1. Geography Traditional Life
Malaysia
Geography
Traditional Life

2. Malaysia - Map

3. Geography
The Malay peninsula links mainland and archipelagic South East Asia.
The present day country can only be understood with a wider regional framework.
The straight of Malacca bisects this realm and has long been a cultural crossroad.
Influences are from China, India, the Middle East and Europe

4. Geography Today Malaysia is made up of three states.
Peninsular, Sarawak and Sabah.
Each region has developed in unique ways.

5. History Modern habitation may date to as much as 40 000 years ago.
Neolithic culture was well established by 2500 BC to 1500 BC.
The people who are now modern Malays, migrated into the region from China and Tibet during the 1st Millennium BC

6. History
Small Malayan kingdoms began to appear in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
This coincided with Indian maritime exploration.
The Indians brought with them concepts of religion, government and the arts.
Indian and Indigenous ideas were synthesized to form an unique Malyan culture.

7. History
Approximately 30 small indianized states rose and fell in Malaya, mostly along the east coast during the 1st millennium AD.
Malaya developed an international reputation as a source of gold and tin, populated by renown seafarers.
During the Srivijaya era (the Sumatra based empire) the Cambodian Angkor, Javanese Majapahit empires and the Thai Ayutthaya Kingdom also claimed suzerainty in the region.

8. History - Advent of Islam
Islam and its arrival in Malaya was intimately linked with the trading routes that connect China through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.
The arrival of Islam coincided with the rize of Malacca (1400AD)

9. History - Advent of Islam
Malacca served as the centre of propagation for Islam in Malaya, as well as the eastern terminus of the Indian Ocean trade network.
At its height Malacca hosted merchants including Chinese, Arabs, Persians and Indians.
It was said that more ships were in Malacca’s harbour than in any other port in the world.

10. History - Advent of Islam
The mostly Islamicized people of the Malacca area began calling themselves “Malays” during Malacca’s peak of influence ( ).
The term Malay applied to those who practiced Islam and spoke a version of the Malay language.
Identity and behaviour, rather than decent, became the criteria for being Malay
European Intrusion Portuguese.