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. My spouse and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I
    might as well check things out. I like what
    I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to finding out about your web page
    again.

  2. Usually I do not learn post on blogs, however I wish to say
    that this write-up very forced me to try and do it!

    Your writing style has been surprised me. Thank you, quite great post.

  3. After exploring a handful of the blog articles on your web site,
    I truly like your technique of writing a blog.
    I book-marked it to my bookmark site list and will be
    checking back soon. Please visit my web site too and let me know how you feel.

  4. Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with?
    I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a
    tough time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
    The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m
    looking for something completely unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

  5. I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your
    blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to
    come back in the future. Cheers

  6. Today, I went to the beach front with my children. 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 placed 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!

  7. Hi, There’s no doubt that your blog might
    be having web browser compatibility problems. When I look at your web site in Safari,
    it looks fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues.
    I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Apart from that, wonderful
    blog!

  8. Link exchange is nothing else except it is
    just placing the other person’s blog link on your page at appropriate place and other
    person will also do same in favor of you.

  9. Hi my loved one! I want to say that this article is awesome,
    nice written and come with almost all vital infos.
    I’d like to peer more posts like this .

  10. After checking out a handful of the blog posts on your
    web site, I honestly like your way of blogging. I saved it
    to my bookmark webpage list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my website too
    and tell me what you think.

  11. Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed
    reading it, you might be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog
    and will come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great writing, have a nice morning!

  12. We’re a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
    Your website provided us with valuable information to work
    on. You have done an impressive job and our whole community will be grateful to you.

  13. Attractive component to content. I simply stumbled upon your website
    and in accession capital to claim that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your weblog posts.
    Anyway I’ll be subscribing on your feeds and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.

  14. I’m not sure why but this blog is loading extremely slow for
    me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end?
    I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.

  15. Hi fantastic website! Does running a blog similar to this take a large amount of
    work? I have no understanding of programming however I had
    been hoping to start my own blog in the near future. Anyways, should you have any suggestions or
    tips for new blog owners please share. I know this is
    off subject however I simply wanted to ask. Many thanks!

  16. Pretty component of content. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to say
    that I get actually enjoyed account your blog posts.
    Anyway I will be subscribing for your augment or even I achievement you get right
    of entry to consistently quickly.

  17. Having read this I thought it was extremely
    informative. I appreciate you spending some time and effort to put this
    informative article together. I once again find myself
    personally spending a significant amount of time both reading and posting comments.
    But so what, it was still worthwhile!

  18. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources
    back to your webpage? My blog is in the exact same area of interest as yours
    and my visitors would genuinely benefit from some of the information you provide
    here. Please let me know if this alright with you.

    Many thanks!

  19. Hello, this weekend is good in favor of me, because this point in time i am reading this great educational piece of writing here
    at my residence.

  20. I’m extremely inspired along with your writing talents and also with
    the structure for your weblog. Is that this a paid
    topic or did you customize it yourself? Anyway stay up the excellent
    high quality writing, it is rare to peer a great blog like this one nowadays..

Leave a Reply

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