timeline malaysia

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

The Early Centuries

40000 BC Earliest known habitation at Niah Caves, Sarawak. Remains of a palaeolithic stone-tool workshop at Kota Tampan, Perak, could be even older.

2500 BC Proto-Malays spread south from Yunan area in China.

300 BC Earliest signs of Bronze and Iron Age cultures in Malaysia.

200 BC Start of trade with India and China.

100 BC-AD 200 Emergence of trading kingdoms in the Isthmus of Kra

AD 500-1000 Development of Hindu-Buddhist trading kingdoms in Kedah's Bujang Valley, northern Perak and Santubong, Sarawak.

1303 Terengganu Stone records introduction of Islam to the Malay Peninsula.

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The Rise of Malacca

1400 Founding of Malacca by Parameswara.

1409 Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho arrives in Malacca.

1411 Parameswara converts to Islam and meets Ming Emperor of China.

1446 Malacca expands under Sultan Muzaffar Shah.

1456-98 Tun Perak serves as prime minister under four sultans and Malacca becomes biggest empire in Southeast Asia.

1511 Malacca falls to the Portuguese.

1512 Malacca's deposed sultan sets up new capital in Riau-Lingga which later becomes Sultanate of Johor.

1528 Sultan Muzaffar Shah starts the Perak Kingdom.

1641 The Dutch take Malacca from the Portuguese; start of Dutch dominance in the area.

1699 Assassination of Sultan Mahmud of Johor.

1699-1819 Empire of Johor, mostly at Riau, under Bendahara line.

1699-1784 Period of Minangkabau-Bugis struggle for domination of the Straits of Malacca.

1726 First sultan of Terengganu Kingdom installed.

1784 Death of Raja Haji at Malacca; Dutch break Bugis power in area.

1786 The British occupy Penang.

1812 Death of Sultan Mahmud Shah, last ruler of united Johor-Riau Kingdom.

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Colonial Malaya

1819 British occupy Singapore.

1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty carves up Malay world into colonial spheres: Dutch cede Malacca to British and keeps Riau.

1826 Singapore, Malacca Penang and Province Wellesley become Straits Settlements under British control.

1831-32 Malacca Malays rebel against British in Naning War.

1840s The importance of tin increases, bringing an influx of Chinese tin miners to the western coast.

1841 James Brooke established as Rajah of Sarawak.

1846 British annex the island of Labuan.

1858-68 Civil war in Pahang.

1867-74 Selangor civil war.

1874 Pangkor Treaty signals start of British intervention in Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

1875-76 Perak War signals uprising against British after introduction of controversial tax and subsequent murder of British Resident.

1881 British North Borneo Chartered Company establishes a centre in North Borneo, now Sabah.

1891-95 Pahang Rebellion.

1895-1905 Mat Salleh Rebellion. The introduction of new taxes had earlier created general discontent, and Mat Salleh gathers many supporters in his revolt against the North Borneo Company.

1896 Federated Malay States (FMS) are created.

1909 Treaty of Bangkok transfers four northern Malay states from Thai sovereignty to British control.

1914 Johor brought under British control.

1914-18 World War I.

1920-41 British adopt decentralisation policy in FMS; early signs of a Malay nationalism against British rule begin to surface.

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Malaya, Merdeka Malaysia

1941-45 Japanese conquest and occupation.

1945 British reoccupy Malaya.

1946 Malayan Union scheme introduced but is opposed, formation of United Malay National Organisation (Umno); Sarawak and British North Borneo become Crown colonies.

1948 Malayan Union scheme abandoned; Federation of Malaya inaugurated.

1948-60 Communist uprising - The Emergency.

1952 Municipal elections in Kuala Lumpur; Umno and Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) parties cooperate.

1953 Alliance coalition comprising Umno, MCA and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) formed.

1955 First general elections in the peninsula; landslide win for the Alliance.

1956 Tunku Abdul Rahman leads Merdeka Mission to London to negotiate for independence.

1957 Malaya becomes independent, and the Union Jack is lowered for the last time. The Tunku, named the Father of Independence, becomes the first prime minister of the Federation of Malaya.

1960 The state of emergency ends.

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Post-Independence

1961 The Tunku proposes a political association called Malaysia that would include Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei.

1963 Creation of Malaysia without Brunei.

1963-66 Confrontation with Indonesia. In 1966, Indonesia's Sukarno is ousted; new Indonesian Government led by Suharto ends confrontation. The Philippines drops its claim on Sabah and recognises Malaysia.

1965 Singapore leaves Malaysia and becomes an independent nation.

1969 Riots on May 13 in the wake of the general elections.

1970 Tun Abdul Razak takes office as the second Prime Minister of Malaysia, succeeding Abdul Rahman.

1971 New Economic Policy (NEP) established to encourage fairer distribution of wealth among races.

1973 Abdul Razak sets up the National Front on Jan 1 to replace the ruling Alliance Party.

1976 Tun Hussein Onn appointed as the third Prime Minister of Malaysia on Jan 15, a day after the passing of Abdul Razak.

1981 Hussein Onn launches the National Unit Trust (Amanah Saham Nasional) Scheme. Due to ill health, he relinquishes the premiership to his deputy, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on July 15.

1983 Constitutional crisis involving the position of Malaysia's hereditary rulers.

1985 Roll-out of first national car, Proton Saga. The project was mooted to serve as a catalyst to transform Malaysia into a fully developed nation.

1987 Umno racked by power struggle between Mahathir and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah; "Operation Lalang" carried out by the Mahathir administration results in detention of prominent opposition politicians, trade unionists, educators and community leaders.

1988 Umno Baru (New Umno) is formed by Mahathir after Umno is declared "an unlawful society".
1989 Semangat '46, led by Tengku Razaleigh, registered as a new political party. The Communist Party of Malaya abandons its 41-year armed struggle to overthrow the Malaysian Government.

1990 General elections - the ruling coalition retains its two-thirds majority in Parliament.

1997 Petronas Towers, the world's tallest twin buildings, open. Economic downturn as ringgit plummets in regional currency crisis.

1998 Govt imposes currency control laws on Sept 1 to stop free fall of the Ringgit. Kuala Lumpur becomes the first Asian city to host the Commonwealth Games. Dismissal of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from office and his subsequent arrest creates a political crisis. Reformasi movement begins with mass demonstrations in support of Anwar.

1999 Snap general elections sees ruling coalition retain two-thirds majority, but some northern states see an opposition swing with PAS (Islamic Party) winning Terengganu and Kelantan.
2003 Malaysia's longest-serving Prime Minister Dr Mahathir retires. He is succeeded by his deputy Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

2004 In a ringing endorsement for the moderate and consensus-seeking Abdullah, the ruling coalition wins the general election by a landslide victory, with PAS-controlled Terengganu returning to the Barisan Nasional.

2006 Malaysia celebrates its 49th year of independence, with a keen eye on the 50th.

Reference: Insight Guides: Malaysia (18th Edition, Langenscheidt Publishing Group)

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

Review: [Untitled]
Reviewed Work(s):

* The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk Road (100 BC-1300 AD) by Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h, Victoria Hobson

Author(s) of Review: Mary Somers Heidhues
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2 (May, 2003), pp. 706-708
doi:10.2307/3096336
This article consists of 3 page(s).

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9118(200305)62%3A2%3C706%3ATMPCOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://www.myfareast.org/Malaysia/history.html

The Brief History of Malaysia.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://sylvester.acl.arts.usyd.ed...ocoon/heurist/69/reftype_renderer

26th June 2007, 4.00 pm - 5.30 pm
Illumination: The art of the Malay letter - Dr S. T. Lee Lecture in Asian Art & Archaeology
Dr Annabel Teh Gallop
Refectory (off Lobby G), Main Quadrangle, University of Sydney
The art of the Islamic book in Southeast Asia is anchored to manuscripts of the Qur’an. The reverence accorded to the Holy Book and its enduring text exercised a conservatizing influence on Malay book art. Thus while the study of Islamic illumination in Southeast Asia has succeeded in identifying a number of distinctive regional artistic schools, there has been less success in tracing chronological development. On the other hand, the art of the Malay letter, evolved relatively quickly in constant response to external stimuli. Nearly one hundred illuminated royal Malay epistles have survived, spanning a period of nearly four centuries, originating from courts as far-flung as Ternate, Aceh and Madura, and these letters can be studied alongside a similar number in Malay sent from European officials to Indonesian and Malay rulers. This evidence enables us to begin to identify the various influences and cross-currents that shaped Malay letter illumination, and to arrive at a preliminary mapping of the evolution of the art of the Malay letter.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjar_people

Banjar people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Banjar
Sasanggan, a bronze bowl used by the Banjarese during a traditional ceremony.
Total population

4,5 million
Regions with significant populations
South Kalimantan (Indonesia): 2,271,586
East Kalimantan (Indonesia): 500,000
Central Kalimantan (Indonesia): 500,00
Indragiri Hilir: 175,000
Malaysia: 538,826
Languages
Banjar, Indonesian and Malay.
Religions
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Malays, Kutai, Javanese, Dayak (Dayak Bukit, Bakumpai, Ngaju, Maanyan, Lawangan)

Banjar (or Banjarese) is the name of an interior and coastal native ethnic group which settled in the Banjar region and in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Indonesia, the biggest city on the island of Borneo. A few hundred years ago, some of them had travelled to many places in the Malay archipelago. They set up pockets of settlement in those areas, namely in Perak mostly in Parit Buntar and Teluk Intan region, Selangor around Sabak Bernam and Sungai Besar and Batu Pahat, Johor in Malaysia, in Medan, Sumatra in Indonesia and many other places. Banjarese people is a melting pot of the native Dayaks, Malay ethnicity from Sumatra and the Javanese courts.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
* 2 Sub-ethnicities
* 3 Language
* 4 Relations with Dayaks
* 5 References
* 6 See also

[edit] History

Proto Malay people migrated to Kalimantan/Borneo in 2500 BC. These are the ancestors of Dayak people (Ot Danum). In 2500 BC, the Deutero Malay migrated to Kalimantan/Borneo. Malay people from Sumatra brought their culture to Kalimantan/Borneo in 400 AD, which fused the birth of Banjar Hulu language. Later on 520 AD, the Malay formed the Buddhist Kingdom of Tanjungpuri in the present-day Tanjung, Tabalong.

In 1200 AD, Empu Jatmika built the Hindu Kingdom of Negara Dipa by the rivers of Tapin. This was the start of the Javanese-style courts in South Kalimantan. The Hindu era in South Kalimantan remained the most remembered time in South Kalimantan history. The glory of Negara Dipa is succeeded by the Hindu Kingdom of Negara Daha in 1400 AD.

Pangeran Samudera, the rightful heir was forced to flee the court of Negara Daha because of his uncle's revolt against him. He was accepted by the people of the Bandar Masih (Bandar=port, Masih=Malay people). Supported by the Sultanate of Demak, he formed a new Islamic Banjar Kingdom in 1526 with Bandar Masih as its capital. Later on, the name of Bandar Masih slowly changed into Banjarmasin.

[edit] Sub-ethnicities

The division of Banjar people into 3 ethnicities is based on the locations of the fusions between Malay, local Dayaks (Dayak Bukit, Dayak Maanyan, Dayak Lawangan, Dayak Ngaju, Dayak Barangas, and Bakumpai), and Javanese.

1. Banjar Pahuluan, who lives in the valleys by the upriver of Meratus mountain ranges. They live on agriculture.
2. Banjar Batang Banyu, who lives in the valleys by the river of Negara. They take pride of their position as the people of the ancient capital. They are also prominent merchants.
3. Banjar Kuala, who lives in Banjarmasin and Martapura. These people are the people of the new capital.

[edit] Language

The Banjar language (bjn) reflects the history of people. It is basically the Malay language brought from Sumatra, with some words are taken from Javanese and native Dayaks.

[edit] Relations with Dayaks

The relationship between Banjar people and the neighboring Dayaks are always in a good term. As some of the Dayaks who converted to Islam fuse themselves into the Banjar culture and call themselves Banjar, the sorrounding Dayaks think of the Banjars as their brothers and sisters. This is further strengthened by the fact there are many inter-marriages between the Banjars and the Dayaks, even in the level of royalty. For example: Biang Lawai, a wife of a Banjar king was of Dayak Ngaju ethnicity. This means that the Banjarese Kings and Queens have Dayaks lineage in their blood.

This relationship grew strong when both ethnicities faced colonization. They became comrades in the age of war. Some of the warriors involved in Banjar War are of Dayak ethnicities or have Dayaks lineage in their blood. For example:

1. Panglima Batur, of Dayak Siang Murung ethnicity,
2. Panglima Wangkang, his father was a Dayak Bakumpai and his mother was a Banjar,
3. Panglima Batu Balot (Tumenggung Marha Lahew), a female warrior who attacked Fort Muara Teweh in 1864-1865.

[edit] References

1. de Bruyn, W.K.H.F.; Bijdrage tot de kennis van de Afdeeling Hoeloe Soengai, (Zuider a Ooster Afdeeling van Borneo), 19--.
2. Broersma, R.;Handel en Bedrijf in Zuiz Oost Borneo, S'Gravenhage, G. Naeff, 1927.
3. Eisenberger, J.; Kroniek de Zuider en Ooster Afdeeling van Borneo, Bandjermasin, Drukkerij Lim Hwat Sing, 1936.
4. Bondan, A.H.K.; Suluh Sedjarah Kalimantan, Padjar, Banjarmasin, 1953.
5. Ras, J.J.; Hikajat Bandjar, A study in Malay Histiography, N.V. de Ned. Boeken, Steen Drukkerij van het H.L. Smits S'Graven hage, 1968.
6. Heekeren, C. van.; Helen, Hazen en Honden Zuid Borneo 1942, Den Haag, 1969.
7. Riwut, Tjilik; Kalimantan Memamnggil, Penerbit Endang, Djakarta.
8. Saleh, Idwar; SEJARAH DAERAH TEMATIS Zaman Kebangkitan Nasional (1900-1942) di Kalimantan Selatan, Depdikbud, Jakarta, 1986.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://www.geocities.com/malayculture/history.htm

The history of The Malays, a race of peoples inhabiting the Malay peninsula and parts of Southeast Asia is not very ancient. Most studies link the development of the Malays to several waves of movement down the Malay peninsula from Yunnan in China, with the date 2000 B.C. marking the arrival of the modern Malays. Yet, there are several definitions, cultural and political, by which the Malays are defined and redefined as a community.

Influences from various parts of the world—South Asia, China, the Middle East (Islam) and the West--have been instrumental in shaping Malay culture and identity. Early kingdoms, mostly Hindu or Buddhist in character, and later empires came into being at the beginning of the Christian era.

With the arrival of Parameswara from present-day Indonesia another era begins, made infinitely significant with the conversion of the Malays into Islam. Various kingdoms rose and fall, and the present sultanates began to take shape. The important of these, in historical and cultural terms, were the kingdoms of Malacca and Patani.

With the destruction of the Malacca Sultanate by the Portuguese, and following them the establishment of a foothold in Malacca by the Dutch and their successors, the British, who spread their influence to the rest of the Malay peninsula, yet another major cultural shift took place. The colonial era had begun. In a sense traditional Malay history ends at this point.

The Malays

The Malays belong to the broader Malayo-Polynesian group of races, the origins of which have been traced to Yunnan in China through the Proto-Malays and Deutero-Malays.

According to anthropologists these early aboriginal groups, now collectively known as Orang Asli (meanining original or indigenous people), consisting of some eighteen groups, but officially classified into Negrito, Senoi and Proto-Malay, first reached the peninsula around 2000 B.C. In the peninsula their numbers are small, making up in total around 120,000 or 0.5 percent of Malaysia’s total population.

Sub-groups of the Malayo-Polynesian race live in modern-day Southeast Asia and in the Polynesian islands, linked by a common base language manifested in many sub-languages and dialects, as well as certain basic beliefs and ritual practices. Both the languages and the beliefs are shared with those of the aboriginal peoples of the region.

From earliest times diverse conditions in different localities as well as influences from the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, China and the West have served to considerably shape and reshape their cultures, so that each group has developed its own religious and social identity. The Malays now constitute the largest group of people in the Malay peninsula and in certain neighbouring territories on and off the island of Sumatra.

As far as Malaysia is concerned, many of those today identified as Malays have, in fact, come from these sub-groups, such as the Buginese, the Achehnese, the Javanese or the Minangkabau. Alternatively, the Malays are the product of a mixture of Malays and one or more of these sub-groups, many of which still maintain their racial identities as well as customs. The most prominent of these are the Minangkabau of Negeri Sembilan and the Javanese in Johore.

The term Malay in such situations is no more than a convenient label to refer to such communities, and is not always acceptable to the communities themselves. Apart from the ethnic links the religion of Islam is a major qualifying factor for one to be considered a Malay.

The history of the peninsula since about the 15th century, as well as recent cultural, social and political developments in Malaysia have, additionally, resulted in many non-Malays, particularly the Tamil- or Malayali-speaking Indian Muslims as well as converts from other religions into Islam being regarded as Malays. Non-Muslim groups, such as the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak, who also belong to the broader Malay-Polynesian races, are strictly speaking not considered to be Malays under this definition. To encompass all such peoples as well as the Malays a new and broader term, “Bumiputera,” came into use in the early 1970’s. Taken from the Sanskrit, this term literally means “Son-of-the Soil.”

Consequently in the context of Malay culture, the term “Malay” has two distinct applications:

(a) the Malay race as such, that is a broad term indicating ethnicity, and

(b) the Malay race as defined by the Malaysian constitution.

The Constitution, in fact, allows at the far extreme, converts to Islam to be defined as “Malay”, thus obliterating, as least on the popular level, the distinction between race and Islam. While some members of these latter groups may speak the Malay language and observe some of the social customs of the Malays, most of them retain their own languages and cultural practices, and have not been able to accept a wide range of traditional Malay beliefs.

Influences

The Malays have an animistic and Hindu heritage, strong influences of both being still evident in many of the traditional beliefs, customs and rituals, as well as in manifestations of artistic expression. Traditional practices and customary law (adat) remain important in ceremonial situations. The two best known systems of adat are the Adat Temenggong and the Adat Perpatih, the latter observed amongst the Minangkabau in Sumatra as well as, in the case of Malaysia, in the state of Negeri Sembilan.

The early history of the Malays remains obscure. The main centre of Malay power appears to have been on the island of Sumatra, where Srivijaya, a powerful kingdom was based with its capital at Palembang. The name Srivijaya is Sanskrit in origin and the culture of the population was Hindu-based. By the 9th century Srivijaya dominated the Malay Peninsula, and in the 13th century a separate kingdom, that of Tumasek was established on the island later renamed Singapore. In the 14th century Srivijaya as well as Tumasik were conquered by a Javanese empire, and the dispossessed ruler of Tumasik then founded a Malay kingdom in Malacca. With the conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the fugitive Malay Sultan founded the kingdom of Johor. (Rhiau-Johor). In due course other sultanates came to be established on the peninsula.

Islam reached the Malay archipelago in the 13th century, gaining its first foothold in the northern tip of Sumatra. Earliest evidence for Islam in the Malay peninsula comes in the form of the 14th century Trengganu stone. However, the extent of Islam in Trengganu at this early date has not been adequately established. Parameswara, the Hindu founder and first ruler of Malacca, was converted into Islam in the 15th century. From that date the Malay population of the peninsula was converted from Hinduism and Buddhism to Islam, and by the 17th century Islam had become the dominant religion of the peninsula. The Malays are Sunni Muslims belonging to the School of Shafii.

The impact of the various religious traditions of the Malays may be seen in their everyday beliefs and practices as well as in their festivals.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://www.best-of-langkawi.com/CULTURE-ancient-malaysia.php

Ancient Malaysia: 35,000 BC - 100 BC
We do know that homo sapiens have been in Malaysia for a long time. The oldest known evidence of human habitation is a skull from the Niah Caves in Sarawak dating from 35,000 years before Christ. On the peninsula, stone age tools and implements from about 10,000 BC have been found, and some archeologists suggest that they were left there by the predecessors of the Negrito aborigines - one of the earliest groups to inhabit the peninsula.

We also know that about 2,500 years before Christ a much more technologically advanced group migrated to the peninsula from China. Called the Proto-Malays, they were seafarers and farmers, and their advances into the peninsula forced the Negritos into the hills and jungles. History\'s periodic waves of cultural evolution, however, soon created another group, the Deutero-Malays. They were a combination of many peoples - Indians, Chinese, Siamese, Arabs, and Proto-Malays - and they had risen by mastering the use of iron. Combined with the peoples of Indonesia, the Deutero-Malays formed the racial basis for the group which today we simply call the Malay.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://www.ualberta.ca/~vmitchel/rev3.html

Austronesian Expansion - Taiwan 4,000 BC

By 5,000 BC an especially potent and versatile culture combining fishing and gardening had developed on the south coast of China. As well as growing their food on land, these maritime gardeners were accomplished at fishing the waters in the Straits of Taiwan from boats with hooks and nets. Between 4,000 and 3,000 BC, these fishermen-farmers crossed the 150 km of the Straits and settled on Taiwan.

It is important to note that the fishermen-farmers who crossed the straits to Taiwan were not the Sino-Tibetan speaking Han Chinese who today make up the great majority of the Chinese population. Linguistic evidence from Taiwan suggests that they spoke an Austronesian language closely related to the Tai-Kadai language family that is the dominant language group today in Laos, Thailand and the north and east of Burma.

On Taiwan, the Austronesian speaking fishermen-farmers honed their sea-faring skills. They soon embarked on one of the most astonishing and extensive colonizations in human history known as the Austronesian expansion. By about 2,500 BC, one group, and just one group of Austronesian speakers from Taiwan had ventured to northern Luzon in the Philippines and settled there. The archaeological record from the Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon shows that they brought with them the same set of stone tools and pottery they had in Taiwan. The descendants of this group spread their language and culture through the Indo-Malayan archipelago as far west as Madagascar off the east coast of Africa and as far east as Hawaii and Easter Island in the central Pacific Ocean.

For the most part, the Austronesians encountered unoccupied coasts and islands. Where they met hunting and gathering cultures, their horticultural productivity and population growth soon overwhelmed the aboriginal occupants. All the surviving Aeta populations in the Philippines speak Austronesian languages. Where they met established agrarian cultures, such as along the coasts of Vietnam (Champa) and Indo-China, their incursions were limited.

The speed of the Austronesian expansion was also a consequence of their maritime culture. Under the pressure of an expanding population, adventurous colonizers would prefer to settle new lands on coasts and islands before pressing inland and away from the sea. Furthermore, the Austronesian kinship system gave higher status, prestige and authority to the lineages most closely related to the society's founder. Austronesian culture put a premium on founding new colonies that gave an additional incentive to continued expansion. As it was, there were many new coasts and islands available for occupation and settlement.

Over the next thousand years to 1,500 BC, the Austronesians spread south through the Philippines to the Celebes, the Moluccas, northern Borneo and eastern Java. One branch went east from the Moluccan Island of Halmahera about 1,600 BC to colonize eastern Melanesia (1,200 BC) and Micronesia (500 BC). The migration had continued well into Polynesia by 0 AD and on to Hawaii and Easter Island by 500 AD. The Austronesians finally reached the last uninhabited land on earth, New Zealand, sometime around 1,300 AD.

Other Austronesians continued west through Borneo and Java to Sumatra and settled the coasts of the Malay peninsula and southern Vietnam by 500 BC. From Sumatra and the Malay peninsula, they learned to master the semi-annual winds of the Indian Ocean monsoons. Around 100 AD, they crossed the Bay of Bengal and made contacts with Sri Lanka and southern India. The western branch of the Austronesian expansion reached its furthest extent by 500 AD plying the monsoons to colonize Madagascar.

From Taiwan to New Zealand and Madagascar to Easter Island, the Austronesian language family is made up of more than a thousand languages and dialects. (Estimates vary from 900-1200 according to how dialects are distinguished from languages.) Measured by geographical extent, number of languages or number of speakers it is one of the world's largest language groups. In the Philippines there are some 87 Austronesian languages. The five largest, Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and Bicolano account for three-quarters of the population.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Malaysia

Prehistoric Malaysia may be traced back as far as 200,000 years ago from stone tools found at Kota Tampan archaeological site in Lenggong Perak. The earliest human skeleton, Perak Man, dating back 11,000 years and Perak Woman aged 8,000 years, were also discovered in Lenggong. The site has an undisturbed stone tool production area, created using equipment such as anvils and hammer stones. The Tambun Cave paintings are also situated in Perak. From East Malaysia, Sarawak's Niah Caves, there is evidence of the oldest human remains in Malaysia, dating back some 40,000 years.

obmar · Site Admin Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 5697

http://www.kiat.net/malaysia/history.html

PRE-HISTORIC MALAYSIA
Scientists have found archaeological evidence of human inhabitants in the Niah Caves in Sarawak from about 40,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of inhabitants on the Malay Peninsula that has been found is from about 10,000 years ago. Neolithic culture was well established by 2500-1500 BC. Most scholars believe the earliest settlers on the Malay Peninsula came overland from southern China in small groups over a period of thousands of years. These early inhabitants became the ancestors of the Orang Asli.

During the 1000's B.C., new groups of migrants who spoke a language related to Malay came to Malaysia. The ancestors of these people had traveled by sea from south China to Taiwan, and later from Taiwan to Borneo and the Philippines. These people became the ancestors of the Malays and the Orang Laut. The newcomers settled mainly in the coastal areas of the peninsula.

Small Malayan kingdoms existed in the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, when adventurers from India arrived and initiated more than 1,000 years of Indian influence. About A.D. 1400, a group of Malay-speaking migrants came to the Malay Peninsula from Srivijaya, a trading kingdom on the island of Sumatra (now part of Indonesia). Led by a Sumatran prince called Paramesvara, these newly arrived immigrants established a commercial kingdom called Malacca and secured Chinese protection for the city-state.

Europeans arrived in what is now Malaysia during the 1500's. Malacca entered a golden age as a commercial and Islamic religious centre but in 1511 it was captured by the Portuguese. When the Dutch captured Malacca in 1641, the port was no longer an important trading center.