Malay world in the context of "Easter Island"

The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based on the distribution of Austronesian languages. It has also been called the "Malay world", "Nusantara", and the "East Indies" over time. The name is controversial in Indonesia due to its ethnic connotations and colonial undertones, which can overshadow the country's diverse cultures.

Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the archipelago of over 25,000 islands and islets is the largest archipelago by area and fifth by number of islands in the world. It includes Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia (specifically East Malaysia), Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Singapore. The term is largely synonymous with Maritime Southeast Asia.

Islamic cultures or Muslim cultures refers to the historic cultural practices that developed among the various peoples living in the Muslim world. These practices, while not always religious in nature, are generally influenced by aspects of Islam, particularly due to the religion serving as an effective conduit for the inter-mingling of people from different ethnic/national backgrounds in a way that enabled their cultures to come together on the basis of a common Muslim identity. The earliest forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the Umayyad Caliphate and early Abbasid Caliphate, was predominantly based on the existing cultural practices of the Arabs, the Byzantines, and the Persians. However, as the Islamic empires expanded rapidly, Muslim culture was further influenced and assimilated much from the Iranic, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Caucasian, Turkic, Malay, Somali, Berber, and Indonesian cultures.

Owing to a variety of factors, there are variations in the application of Islamic beliefs in different cultures and traditions.

Malay Kingdom may refer to:

• Melayu Kingdom, the 7th to 14th century classical buddhist kingdom based on the island of Sumatra
• Kingdoms or polities, both historical and present, established in Malay world or Malay Archipelago. Most prominent among others are Malacca Sultanate, Johor-Riau-Lingga Sultanate, and Brunei Sultanate
• Malaysia, a nation formed as a federation of several Malay kingdoms and states

The Kingdom of Singapura (Malay: Kerajaan Singapura) was a Malay polity believed to have been founded as a Hindu–Buddhist kingdom during the early history of Singapore on the island of Temasek, lasting from 1299 until its decline and fall between 1396 and 1398. Conventional view marks c. 1299 as the founding year of the kingdom by Sang Nila Utama (also known as "Sri Tri Buana"), whose father is Sang Sapurba, a semi-divine figure who according to legend is the ancestor of several Malay monarchs in the Malay world.

The historicity of this kingdom based on the account given in the Malay Annals is uncertain and many historians only consider its last ruler, the Muslim convert Parameswara (or Sri Iskandar Shah), to be a historically attested figure in his role as the first ruler of the Malacca Sultanate. Archaeological evidence from Fort Canning Hill and the nearby banks of the Singapore River has nevertheless demonstrated the existence of a thriving settlement and a trade port in the 14th century, corroborating the eyewitness testimony of Yuan dynasty sojourner Wang Dayuan concerning the settlements of Long Ya Men and Ban Zu upon Temasek.

Terengganu Inscription Stone (Malay: Batu Bersurat Terengganu; Jawi: باتو برسورت ترڠݢانو‎) is a granite stele carrying Classical Malay inscription in Jawi script that was found in Terengganu, Malaysia. The inscription, dated possibly to 702 AH (corresponds to 1303 CE) or 789 AH (1387 CE) constituted the earliest evidence of Jawi writing in the Malay world of Southeast Asia, and was one of the oldest testimonies to the advent of Islam as a state religion in the region. It contains the proclamation issued by a ruler of Terengganu known as Seri Paduka Tuan, urging his subjects to extend and uphold Islam and providing 10 basic Sharia laws for their guidance.

The stone was found half-submerged by a bank of Tersat river in Kuala Berang, Hulu Terengganu, in 1887 CE after the floods had receded. A Terengganuan nobleman, Pengiran Anum Engku Abdul Kadir bin Engku Besar and his tin-prospector friend, Saiyed Husin Ghulam Al Bukhari came across the stone and brought it on a raft to Kuala Terengganu where it was presented to Sultan Zainal Abidin III, and placed atop of Bukit Puteri ('Princess hill').

The Malacca Sultanate (Malay: Kesultanan Melaka; Jawi script: کسلطانن ملاک‎) was a Malay sultanate based in the modern-day state of Malacca, Malaysia. Conventional historical thesis marks c. 1400 as the founding year of the sultanate by King of Singapura, Parameswara, also known as Iskandar Shah, although earlier dates for its founding have been proposed. At the height of the sultanate's power in the 15th century, its capital grew into one of the most important transshipment ports of its time, with territory covering much of the Malay Peninsula, the Riau Islands and part of the central eastern coast of Sumatra in present-day Indonesia.

As a bustling international trading port, Malacca emerged as a centre for Islamic learning and dissemination, and encouraged the development of the Malay language, literature and arts. It heralded the golden age of Malay sultanates in the archipelago, in which Classical Malay became the lingua franca of Maritime Southeast Asia and Jawi script became the primary medium for cultural, religious and intellectual exchange. It is through these intellectual, spiritual and cultural developments, that the Malaccan era witnessed the establishment of a Malay identity, the Malayisation of the region and the subsequent formation of the Malay world.

Sri Maharaja Sang Sapurba Paduka Sri Trimurti Tri Buana, (1245–1316) also known as Sri Nila Pahlawan, is a figure in the Malay Annals and Tarambo Minangkabau highly revered as the legendary great ancestor of some of the major dynasties of the Malay world: Singapura, Malacca, Pahang, Johor, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu and Siak Sri Indrapura. Legend has it that after his accession to Seguntang Hill with his two younger brothers, Sang Sapurba enters into a sacred covenant with Demang Lebar Daun the native ruler of Palembang, which laid the basis of the proper relationship between the Malay rulers and the subjects. The legendary sword believed to be carried by the king, the Cura Si Manjakini, now forms part of the royal regalia of the Perak Sultanate, whose rulers are said directly descended from the king. Details of the Sang Sapurba stories are mainly composed of folklore and legends, and thus his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. Even so, as anthopology professor de Jong argued in her article The Character of Malay Annals, the stories of the Malay Annals could have been realistically mixed with historical figures and events.