Akar NusaAkar Nusa / All peoples / Malay
Malay
Stories written
Where does the word Melayu come from?
The name has moved around Sumatra, Melaka and Borneo for 1,300 years.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readSrivijaya: the sea empire of Sumatra
A great Buddhist maritime power that controlled the Straits.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readShipwrecks of the Straits: what they carried
Ships found underwater show who traded with whom.
Kingdoms and trade · 4 min readPasai, the first Muslim port in the Straits
A trading port that helped Islam spread across the region.
Kingdoms and trade · 3 min readTerengganu Stone: oldest Malay text in Arabic script
A stone from 1303 or 1387 shows early Malay writing.
Melaka · 4 min readParameswara and the founding of Melaka
A prince from Palembang chose a river mouth that would change the region.
Melaka · 4 min readZheng He and the treasure fleets in Melaka
A Chinese admiral visited Melaka seven times.
Melaka · 4 min readHang Li Po and the legend of the Chinese princess
A famous tale about a link between the Ming court and Melaka.
Melaka · 4 min readHang Tuah and the Malay hero stories
Legend, history and national pride mixed in one hero's name.
Melaka · 4 min readThe Portuguese conquest of Melaka
Albuquerque took the port in 1511.
Melaka · 4 min readThe Dutch capture Melaka, 1641
The Dutch East India Company ended Portuguese rule.
Melaka · 4 min readThe Johor-Riau world
A Malay sultanate that lived across the sea, not on one coast.
Melaka · 4 min readThe Bugis arrive: Opu Daeng Parani and the Riau court
Bugis warriors became kingmakers in the Malay world.
Melaka · 4 min readKedah, Siam and the founding of Penang, 1786
Francis Light and Kedah's bargain with the British.
Melaka · 4 min readRaffles, Singapore and the Treaty of 1824
The treaty that split the Malay world in two.
The great migrations · 4 min readThe tin rush of the Kinta valley
Tin turned Ipoh into a city and built great fortunes.
The great migrations · 4 min readLarut Wars and the Pangkor Treaty
Tin, secret societies and a British treaty in 1874.
The great migrations · 4 min readRubber: from Brazil to Malaya
Henry Ridley's seeds changed who lives where.
Living heritage · 3 min readNasi lemak: a Malay dish with many roads
Coconut rice, anchovies, and a story of trade.
Living heritage · 4 min readMalay house styles: Perak, Melaka, Kelantan
Roof lines mark regional families.
Southeast Asia next · 4 min readSingapore: the island of many roads
A Chinese, Malay, Indian and mixed story on one island.
Coming soon
Srivijaya and the Peninsula: Kedah, Chaiya, and the tin
Srivijaya ruled the Straits and tied the Peninsula to the sea.
The Cholas and the Peninsula
A South Indian navy raided Kedah in 1025.
Majapahit and the Peninsula
Java's great empire left its mark on the Malay world.
Kota Gelanggi and other lost cities
Old texts talk of a lost city in Johor; searchers have not found it.
Tun Perak, the bendahara who shaped the Sultanate
A key minister in Melaka's golden age.
Aceh, Perak and the tin wars
Rival sultans fought over the tin of the Kinta valley.
Kelantan and Terengganu: the east coast courts
Court, trade and Siam on the east coast.
The Malay world's cultural stories: wayang, hikayat, adat
Plays, tales and laws kept memory alive.
Malay naming: from Raja and Tun to patronymic
Title and bin lines tell family stories, with care.
Songket and batik: cloth, kingdoms and families
Gold thread and wax-resist cloth carry old patterns.
Java, Sumatra and the first kingdoms
Majapahit, Srivijaya and the old courts.
Places in these stories
Family lines linked in these stories
The seafarers' line
Line is likely 30,000 to 50,000 years oldMother line R9An old Southeast Asian line
Line is likely 40,000 to 55,000 years oldFather line O-M119The seafarers' father line
Line is likely 20,000 to 35,000 years oldDNA does not decide who anyone is. It does not show race, religion or any legal status. Every community tells its own story first, and we tell the DNA part with respect.
