History of Malaysia

Hey fellow adventurers! It’s time to discuss the history of Malaysia. Throughout the post, I’m going to use the name Malaysia for convenience but that’s a more recent name. Malaysia has been called Malaya in the past, as well as some other names. I’m sorry if that confuses anyone.

There is evidence to support that human activity has occurred in Malaysia for at least 40,000 years. Trade with China and India was established as far back as 100 BCE. Trade doesn’t just bring in buyable goods though, but culture and religion. By 400 CE, Buddhism and Hinduism were introduced to Malaysia via India. By 1300, Islam was introduced by Arab and Indian merchants. During what is sometimes called a “second flowering of Islam,” four Muslim empires (Ottoman, Safavid, Songhay and Mughal) gained strong political and military power, as well as economic prosperity. By the 1400s, the trading network was largely controlled by Muslims in the Southeast Asia area. To attract these traders to their cities, a lot of Hindu and Buddhist rulers converted to Islam and enforced Islamic law.

A few countries have occupied Malaysia throughout history but the British controlled Malaysia the longest. Although at first the British only wanted economic control over Malaysia, they soon wanted territorial control as well. Under British rule, the British brought in Indians to do manual labor, such as Tin mining. This made Indian and Chinese Malaysians the primary manual labor workforce. While Malay Malaysians had opportunities to work in government positions, such as for the police. Positions the British generally closed off to non-Europeans. Not only that but the British gave off the impression that the Malay Malaysians were the rulers of Malaysia but didn’t give them any authority to rule. This inequality created a rift between the races. If you want to learn more about Colonial control over Malaysia, read the following article:

http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4a/entry-3619.html

During World War II, Japan set out to acquire resources that would free it from its dependence on the West. The Japanese shared a desire with several Southeast Asian countries to liberate countries under European control. The Japanese claimed they were going to make “Asia for Asians.” However soon after they began conquering countries, it became clear that they were more interested in resources, than liberation. The Japanese’s first act in Malaysia was to kill the Chinese Malaysians. After which, the Japanese established a rule, and you either followed or died. The occupation of the Japanese ended after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. If you wish to learn more, I highly recommend this show from history channel:

After Japanese occupation ended, it wasn’t long until the British took control again. This was welcomed by some Malaysians and dreaded by others. Those who wanted Malaysian independence fought to get rid of British control. In 1957, Malaysia is free from British control. And in 1963, Malaysia officially becomes Malaysia. If you would like a more comprehensive timeline of the history of Malaysia, check out BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15391762

I also recommend watching this interesting piece about former Malaysian communists that were kicked out of Malaysia while it was still Malaya:

That’s all for today’s post! I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading my blog, and as always, until our next adventure!

7,682 thoughts on “History of Malaysia”

  1. I think this is one of the most significant info for me.
    And i’m glad reading your article. But want to remark on some general things, The site style is great,
    the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers

  2. Incredible! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a completely different
    topic but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Great
    choice of colors!

  3. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
    You clearly know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be
    giving us something enlightening to read?

  4. My programmer is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
    I have always disliked the idea because
    of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve
    been using Movable-type on various websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform.
    I have heard great things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  5. Wonderful blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any forums
    that cover the same topics talked about here? I’d really like to be
    a part of community where I can get responses from other experienced individuals that share the same interest.
    If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
    Cheers!

  6. It’s not my first time to pay a visit this website,
    i am browsing this web site dailly and get nice information from here
    everyday.

  7. Simply wish to say your article is as astounding.
    The clearness on your put up is simply nice and i can suppose you are knowledgeable on this subject.
    Well with your permission let me to seize your feed to stay
    updated with coming near near post. Thank you 1,000,000 and please carry on the enjoyable work.

  8. Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
    I mean, what you say is valuable and all.

    But think about if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
    Your content is excellent but with pics and video
    clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the most beneficial in its niche.
    Superb blog!

  9. It’s in reality a nice and useful piece of information. I’m happy that you just shared
    this helpful info with us. Please stay us informed like this.

    Thanks for sharing.

  10. Awesome blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers?
    I’m planning to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
    Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out
    there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any ideas?
    Kudos!

  11. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked
    submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all
    that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say excellent
    blog!

  12. Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site.
    It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very hard to get
    that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appeal.
    I must say you’ve done a great job with this.
    Also, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Chrome.
    Excellent Blog!

  13. You’re so cool! I do not suppose I have read through anything like that before.
    So great to find somebody with original thoughts on this topic.
    Really.. thanks for starting this up. This website is one thing that is needed on the internet,
    someone with a bit of originality!

  14. I have been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality
    articles or weblog posts on this sort of space .
    Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this web
    site. Studying this information So i am glad to show that I’ve an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling
    I found out just what I needed. I most indubitably will make sure
    to don?t fail to remember this web site and give it a look regularly.

  15. I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put
    in penning this website. I am hoping to check out the
    same high-grade content by you in the future as well.

    In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me
    to get my own site now 😉

  16. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a
    friend who was conducting a little research on this.
    And he in fact ordered me lunch because I found it for him…
    lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
    But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this issue here on your website.

  17. Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google,
    and found that it is really informative.

    I’m going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future.
    Numerous people will be benefited from your writing.

    Cheers!

  18. Heya i am for the first time here. I found this board and I find
    It truly useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and aid others like
    you helped me.

  19. Today, I went to the beach with my kids. I found a
    sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her ear and screamed.
    There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.

    She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is totally off topic but I had to tell
    someone!

  20. It’s really very complicated in this active life to listen news on Television, so I simply use
    web for that reason, and get the hottest information.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *