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 that covered the northern part of Borneo and Sulu. At the end of the 17th century, Brunei entered a period of decline brought on by the Brunei Civil War, piracy, and European colonial expansion. Later, there was the brief Castilian war with Spain, in which Brunei evacuated its 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 Luzon and Visayas 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 the empire's 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" that made Brunei a British protectorate until 1984 when it gained independence and prospered due to the discovery of oil.
Prehistory The earliest record of Bruneian people can be traced back to the presence of Austro-Melanesians around 40,000 B.C.E. in the Niah Cave, Sarawak. The remains found there were linked to those found in the Last Glacial Period. During the ice age, Borneo and Palawan were geographically linked.
After the sea level rose about 10,000 years ago, Southeast Asian territories were divided into two regions. The population there began to move around for various reasons. Hoabinhians, or Proto-Melanesians, then moved to Borneo and lived in Niah Cave until around 8,000 B.C.E.
The migration from Yangtze started to move toward Taiwan. Then, after Taiwan, the migration wave reached the Philippines via Palawan. After the migration wave reached Palawan, at least three groups began to form distinct communities. One group migrated toward Borneo, another group headed to Sulawesi, and the last moved to Java. The event lasted about a thousand years, between 4000 and 3000 BCE. The migration at this time signified the end of the bacsonian age. Neolithic usage of pottery and cultivation of rice reached the Austronesians via the Philippines around 2500 B.C.E. It reached Palawan, then went to Borneo around 2300 BCE and spread across Insulindia.
The Austronesians began to develop a faith or cosmology around megalithism and then started to build social structure and practice agriculture as people settled down and tried to cultivate the land. This Bronze Age cultural complex peaked around 600 B.C.E., centred in Dong Son village, thus called Dongsonian. The introduction of iron and bronze between 500 and 200 B.C.E. marked the end of Neolithic cults and the start of Indian contact in southeast Asia. The Indian trade brought beads of glass or stone to Borneo.
Pre-Islamic Hindu–Buddhist Indianised kingdoms
The history of Brunei before the arrival of Magellan's ships in 1519–1522 CE is based on speculation, the interpretation of Chinese sources, and local legends, unless otherwise proven by archaeology.
Camphor and pepper seem to have been prized objects of trade. Brunei hard camphor had a wholesale value equivalent to its weight in silver. Ming dynasty accounts give detailed information about visits and tribute missions by rulers of Po-ni (modern Mandarin pronunciation) during the late 14th and early 15th century. Their names and titles suggest either Hindu or Buddhist influence. The texts confirm that the state was tributary to the Hindu Javanese Majapahit Empire, but sought and received Chinese protection in 1408.
Brunei in the legendary history of Panay island Datu Puti led some dissident datus from Borneo in a rebellion against Datu Makatunaw. The dissidents and their retinue established a new country called Madyaas on Panay island. After the 10 datus established many towns in Panay and southern Luzon, Datu Makatunaw, who was a relative of Datu Puti, seized the properties and riches of the datus. Warriors named Labaw Dunggon and Paybari, after learning of this injustice from their father-in-law Paiburong, sailed to Udtuhan in Borneo where Makatunaw ruled. The warriors sacked the town, killed Makatunaw and his family, retrieved the stolen properties of the 10 datus, enslaved the remaining population of Udtuhan, and sailed back to Panay. Labaw Dunggon and his wife, Uhaytanayon, later settled in a place called Muruburo.Mga Maragtas ng Panay: Comparative Analysis of Documents about the Bornean Settlement Tradition By Talaguit Christian Jeo N.
Syair Awang Semaun epic
According to the official version of events, mainly the national epic poem Syair Awang Semaun, Brunei was founded by a band of fourteen saudara (brothers and first cousins) who eventually settled along the Brunei River near the present capital and chose one of their numbers as the first ruler. Some versions of the epic state that they were all the sons of Dewa Amas of Kayangan, a partially supernatural being who descended to earth at Ulu Limbang in an egg. Many Lundayeh / Lun Bawang believe that Awang Semaun is their ancestral land because of Telur Aco.
Sang Aji was married to the ruler's daughter by whom he fathered one son. He traveled to thirteen settlements in the region in search of an auspicious ox. At each of the villages, he fathered thirteen (or twenty-two) other sons by thirteen different aboriginal wives, daughters of the local penghulu.
The first ruler chosen by the saudara to rule the newly founded state was Awang Alak Betatar, the son of Dewa Amas and Sang Aji's daughter. He was not necessarily the eldest among them, but he was chosen to rule because of his fitness to do so. The official account states that he journeyed to Johor, embraced Islam, married the daughter of a Sultan "Bahkei" of Johor, and received the title of Sultan Muhammad Shah from him.
Brunei in the 14th century
Early Chinese influence
One of the earliest Chinese records of an independent kingdom in Borneo is the 977 AD letter to the Chinese emperor from the ruler of Boni, which some scholars believe refers to western Borneo. The Bruneians regained their independence from Srivijaya due to the onset of a Javanese-Sumatran war.Coedes, Indianized States, Page 128, 132. In 1225, the Chinese official Zhao Rukuo reported that Boni had 100 warships to protect its trade and that there was great wealth in the kingdom.
According to local legends for which no factual confirmation exists, during the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor of China allegedly sent two officers named Wang Kong and Ong Sum Ping to get the gemala (glowing orb) of the Dragon which supposedly lived on China Balu where the mountain's name itself refers to the great number of Chinese lives lost, being eaten by the Dragon. It is said that Ong Sum Ping later married Princess Ratna Dewi, the daughter of Sultan Muhammad Shah of Brunei. For that he was conferred with the noble title of Pengiran Maharaja Lela and elected Chief of Kinabatangan.
Bruneian conquest of Borneo and the Philippines According to Wang Zhenping, in the 1300s, the Yuan Dade nanhai zhi or "Yuan dynasty Dade period southern sea records" reported that Brunei administered Sarawak and Sabah as well as the Philippine kingdoms of Butuan, Sulu, Ma-i (Mindoro), Malilu (Manila), Shahuchong (Siocon or Zamboanga), Yachen (Oton, once part of the Madja-as Kedatuan), and Wenduling (Mindanao),Reading Song-Ming Records on the Pre-colonial History of the Philippines By Wang Zhenping Page 256. which would later regain their independence.Quanzhou to the Sulu Zone and beyond: Questions Related to the Early Fourteenth Century By: Roderich Ptak. Page 280
Hindu Majapahit invasion of Borneo In the 14th century, the Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Prapanca in 1365, mentioned Barune as a constituent state of Hindu Majapahit, which was to make an annual tribute of 40 katis of camphor. In 1369, Sulu, which was also formerly part of Majapahit, had successfully rebelled and then attacked Boni, and had invaded the northeast coast of Borneo,Ming shi, 325, p. 8411, p. 8422. afterward looting Boni's capital of its treasure and gold including taking two sacred pearls. A fleet from Majapahit succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Boni was left weaker after the attack. A Chinese report from 1371 described Boni as poor and totally controlled by Majapahit.
Islamisation and establishment of the sultanate
By the 15th century, the empire had become a Muslim state, the King of Brunei having declared independence from Majapahit and converting to Islam, which was brought by Muslim Indians and Arab merchants from other parts of Maritime Southeast Asia, who came to trade and spread Islam. During the rule of Bolkiah, the fifth Sultan, the empire controlled the coastal areas of northwest Borneo (present-day Brunei, Sarawak, and Sabah) and reached the Philippines at Sulu. In the 16th century, the empire's influence also extended as far as the Kapuas River delta in West Kalimantan.
Other sultanates in the area had close relations with the royal house of Brunei, in some cases effectively coming under the hegemony of the Brunei ruling family for periods of time. These rulers included the Malay sultans of Pontianak, Samarinda, and Banjarmasin. The Malay Sultanate of Sambas, in present-day West Kalimantan, the Sultanate of Sulu, and the Kingdom of Luzon had formed dynastic relations with the royal house of Brunei. The Sultanate of Sarawak (covering present-day Kuching, known to Portuguese cartographers as Cerava, and one of the five great seaports on the island of Borneo), though under the influence of Brunei, was self-governed under Sultan Tengah before being fully integrated into the Bruneian Empire upon Tengah's death in 1641.
Relations with Europeans Brunei's relations varied with the different European powers in the region.
Portuguese 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.
Conflict with the Spanish Empire