrival in

Malaya was intimately linked with the trading routes that connect China through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.

The arrival of Islam coincided with the rize of Malacca (1400AD)

History - Advent of Islam Malacca served as the

centre of propagation for Islam in Malaya, as well as the eastern terminus of the Indian Ocean trade network.

At its height Malacca hosted 15 000 merchants including Chinese, Arabs, Persians and Indians.

It was said that more ships were in Malacca’s harbour than in any other port in the world.

History - Advent of Islam The mostly Islamicized people of the Malacca

area began calling themselves “Malays” during Malacca’s peak of influence (1456-98).

The term Malay applied to those who practiced Islam and spoke a version of the Malay language.

Identity and behaviour, rather than decent, became the criteria for being Malay

European Intrusion - 1509 - Portuguese.