Malaysia is located on a strategic sea-lane that exposes it to global trade and various

cultures. Strictly, the name "Malaysia" is a modern concept, created in the second half of
the 20th century. However, contemporary Malaysia regards the entire History of Malaya,
spanning thousands of years back to Prehistoric times, as its own history, and as such it
is treated in this page.
An early western account of the area is seen in Ptolemy's book Geographia, which
mentions a "Golden Khersonese," now identified as the Malay Peninsula.
[1] Hinduism and Buddhism from India and China dominated early regional history,
reaching their peak during the reign of the Sumatra-based Srivijaya civilisation, whose
influence extended through Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula and much
of Borneo from the 7th to the 13th centuries.
Although Muslims had passed through the Malay Peninsula as early as the 10th century,
it was not until the 14th century that Islam first firmly established itself. The adoption of
Islam in the 14th century saw the rise of a number of sultanates, the most prominent of
which was the Sultanate of Malacca. Islam had a profound influence on the Malay
people, but has also been influenced by them. The Portuguese were the first European
colonial powers to establish themselves on the Malay Peninsula and Southeast Asia,
capturing Malacca in 1511, followed by the Dutch in 1641. However, it was the British
who, after initially establishing bases at Jesselton, Kuching, Penang and Singapore,
ultimately secured their hegemony across the territory that is now Malaysia. The Anglo-
Dutch Treaty of 1824 defined the boundaries between British Malaya and
the Netherlands East Indies (which became Indonesia). A fourth phase of foreign
influence was immigration of Chinese and Indian workers to meet the needs of the
colonial economy created by the British in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo.[2]
Japanese invasion during World War II ended British domination in Malaysia. The
subsequent occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak from 1942 to 1945
unleashed nationalism. In the Peninsula, the Malayan Communist Party took up arms
against the British. A tough military response ended the insurgency and brought about
the establishment of an independent, multi-racial Federation of Malaya on 31 August
1957. On 22 July 1963, Sarawak was granted self-governance. The following month on
31 August 1963, both North Borneo and Singapore were also granted self-governance
and all states formed Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Approximately two years later,
the Malaysian parliament passed a bill without the consent of signatories of the Malaysia
Agreement 1963 to separate Singapore from the Federation.[3] A confrontation with
Indonesia occurred in the early-1960s. Race riots in 1969 led to the imposition of
emergency rule, and a curtailment of political life and civil liberties which has never been
fully reversed. Since 1970 the Barisan Nasional coalition headed by United Malays
National Organisation (UMNO) had governed Malaysia until defeated by the Pakatan
Harapan coalition which was headed by ex-UMNO leader Mahathir Mohamad on 10 May
2018.