Prehistoric Malaysia may be traced back as far as 200,000 years ago from stone tools found at Bukit Jawa, an archaeological site in
LenggongLenggong is a town in Perak, Malaysia. It is situated 100 km north of Ipoh.-Introduction:The Lenggong valley in Ulu Perak is one of Peninsular Malaysia's most important areas for archaeology, as excavations have revealed many traces of Malaysia's prehistory. It is the site of the oldest known place...
Perak. The earliest human skeleton in Peninsular Malaysia, Perak Man, dating back 11,000 years and Perak Woman aged 8000 years, were also discovered in
LenggongLenggong is a town in Perak, Malaysia. It is situated 100 km north of Ipoh.-Introduction:The Lenggong valley in Ulu Perak is one of Peninsular Malaysia's most important areas for archaeology, as excavations have revealed many traces of Malaysia's prehistory. It is the site of the oldest known place...
. The site has an undisturbed stone tool production area, created using equipment such as anvils and hammer stones. The Tambun Cave paintings are also situated in
PerakPerak is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is the second largest state in Peninsular Malaysia bordering Kedah and Yala Province of Thailand to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor southward and to the west by the Strait of Malacca.Perak means silver in...
. From East Malaysia,
SarawakSarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , it is situated on the north-west of the island...
's
Niah CavesNiah Caves is located within the district of Miri in Sarawak, Malaysia. Part of Niah National Park, the main cave, Niah Great Cave, is located in Gunung Subis and is made up of several voluminous, high-ceilinged chambers...
, there is evidence of the oldest human remains in
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, dating back some 40,000 years.
60,000-35,000 years ago- Paleolithic (Early Stone Age)
Early peoples, probably from the first wave humans as postulated in the 'Out of Africa' theory, lived a simple lifestyle of hunting-gathering.
PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
Malaysia had no defined border or countries, no known government, religion, money, etc. Descendants of these early inhabitants still live in the hills of Malaysia, some of their villages are accessible, they are known as
Orang AsliOrang Asli is a general term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. They are divided into three main tribal groups – Semang , Senoi, and Proto-Malay . The Orang Asli are further divided into 18 sub-ethnic group according to their different languages and customs...
, meaning 'the original people' or aborigines. Today the Orang Asli, together with the
MalaysMalays are an ethnic group of Austronesian peoples predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula including the southernmost parts of Thailand, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and the smaller islands which lie between these locations...
and indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak, are known as Bumiputera ('the sons of the soil'). The Bumiputera make up 65% of the population.
35,000-10,000 years ago - Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
Anthropologists traced a group of newcomers
Proto MalayProto Malay, also known as Melayu Asli or Melayu Purba in the Malay language, is an ethnic group in Malaysia. Anthropologists traced a group of newcomers Proto Malay seafarers migrated from Yunnan to Malaysia, during the stone age period....
seafarersSeafarers can refer to ethnic groups living by the sea in Southeast Asia, and also other sea-living ethnic groups in the world. The ethnic group name refers to a large distribution area, reaching from the islands of Indonesia to Burma...
who migrated from
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
to Malaysia.
NegritoThe term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Pygmies, Ita, Baluga, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese...
and other Aborigines were forced by late comers into the hills. In this period, people learned to dress, to cook, to hunt with advanced stone weapons. Communication techniques also improved.
10,000-5,000 years ago- Neolithic (New Stone Age)
People learned to build simple houses and to have families. Simple moral and simple society concept germinated.
2,500 years ago - Bronze Age
More people arrived, including new tribes and seafarers. The Malay Peninsula became the crossroads in maritime trades of the ancient age. Seafarers who came to Malaysia's shores included Indians, Egyptians, peoples of the Middle East, Javanese and Chinese. Ptolemy named the Malay Peninsula the
Golden ChersoneseGolden Chersonese is the ancient name to refer to the Malay Peninsula by Claudius Ptolemy or Claudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy, he was a Greek-speaking geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. During the Roman time, the Malay Peninsula developed an international reputation as a...
.
Mekong River Migration
Mekong River, approximately 4180 km in length, originated from Tibet and runs through
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
province of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam. Anthropologists traced the migration of
Proto MalayProto Malay, also known as Melayu Asli or Melayu Purba in the Malay language, is an ethnic group in Malaysia. Anthropologists traced a group of newcomers Proto Malay seafarers migrated from Yunnan to Malaysia, during the stone age period....
s, who were seafarers, to some 10,000 years ago when they sailed by boat (canoe or perahu) along the Mekong River from
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
to the
South China SeaThe South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of mainland China and Taiwan,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,*north east of the Malay peninsula and Singapore, and...
and eventually settled down at various places.
Yunnan
Inhabitants of early
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
may be traced back into prehistory from a
homo erectusHomo erectus is an extinct species of the genus Homo, which originated in Africa and spread as far as China and Java. Depending on the definition of the species, it is considered to be either a direct ancestor of modern humans, or a separate species which co-existed with the distinct Homo...
fossil, '
Yuanmou ManYuanmou Man , Homo erectus yuanmouensis, refers to a member of the homo genus whose remnants, two incisors, were discovered near Danawu Village in Yuanmou County in southwestern province of Yunnan, China. Later, stone artifacts, pieces of animal bone showing signs of human work and ash from...
', which was unearthed in the 1960s. In year 221 BC, Qin Shihuang conquered Yunnan and unified China. Yunnan has since become a province of China. They were the ancestors of rice eating peoples, with their culture of cultivating rice spread throughout the entire region. The native name of the Mekong River peoples' home in Yunnan is Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna) which literally means "twelve thousand rice fields", it is the home of the
DaiThe Dai peoples of China is the officially recognized name of several ethnic groups living in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture , but by extension can apply to groups in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Burma when Dai is used to mean...
minority. Xishuangbanna sits at a lower altitude than most of the Yunnan mountainous ranges.
Yunnan migration theory
The theory of Proto Malay originating from
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
is supported by R.H Geldern, J.H.C Kern, J.R Foster, J.R Logen, Slametmuljana and Asmah Haji Omar. The Proto Malay (Melayu asli) who first arrived possessed agricultural skills while the second wave Deutero Malay (mixed blood) who joined in around 1500 BC and dwelled along the coastlines have advanced fishery skills. During the migration, both groups intermarried with peoples of the southern islands, such as those from Java (Indonesian), and also with aboriginal peoples of
AustraloidThe Australoid race is a broad racial classification. The concept originated with a typological method of racial classification. They were described as having dark skin with wavy hair, in the case of Aboriginal Australians, or hair ranging from straight to kinky in the case of Melanesian and...
,
NegritoThe term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Pygmies, Ita, Baluga, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese...
and Melanesoid origin.
Other evidences that support this theory include:
- Stone tools found at Malay archipelago are analogous to Central Asian tools.
- Similarity of Malay customs and Assam
Assam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
customs.
- Malay language & Cambodian language are kindred languages because the ancestral home of Cambodians originated from the source of Mekong River.
Kedah and Melaka
According to
Kedah AnnalsHikayat Merong Mahawangsa or The Kedah Annals is an ancient Malay literature that chronicles the bloodline of Merong Mahawangsa and the foundation of the Kedah, a state in Malaysia. Though there are historical accuracies, there are many incredible assertions...
,
KadaramKadaram or Kedah Kingdom was founded by Maharaja Derbar Raja of Gemeron, Persia, around 630 CE. The Persian-Hinduism dynasty ended with Phra Ong Mahawangsa converted to Islam and the Sultanate of Kedah continue to rule until today....
(Kedah Kingdom 630-1136) was founded by Maharaja Derbar Raja of
GemeronBandar-Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on the southern coast of Iran , on the Persian Gulf...
, Persia around 630 CE, and also alleged that the bloodline of Kedah royalties coming from
Alexander The GreatAlexander III of Macedon, popularly known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history...
. The other Malay literature,
Sejarah MelayuSejarah Melayu or Malay Annals is a Malay literary work that chronicles the genealogies of rulers in the Malay archipelago and spans a period of over 600 years...
too alleged that they were the descendants of Alexander The Great.
Deutero Malays
Combination of the colonial Kambujas of
HinduA Hindu is an adherent of Hinduism, a set of religious, philosophical and cultural systems that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The vast body of Hindu scriptures, divided into Śruti and Smriti , lay the foundation of Hindu beliefs which primarily include dhárma, kárma, ahimsa and saṃsāra...
-
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
faith, the Indo-Persian royalties and traders as well as traders from southern
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and elsewhere along the
ancient trade routesA trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
, these peoples together with the aborigine
NegritoThe term Negrito refers to several ethnic groups in isolated parts of Southeast Asia.Their current populations include the Aeta, Agta, Ayta, Pygmies, Ita, Baluga, Ati, Dumagat and at least 25 other tribes of the Philippines, the Semang of the Malay peninsula, the Mani of Thailand and 12 Andamanese...
Orang AsliOrang Asli is a general term used for any indigenous groups that are found in Peninsular Malaysia. They are divided into three main tribal groups – Semang , Senoi, and Proto-Malay . The Orang Asli are further divided into 18 sub-ethnic group according to their different languages and customs...
and native seafarers and Proto Malays intermarried each others and thus a new group of peoples was formed and became to be known as the Deutero Malays, today they are commonly known as the
MalaysMalays may refer to:* Ethnic Malays, the ethnic group located primarily in the Malay peninsula, and parts of Sumatra and Borneo.* Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of South East Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands....
.
Mekong Delta
According to Khmer history, the earliest known civilisation was the 1st century Indianised-
KhmerThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
culture of
FunanFunan was an ancient pre-Angkor Indianized kingdom located around the Mekong Delta. The ethno-linguistic nature of the people; whether they were mostly Mon-Khmer or Austronesian, is the subject of much discussion among specialists....
, in the
Mekong DeltaThe Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southeastern Vietnam of...
. The Khmer empire of
AngkorAngkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer empire, which flourished from approximately the ninth century to the thirteenth century...
was the last before the kingdom fled to various places seeking refuge.
PalembangPalembang is the capital city of South Sumatra Province of Indonesia. It was formerly known as the capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Srivijaya. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400,61 square kilometres and a population of 1.441.500...
and later
MalaccaMalacca is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The capital is Malacca Town...
were among the places. Archeological evidences found that inhabitants of early Cambodia were peoples of
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
culture. They possessed good technical skills while the more advanced groups, who lived near the coast and in the lower delta of Mekong, cultivated irrigated rice. It is believed that they were the ancestors of the people living in insular Southeast Asia and islands of Pacific Ocean. They were also knowledgeable in iron and bronze works as well as possessing good navigational skills. (Source: Based on information from John F. Cady, Southeast Asia: Its Historical Development, New York, 1964.)
Oldest Malay text
The
Kedukan Bukit InscriptionThe Kedukan Bukit Inscription was discovered by the Dutchman M. Batenburg on 29 November 1920 at Kedukan Bukit, South Sumatra, on the banks of the River Tatang, a tributary of the River Musi. It is a small stone of 45 by 80 cm...
of 682 CE found at
PalembangPalembang is the capital city of South Sumatra Province of Indonesia. It was formerly known as the capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Srivijaya. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400,61 square kilometres and a population of 1.441.500...
and the modern Yunnan
DaiDai can mean:* Dai people, one of the 56 recognized ethnic minorities of China* Da'i refers to a person who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam...
minority's traditional writings were of the same language family of
PallavaThe Pallava dynasty ruled northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their capital at Kanchipuram. The origin of Pallavas is a subject of speculation. They were perhaps the descendents of the Saka-Pahlava-Kambhoja warriors from Northwest India. They have settled in the Guntur region of Andhra...
, also known as
Pallava Grantha. Dai ethnic (or Dai minority) of Yunnan is one of the aboriginal inhabitants of modern Yunnan province of China. (Picture) is taken from
JinghongJinghong is the capital of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, and the historic capital of the former Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna.-Location:Located between 100°25' - 101°31' East and 2127' - 2236' North...
city of Yunnan, a modern doorframe with Dai minority texts & Chinese, at right is the ancient Kedukan Bukit inscription.
Cham-Malay relation
The similarity of the Cambodian
Cham languageCham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...
and the
Malay languageMalay is a group of languages closely related to each other to the point of mutual intelligibility but that linguists consider to be separate languages. They are grouped into a group called "Local Malay", part of a larger group called "Malayan" within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the...
can be found in names of places such as
Kampong ChamKampong Cham is the capital of the Cambodian province of Kampong Cham. It is the third largest city in Cambodia with a population of 63,771 people and is located on the Mekong River. Kampong Cham is 124 kilometers northeast from Phnom Penh and can be reached by either boat or by asphalt road...
, Kambujadesa,
Kampong ChhnangKampong Chhnang is a central province of Cambodia. Its capital is Kampong Chhnang town.Kampong Chhnang is one of the nine provinces that is part of the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve.The province is famous for its clay pots....
, etc and
Sejarah MelayuSejarah Melayu or Malay Annals is a Malay literary work that chronicles the genealogies of rulers in the Malay archipelago and spans a period of over 600 years...
clearly mentioned a Cham community in Parameswara's Malacca around 1400s. Cham is related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar and the Philippines. In mid 1400s, when Cham was heavily defeated by the
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
ese, some 120,000 were killed and in the 1600s the Champa king converted to Islam. In 1700s the last Champa Muslim king Pô Chien gathered his people and migrated south to Cambodia while those along the coastline migrated to the nearest peninsula state
TerengganuTerengganu is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, Darul Iman...
, approximately 500 km or less by boat, and Kelantan. Malaysian constitution recognises the Cham rights to Malaysian citizenship and their Bumiputera status. Now that the history is interlinked, there is a possibility that Parameswara's family were Cham refugees who fled to Palembang before he fled to Tumasik and finally to
MalaccaMalacca is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south. The capital is Malacca Town...
. Interestingly, one of the last Kings of Angkor of the
Khmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was the third largest empire of South East Asia , based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia...
had the name Paramesvarapada.
See also
- Kampong Cham
Kampong Cham is the capital of the Cambodian province of Kampong Cham. It is the third largest city in Cambodia with a population of 63,771 people and is located on the Mekong River. Kampong Cham is 124 kilometers northeast from Phnom Penh and can be reached by either boat or by asphalt road...
of Cambodia.
- History of Southeast Asia
The history of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Though 59 countries currently make up the region, the history of each country is intertwined with all the others...
- Pallava
The Pallava dynasty ruled northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their capital at Kanchipuram. The origin of Pallavas is a subject of speculation. They were perhaps the descendents of the Saka-Pahlava-Kambhoja warriors from Northwest India. They have settled in the Guntur region of Andhra...
- Origin of Pallava
The Pallava were a Southern Indian dravidian Tamil dynasty who established their capital at Kanchipuram in early the 4th century CE. The Pallavas dominated the northern parts of Tamil region until the end of the 9th century for about six hundred years. The origins of the Pallava still remains a...
- Kamboja
Kamboja may refer to:*Kambojas, an ancient tribe of the of the Hindukush in Iron Age India*Kamboja Kingdom, one of the Mahajanapadas of Iron Age India*Kamboja-Pala Dynasty of Bengal*Kamboj, a clan of South Asia...
- Migration of Kambojas
References to Kambojas abound in ancient literature, and this may have been just the expansion of an Indo-Iranian tribe with both Indic and Persian affinities from their homeland in the present-day Afghanistan-Pakistan region along the foothills of the Himalayas towards Bengal, along the coast to...
- Kambojas and Kambodia
The name of the Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Kampuchea, ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា Preăh Réachéa Nachâk Kâmpŭchea, derives from Sanskrit "land of the Kambuja".In Chinese historical accounts the land was not known by this name but as Chenla....
- Cham language
Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...
- Cham people
The Cham people are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia. They are concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiet, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas. Approximately 4,000 Chams also live in Thailand; many of whom have moved south to...
- Pahang River
Pahang River or is a river in the state of Pahang, Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. With 459 km in length, it is the longest river on the Malay Peninsula...
External links
- http://www.malaysia.or.kr/history.htm
- http://sejarahmalaysia.pnm.my/portalBI/detail.php?section=sm01&spesifik_id=2&ttl_id=1
- Khmer Language of Cambodia.