The history of Brunei concerns the settlements and societies located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, which has been under the influence of Indianised kingdoms and empires for much of its history. Local scholars assume that the Islamisation of Brunei started in the fifteenth century, with the formation of the Bruneian Empire, a thalassocracy which covered the northern part of Borneo and the southern Philippines.[1] At the end of the 17th century, Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by Brunei Civil War, piracy, and European colonial expansion. Later, there was a brief war with Spain, in which Brunei lost Manila and evacuated their capital for a brief period until the Spanish withdrew. The empire lost much of its territory with the arrival of the Western powers, such as the Spanish in the Philippines and the British in Labuan, Sarawak, and North Borneo. The decline of the Bruneian Empire accelerated in the nineteenth century when Brunei gave much of its territory to the White Rajahs of Sarawak, resulting in its current small landmass and separation into two parts. Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin later appealed to the British to stop further annexation in 1888. In the same year, the British signed a "Treaty of Protection" and made Brunei a British protectorate until 1984 when it gained independence and prospered due to the discovery of oil.[2][3]
The history of Brunei before the arrival of Magellan's ships is based on speculation, the interpretation of Chinese sources, and local legends. Historians believe that there was a forerunner to the present day Brunei Sultanate. One possible predecessor state was called Vijayapura, which possibly existed in northwest Borneo in the 7th century.[a] It was probably a subject state of the powerful Srivijaya empire based in Sumatra. One predecessor state was called Po-ni (pinyin: Boni).[4] By the 10th century Po-ni had contacts with first the Song dynasty and at some point even entered into a tributary relationship with China. By the 14th century Po-ni also fell under the influence of the JavaneseMajapahit Empire. The book of Nagarakretagama, canto 14, written by Prapanca in 1365 mentioned Berune as a vassal state of Majahpahit.[5] However this may have been nothing more than a symbolic relationship, as one account of the annual tribute owed each year to Majahpahit was a jar of areca juice obtained from the young green nuts of the areca palm. The Ming dynasty resumed communications with Po-ni in the 1370s and the Po-ni ruler Ma-na-jih-chia-na visited the Ming capital Nanjing in 1408 and died there; his tomb was rediscovered in the 20th century, and is now a protected monument.
The greater part of the official historical record for early Brunei until the arrival of Pigafetta is based on legends and assumptions.
The historical account – lacking any real evidence – has been constructed in such a way that around 1370, Zhu Yuan Zhang sent representatives to Brunei and Indonesia, and Brunei paid tribute to the Ming Chinese, which signified the strong influence of the Ming Dynasty and accounts for the combination of Ong Sum Ping's influence in Brunei. the account that follows below is the version currently accepted in Brunei, but challenged by a number of scholars because it lacks factual substance.
In 1402, after the death of Sultan Muhammad Shah ( or known before converting to Islam, Awang Alak Betatar), his son Abdul Majid Hasan ascended the throne. Ong Sum Ping and Pengiran Temenggong became regents. Bruneian history has seldom treated Hasan as the second Sultan. In 1406, after the death of Sultan Majid Hasan, there existed a two-year power vacuum. During this two years, Bruneian nobles were locked in a power struggle; in the end, with the clever maneuvering of Ong Sum Ping, Sultan Ahmad came out victorious and Pengiran Temenggong's faction lost. Ahmad thus became the second Sultan in Bruneian official History. Sultan Ahmad was married to a sister of Ong Sum Ping. To further cement his influence on the new sultan, Ong Sum Ping advised the sultan that a visit to China, a regional Asian power at that time was good. Thus, the new sultan sent Ong Sum Ping and several court officials as representatives to China to assure the new Ming Dynasty of continued tributary relationship. Ong Sum Ping and his entourage landed in the coastal region of Fujian; emperor Yong Le had officials organised a welcome party for Ong Sum Ping.
Advanced in age, Ong Sum Ping could not make the long journey back to Brunei, and died in Nanjing. Prior to his death, he had pleaded with Emperor Yong Le to grant several wishes among which (1) that Brunei continued to be a tributary kingdom, (2) Sungai Kinabatangan and the surrounding area, decades ago under the province of the Mongol Yuan dynasty of China, be re-annexed as Chinese territory, (3) that the highest mountain in the territory be named "Kinabalu" or "new China" or alternatively some say "Chinese Widow". Emperor Yong Le granted his wish and further conferred upon Ong's son Awang as the new ruler, and named the mountain of Brunei as Chang Ning Mountainجبل السلام – mean Jabel Alsalam ("mountain of peace") in Arabic.
In 1408, Awang returned to Brunei under the escort of Chinese Imperial eunuchs, officials, and soldiers. Awang succeeded to the position of Ong Sum Ping in Brunei, and continued to exercise political power and influence upon the sultan. The Chinese still referred to him as Chung Ping – General. In 1412, he paid tribute to Emperor Yong Le. The wife of Ong Sum Ping was also buried in Brunei at a location which the local Malays called Bukit Cina. The sister of Ong Sum Ping, who was the wife of Sultan Ahmad gave birth to a daughter. This daughter later inherited the throne and her consort became Sultan Sharif Ali (so he was Sayyidina), who came from the Arabian Peninsula. Sultan Sharif Ali was a descendant of Muhammad. The granddaughter and the Arabian were the ancestors of today's sultan of Brunei.
Bruneians today, still believe that Ong Sum Ping was an ancestor of the Brunei royalty. Even though the Bruneian royal family stressed more on the concept of Melayu Islam Beraja ملاي إسلام براج, but they do not discount the Chinese connection. Ong Sum Ping's name was recorded under the genealogy of the Sultans of Brunei. In the capital of Brunei—Bandar Seri Begawan (similar with श्री भगवान् in Sanskrit), there exist a street named Jalan Ong Sum Ping, and the Muzium Brunei also contained artifacts of Ong Sum Ping. The tomb of Ong Sum Ping's son is also under the Bruneian government heritage protection.
The historical "Silsilah Raja-raja Sulu" provide further evidence of Ong Sum Ping's existence. According to the record of the Silsilah Raja-raja Sulu, Ong Sum Ping arrived at Brunei with several Chinese soldiers on a commission to collect a certain precious Jewell, called Gomala, in North Borneo, assumed to be on the highest mountain and said to be guarded by a dragon. Ong Sum Ping and his men later landed on the eastern coast of North Borneo. The Chinese explorers knew from vast experience that to reach a high mountain they had to logically start from the big river mouth and move ever upwards to the source of the river. Ong Sum Ping set up a staging station on the Kinabatangan river and sent men upriver. Unfortunately, the source of the Kinabatangan river is not on Mount Kinabalu. After the demise of Ong Sum Ping, Awang the new raja of Kinabatangan sent an expedition, this time up the Labuk River. It only managed to set up another staging station at the confluence of the Liwagu Kogibangan and Liwagu Kawananan.
Later this staging station became the permanent settlement now known as Nunuk Ragang the original home of the Kadazan-Dusun race. At the staging station the Chinese hung red colored pieces of fabric and red colored banner to indicate their presence to any follow-up parties. Red is an important symbolic color in Chinese culture, and even today whenever the Chinese set up a new project such as land development, they never neglect to set up a red coloured altar and offer sacrifice.[6] There is no zoological record of a red coloured Banyan Tree so it can only be assumed that to the simple native mind the Banyan tree has turned red, hence the name Nunuk Ragang. The offspring of the soldiers, porters and local natives women became the ancestors of the Kadazan-Dusun race. This explain the reason behind the many similarities in language between the natives of Taiwan and the Kadazan-Dusun language. The ethnic Tagahas, warlike and aggressive claim they are the descendants of soldiers. Additionally, the local native women were themselves descendants of previous waves of migrations of Austronesian people from mainland China and Taiwan to Sahul, and also during the Mongol Empire Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan, in 1292, during which Sulu and Northern Borneo became a province under the Mongol Empire.[7] When, on a visit to China with the Sultan of Brunei in 1408, Ong Sum Ping died, his son, Awang returned as the new Raja of Kinabatangan three years later. Meanwhile, the settlement at Nunuk Ragang had already been well established and thriving. The new Raja, having converted to Islam was no longer interested in Jewell and dragon, but more concerned with court affairs having been appointed an important adviser to the Brunei Sultanate. Trading in the abundant resources at Kinabatangan became his most primary concern and the men at Nunuk Ragang was abandoned and left to fend for themselves.
According to this record, Ong Sum Ping didn't become Sultan, but his daughter was married to the Sultan, and he became the Sultan's father-in-law. Bruneian royal houses adopted the maternal succession system; it is known for certain that his maternal granddaughter became the Queen of Sultan Sharif Ali. However, it is believed that the year might be in 1375, not in the Yuan Dynasty, but in the 8th year of Emperor Hong Wu.
Brunei's relations varied with the different European powers in the region. The Portuguese, for the most part, were more interested in economic and trading relations with the regional powers and did little to interfere with Brunei's development. This does not mean that relations were always cordial, such as in 1536 when the Portuguese attacked the Muslims in the Moluccas and the ambassador to the Brunei court had to leave because of the sultan's hostility. The Portuguese also noted that the sultanate was heavily involved in the region's politics and wars, and that Brunei merchants could be found in Ligor and Siam.
Relations with Spain were far more hostile. From 1565 on, Spanish and Brunei forces engaged in a number of naval skirmishes, and in 1571 the Spanish who had been sending expeditions from Mexico succeeded in capturing Manila from the Brunei aristocracy that had been established there. Brunei raised several large fleets with the intention of recapturing the city, but the campaigns, for various reasons, never launched.[b] In 1578, the Spanish took Sulu and in April attacked and captured Brunei itself, after demanding that the sultan cease proselytising in the Philippines and, in turn, allow Christian missionaries to be active in his kingdom. The Spaniards withdrew after suffering heavy losses due to a cholera or dysentery outbreak.[8][9] They were so weakened by the illness that they decided to abandon Brunei to return to Manila on 26 June 1578, after just 72 days.[10] The short-term damage to the sultanate was minimal, as Sulu regained its independence soon after. However, Brunei failed to regain a foothold in Luzon, with the island firmly in Spanish hands.
The long-term effects of regional changes could not be avoided. After Sultan Hassan, Brunei entered a period of decline, due to internal battles over royal succession as well as the rising influences of European colonial powers in the region, that, among other things, disrupted traditional trading patterns, destroying the economic base of Brunei and many other Southeast Asian sultanates.
During Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II’s reign, disturbances occurred in Sarawak. In 1839, the British adventurer James Brooke arrived in Borneo and helped the Sultan put down this rebellion.
As a reward, he became governor and later "White Rajah" of Sarawak and gradually expanded the territory under his control. Brooke never gained control of Brunei, though he did attempt to. He asked the British to check whether or not it would be acceptable for him to claim Brunei as his own; however, they came back with bad news—although Brunei was poorly governed, it had a definite sense of national identity and could therefore not be absorbed by Brooke.
In 1843 an open conflict between Brooke and the Sultan ended in the latter's defeat. The Sultan recognised Sarawak's independence. In 1846, Brunei Town was attacked and captured by the British and Sultan Saifuddin II was forced to sign a treaty to end the British occupation of Brunei Town. In the same year, Sultan Saifuddin II ceded Labuan to the British under the Treaty of Labuan. In 1847, he signed the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the British and in 1850, he signed a similar treaty with the United States, which, after a series of events, resulted in the first consul of the US, Charles Lee Moses, burning down his consulate. Over the years, the Sultans of Brunei ceded further stretches of territory to Sarawak; in 1877, stretches to the east of the capital were leased (later ceded) to the British North Borneo Chartered Company (North Borneo). Eventually, due to these seizures of territory, which was accepted by the sultan for annual lease payments, the British occupied the vast majority of the coast of Brunei. The Sultan only stopped handing over territory when Sarawak asked for Limbang, which the Sultan refused. Against the Sultan's wishes, Sarawak obtained control over the territory.
In 1906, the British started a residency in Brunei. This was averted from greater British control from a friendly report by Malcolm Stewart Hannibal McArthur, who prevented the nation from being colonized completely, in the Report on Brunei in 1904. This residency, with the Sultan having control over internal policies, continued until 1984. During this residency, oil was discovered, in 1928, by Shell. This is what has changed the country from its former impoverished state to a much wealthier one today.
The Sultan of Brunei participated in efforts to form a federation of Malaysia with the Federation of Malaya, Crown Colony of Sarawak, Crown Colony of North Borneo and the Colony of Singapore, but decided not to in the end due to the issue of oil profits and massive popular opinion against the move. This wish by the sultan resulted in a coup by the most populous party in the nation, comprising a vast majority of the population, by the Brunei People's Party (PRB). This failed due to poor organisation and their leader, A.M. Azahari, not even being in the country during the coup. Another option considered was a federation between North Borneo, Sarawak, and Brunei, but this was rejected due to oil revenues and the possible limitation of the Sultan's power.
On 14 November 1971, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah left for London to discuss matters regarding the amendments to the 1959 constitution. A new agreement was signed on 23 November 1971 with the British representative being Anthony Royle.
Under this agreement, the following terms were agreed upon:
Brunei was granted full internal self-government
The UK would still be responsible for external affairs and defence.
Brunei and the UK agreed to share the responsibility for security and defence.
This agreement also caused Gurkha units to be deployed in Brunei, where they remain up to this day.
On 7 January 1979, another treaty was signed between Brunei and the UK. It was signed with Lord Goronwy-Roberts being the representative of the UK. This agreement granted Brunei to take over international responsibilities as an independent nation. Britain agreed to assist Brunei in diplomatic matters. In May 1983, it was announced by the UK that the date of independence of Brunei would be 1 January 1984.[citation needed]
On 31 December 1983, a mass gathering was held on main mosques on all four of the districts of the country and at midnight, on 1 January 1984, the Proclamation of Independence was read by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The sultan subsequently assumed the title "His Majesty", rather than the previous "His Royal Highness". Brunei was admitted to the United Nations on 22 September 1984, becoming the organisation's 159th member.
Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, joining ASEAN on the same year.[11] Economic growth from its extensive petroleum and natural gas fields during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the Southeast Asian nations, after Singapore, and is classified as a "developed country". In 2014, the Sultan instituted an IslamicSharia penal code[11]
^This view recently has been challenged. See Johannes L. Kurz "Boni in Chinese Sources: Translations of Relevant Texts from the Song to the Qing Dynasties", paper accessible under http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/article_view.asp?id=172 (2006)
^"Naskah Nagarakretagama" (in Indonesian). Perpustakaan Nasional Republik Indonesia. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
^On, Low Kok (2006). Reading Symbols and Mythical Landscape in the "Tambunan Dusun Origin Myth" Kota Kinabalu:Universiti Malaysia Sabah. pp. 38–40.
^Rutter, Owen (1922).British North Borneo: An Account of its History, Resources and Native Tribes.London: Constable and Company Limited. p.84-85
The Philippine Islands: Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and their People, their History and Records of the Catholics Missions, as related in contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts. Vol. IV-1576-1582. Eds. Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson. Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1903.
Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is named after the nation of Brunei.
Maharaja
Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or "high king". A few ruled mighty states informally called empires, including ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, and Maharaja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, but 'title inflation' soon led to most being rather mediocre or even petty in real power, while compound titles were among the attempts to distinguish some among their ranks.
Sultanate of Sulu
The Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state that ruled the islands in the Sulu Archipelago, parts of Mindanao, certain portions of Palawan and north-eastern Borneo.
Dusun people
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Due to similarities in culture and language with the Kadazan ethnic group, a new unified term called "Kadazan-Dusun" was created. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah.
Nunuk Ragang
Nunuk Ragang is a site traditionally considered as the location of the original home of the ancestors of the Kadazan-Dusun natives who inhabit most of northern Borneo. The site, nearby a village named Tampias, is located at the intersection of the left and right branches of the Liwagu River to the east of Ranau and Tambunan in Sabah. The two river branches joined up to flow into the Labuk river and drain out into the Sulu Sea. At the site, and under a giant banyan tree, a settlement referred to as Nunuk Ragang was founded. The giant banyan tree was said to be able to give shade to a longhouse sheltering 10 families in it. The legend about Nunuk Ragang had been passed down via oral traditions to the younger generations. No archaeological dig has been carried out to establish the veracity of the legend. Under the strong influence of the modernisation, with the accompanying strong emphasis on other bigger encompassing cultures, and coupled with the passing of older generation, interest in this heritage will wane and disappear.
Bisaya (Borneo)
The Bisaya are an indigenous people of the north-west and the coast line of Borneo, Malaysia. They mostly live in Limbang division and Lawas district, more than 20 villages including Kg Batu Danau to name a few. In part of Sabah, Bisaya mostly live near the Beaufort district, the Padas River also Kuala Penyu in the Sabah region. There are also some Bisaya living in Kampung Manunggang, Sabah. Nowadays the Bisaya living in Sabah are Muslim, while the Bisaya living in Sarawak are mostly Christian. In Brunei, they are referred as Dusun, Jati Dusun and Bisaya. The Bisaya people are also regarded as a relatives of the Dayak people whereas Bisaya was not brought into Borneo instead they are aboriginal of the land.
Ethnic Chinese in Brunei
Ethnic Chinese in Brunei are people of full or partial Chinese – particularly Han Chinese – ancestry who are citizens or residents in Brunei. As of 2015, they constitute 10.1% of the country's population, making them the second largest ethnic group in Brunei. Brunei is home to one of the smaller communities of Overseas Chinese.
Bruneian Empire
The Bruneian Empire or Empire of Brunei, also known as Sultanate of Brunei, was a Malay sultanate, centred in Brunei on the northern coast of Borneo island in Southeast Asia. Bruneian rulers converted to Islam around the 15th century, when it grew substantially since the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese, extending throughout coastal areas of Borneo and the Philippines, before it declined in the 17th century.
History of Sarawak
History of Sarawak can be traced as far as 40,000 years ago paleolithic period where the earliest evidence of human settlements is found in the Niah caves. A series of Chinese ceramics dated from 8th to 13th century AD was uncovered at the archeological site of Santubong. The coastal regions of Sarawak came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 16th century. In 1839, James Brooke, a British explorer, first arrived in Sarawak. Sarawak was later governed by the Brooke family between 1841 and 1946. During World War II, it was occupied by the Japanese for three years. After the war, the last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke, ceded Sarawak to Britain, and in 1946 it became a British Crown Colony. On 22 July 1963, Sarawak was granted self-government by the British. Following this, it became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia, established on 16 September 1963. However, the federation was opposed by Indonesia, and this led to the three-year Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. From 1960 to 1990, Sarawak experienced a communist insurgency.
Bruneian Malay people
Bruneian Malays are a native Malay ethnic group that lives in Brunei, the federal territory of Labuan, the southwestern coast of Sabah and the northern parts of Sarawak.
The Bruneian Malays are a subgroup of the larger Ethnic Malays population found in the other parts of the Malay World, namely Peninsular Malaysia and the central and southern areas of Sarawak including neighbouring lands such as Singapore, Indonesia and Southern Thailand, having visible differences especially in language and culture, even though they are ethnically related to each other and follow the teachings of Islam.
All Bruneian Malays who are born or domiciled in East Malaysia even for generations before or after the independence of the states of Sabah and Sarawak from the British Empire through the formation of Malaysia in 1963 are also considered Malaysian Malays in the national census and were in the same status like the Malaysian Malays domiciled in Peninsular Malaysian states and the central and southern parts of Sarawak. They are also defined as a part of the Bumiputera racial classification together as a subgroup within the Malaysian Malay ethnic population along with the Kadazan-Dusuns, Ibans, Malaccan Portuguese and the Malaysian Siamese.
History of Sabah
The history of Sabah can be traced back to about 23–30,000 years ago when evidence suggests the earliest human settlement in the region existed. The history is interwoven with the history of Brunei and the history of Malaysia, which Sabah was previously part of and is currently part of respectively. The earliest recorded history of Sabah being part of any organised civilisation began in the early 15th century during the thriving era of the Sultanate of Brunei. Prior to this, early inhabitants of the land lived in predominantly tribal societies, although such tribal societies had continued to exist until the 1900s. The eastern part of Sabah was ceded to the Sultan of Sulu by the Sultan of Brunei in 1658 for the former helping a victory over Brunei enemies, but many sources stated it had not been ceded at all. By the late 19th century, both territories previously owned by Sultan of Brunei and Sultan of Sulu was granted to British syndicate and later emerged as British North Borneo under the management of the North Borneo Chartered Company. Sabah became a protectorate of the United Kingdom in 1888 and subsequently became a Crown colony from 1946 until 1963, during which time it was known as Crown Colony of North Borneo. On 16 September 1963, Sabah merged with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia.
Sultanate of Sarawak
The Sultanate of Sarawak was a traditional Malay kingdom, precursor of the present-day Kuching Division, Sarawak. The kingdom was founded in 1599 and witnessed the reign of a sole Sultan, Sultan Tengah, Prince of Brunei, known as Ibrahim Ali Omar Shah of Sarawak. The state established close relationship with Brunei, Johor and forged dynastic rules to the surrounding Malay kingdoms in western Borneo including Sambas, Sukadana and Tanjungpura-Matan. The kingdom was dissolved following Sultan Tengah's assassination in 1641. The administration of the territory was then replaced by the local Malay governors appointed from Brunei, reunifying the area into Brunei prior to the White Rajah era.
Papar District
The Papar District is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The capital of the district is in Papar Town.