title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In the years since, the show has been extensively rewritten and has enjoyed several notable productions, including an off-Broadway revival in 1994, and a London premiere in 2000 that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The show will have its first Broadway revival in fall 2023, directed by Maria Friedman, which will be a transfer of the 2022 off-Broadway production staged at New York Theatre Workshop.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The show tells the story of how three friends' lives and friendship change over 20 years; it focuses particularly on Franklin Shepard, a talented composer of musicals who, over those 20 years, abandons his friends and songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood movies. Like the play on which it is based, the show's story moves backward in time. It begins in 1976 at the friends' lowest moment and ends in 1957, at their youthful best.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The idea for "Merrily" originated from a suggestion by Hal Prince's wife, Judy, that he do a show about teenagers; he decided that a musical version of the 1934 George S. Kaufman/Moss Hart play "Merrily We Roll Along" would be a good fit, and when he called Sondheim about the idea, Sondheim "said yes on the phone."


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The original play tells the story of "Richard Niles, who is revealed on the opening night of his latest play [in 1934] to be a pretentious playwright of successful but forgettable light comedies", and over the course of the play, gradually moves backward in time until reaching "his college graduation [in 1916], quoting with all the fervor of idealistic youth the words of Polonius: 'This above all, to thine own self be true'." The play concerned, overall, "three friends, their artistic ambitions, the price of fame, and the changes in American society from World War I to the Depression".


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: For the musical adaptation, the story was revised to take place between 1955 and 1980, and the characters were changed: "Richard Niles", a playwright, was now Franklin Shepard, a composer; "Jonathan Crale", a painter, was now Charley Kringas, a lyricist and playwright; and "Julia Glenn", a novelist, was now Mary Flynn, a journalist and eventually a critic.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: George Furth was brought on to write the musical's book, making "Merrily" a reunion for Sondheim, Furth, and Prince, who had all worked together on the landmark 1970 musical "Company". "Merrily" premiered at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway, where "Company" had premiered.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: As part of the original idea of doing a show about teenagers, and in order to, as theater historian Ken Mandelbaum put it, "enhance the ironies of the story", Prince cast the show entirely with teenagers and young adults, who played their characters in both youth and middle age. Prince and Sondheim had conceived of the show as "a vehicle for young performers", and Prince was also charmed by, as he said at the time, "the beginnings of [the cast's] artistry, the roughness of their craft, their inexperience. I was charmed as hell by that[.]"


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The show's production design was also informed by this notion: the set consisted of a group of movable bleachers lined with lockers and a screen on which projections were shown "to set the mood and period." Prince's original idea for the staging had been to "have no scenery", but rather "racks of clothes and these kids would come in looking like little kids, and they would pretend to be their parents as they see them", but this was discarded due to Prince's perception of what Broadway audiences, paying Broadway prices, would accept from a show (as he later put it, "[G]uess what? I lacked the courage.")


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Sondheim's score was a mix of the traditional and the unconventional. In basic form and sound, the songs were written in the style of traditional Broadway show music of the 1950's (where "Merrily"'s story "began") and earlier, a clear departure from the musical complexity of his previous work. But the score was also written to embody the show's backward structure in its use and repetition of certain sections of music. For example, "Not a Day Goes By" is first heard in its "reprise", sung bitterly by Frank's wife Beth after their divorce, before being heard in its "original" form late in the second act, sung by Frank and Beth as they get married. Additionally, "Good Thing Going" is gradually deconstructed throughout the musical before reaching its final—but "initial"—form near the end of the show, as "Who Wants to Live in New York?" This technique was at times used, Sondheim said, to show how "the songs that had been important in the lives of the characters when they were younger would have different resonances as they aged"; he also used some of these musical repetitions to represent "undercurrents of memory" in the characters in their later years. Because of the strictures Sondheim applied to his writing, "Merrily"'s score was one of the most difficult of his career to write.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: For budgetary reasons, "Merrily" did not get an out-of-town tryout production, and instead the production put on over 50 tryout performances—which were actually previews—on Broadway before the opening. The tryouts, beginning on October 8, 1981, had a poor reception, with audiences walking out. By October 21, "The New York Times" reported that original leading man James Weissenbach had been replaced by Jim Walton and the Broadway opening had been postponed. Field was replaced with choreographer Larry Fuller. The opening was delayed a second time, from November 9 to November 16, 1981. Looking back on that "painful month", Sondheim recalled, "that month of fervent hysterical activity was the most fun I've ever had on a single show." By opening night, the production team "thought we'd fixed the show," but in retrospect, they had only "bettered it, not fixed it," and the critical response was "merciless."


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The Broadway production, directed by Prince and choreographed by Fuller, opened on November 16, 1981, at the Alvin Theatre. It received mostly negative reviews. While the score was widely praised, critics and audiences alike felt that the book was problematic and the themes left a sour taste in their mouths. Hampered by several critical reviews published before its official opening, as well as more negative ones published afterward, it ran for 16 performances and 52 previews.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In his "New York Times" review, Frank Rich wrote, "As we all should probably have learned by now, to be a Stephen Sondheim fan is to have one's heart broken at regular intervals." Clive Barnes wrote, "Whatever you may have heard about it—go and see it for yourselves. It is far too good a musical to be judged by those twin kangaroo courts of word of mouth and critical consensus."


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The cast included Jim Walton (Franklin Shepard), Lonny Price (Charley Kringas), Ann Morrison (Mary), Terry Finn (Gussie), Jason Alexander (Joe), Sally Klein (Beth), Geoffrey Horne (Franklin Shepard age 43), David Loud (Ted), Daisy Prince (Meg), Liz Callaway (Nightclub Waitress), Tonya Pinkins (Gwen), Abby Pogrebin (Evelyn), and Giancarlo Esposito (valedictorian). Judith Dolan designed costumes for the production.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The audience had trouble following the story. Consequently, the actors all ended up wearing sweatshirts with their characters' names. According to Meryle Secrest, "Prince ... dressed everyone in identical sweatshirts and pants. Then he had to add names emblazoned across the sweatshirts because the audience had difficulty telling the actors apart". Sondheim later remembered: "I rather liked it; the paying audience did not." The failure of "Merrily" meant the "glory days" of the Sondheim-Prince collaboration were over, and the two did not work together again until "Bounce" (2003).


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Throughout the years, with Furth's and Sondheim's permission, the musical has been staged with numerous changes. Sondheim has contributed new songs to several of the show's incarnations, most notably "Growing Up", added to the La Jolla 1985 production.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: A "streamlined" off-Broadway revival, directed by Susan H. Schulman, opened on May 26, 1994, at the York Theatre in St. Peter's Church, and ran for 54 performances. The cast included Malcolm Gets as Franklin, Adam Heller as Charley, and Amy Ryder as Mary. A cast recording was released by Varèse Sarabande.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Another off-Broadway revival, directed by Noah Brody with choreography by Lorin Latarro, began on January 12, 2019, opening February 19 and originally set to run to April 7, 2019 (extended to April 14, 2019), by Roundabout Theatre's resident company, Fiasco Theater, at the Laura Pels Theater. The reduced cast included Manu Narayan, Brittany Bradford, Jessie Austrian, Ben Steinfeld, Paul L. Coffey, and Emily Young.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: A production directed by James Lapine opened on June 16, 1985, at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse, where it ran for 24 performances. The cast included John Rubinstein as Frank, Chip Zien as Charley, Marin Mazzie as Beth, and Heather MacRae as Mary.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: An Arena Stage production, directed by Douglas C. Wager and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, opened on January 30, 1990, at Washington, D.C.'s Kreeger Theater, where it ran slightly more than two months. The cast included Victor Garber, David Garrison, Becky Ann Baker and, as in San Diego, Marin Mazzie as Beth. In his review of the production, Rich wrote, "Many of the major flaws of the 1981 "Merrily," starting with its notorious gymnasium setting, have long since been jettisoned or rectified in intervening versions produced in La Jolla, Calif., and in Seattle." He called the score "exceptional."


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The UK premiere of "Merrily We Roll Along" was at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on May 11, 1983. The first professional production in the UK was by the Library Theatre Company in Manchester in 1984, directed by Howard Lloyd Lewis and choreographed by Paul Kerryson.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Paul Kerryson directed a production of the show at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick and music direction by Julian Kelly. The production opened on 14 April 1992 with a cast that included Michael Cantwell as Frank, Maria Friedman as Mary and Evan Pappas as Charlie. A cast recording of the production was released in 1994 which included extended cuts and dialogue. The show finally received its West End premiere at London's Donmar Warehouse on 11 December 2000 in a production directed by Michael Grandage, running for 71 performances following eight previews. The cast was led by Julian Ovenden as Frank, Samantha Spiro as Mary and Daniel Evans as Charley. Spiro and Evans received Olivier Awards for their performances, and the production received the Olivier for Best Musical.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Karen Hebden's production for Derby Playhouse in May 2007 featured Glyn Kerslake as Frank, Glenn Carter as Charley, Eliza Lumley as Mary, and Cheryl McAvoy as Beth.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Maria Friedman directed a revival of the musical at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, which opened on 28 November 2012 and transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End on 1 May 2013. The principals in this production were Mark Umbers, Jenna Russell and Damian Humbley. The revival won the Peter Hepple Award for Best Musical in the 2012 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. It was filmed and broadcast to select cinemas in 2013.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The original Broadway cast reunited to stage a concert version of the show for one night on September 30, 2002, with both Sondheim and Prince in attendance.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The Encores! staged concert at New York City Center ran from February 8 to 19, 2012. This production was directed by James Lapine and featured Colin Donnell as Frank, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Mary, Lin-Manuel Miranda as Charley, Elizabeth Stanley as Gussie, and Betsy Wolfe as Beth. This version incorporated parts of revisions done for the 1985 La Jolla Playhouse production and 1990 and 1994 productions. Many members of the original production were invited to attend on February 14 and joined the Encores! cast and Sondheim on stage following the performance to sing "Old Friends."


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: A new revival, directed by Maria Friedman, based on her previous staging at the Menier Chocolate Factory, is being staged at New York Theatre Workshop from November 21, 2022, to January 22, 2023. It stars Jonathan Groff as Franklin, Lindsay Mendez as Mary, and Daniel Radcliffe as Charley. The production will transfer to Broadway in late 2023, with Groff, Mendez, Radcliffe, Krystal Joy Brown (Gussie), Katie Rose Clarke (Beth) and Reg Rogers (Joe) reprising their roles; additional casting, specific dates and a theater will be announced later. This will be the first time that "Merrily We Roll Along" has been staged on Broadway since its original 1981 production.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The first Australian professional production was presented by the Sydney Theatre Company at the Footbridge Theatre in May–July 1996. It featured Tom Burlinson, Tony Sheldon, Peta Toppano, Greg Stone and Gina Riley, and was directed by Wayne Harrison.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 2002, the show ran for approximately 120 performances at the Shaw Festival in a production directed by Jackie Maxwell and featuring Tyley Ross as Franklin, Jay Turvey as Charley and Jenny L. Wright as Mary.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: As part of the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center, a limited engagement of 14 performances opened on July 12, 2002 at the Eisenhower Theater. The cast featured Michael Hayden (Frank), Miriam Shor (Mary), Raúl Esparza (Charley), and Emily Skinner (Gussie).


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: A Derby Playhouse production ran from April 19 to May 19, 2007, starring Glyn Kerslake, Glenn Carter and Eliza Lumley in the lead roles. A Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) production, directed by Eric D. Schaeffer, opened on September 4, 2007 and ran through October 14, 2007. The production received four Helen Hayes Award nominations, with a win for Erik Liberman as Charley. John Doyle directed a production running at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, Berkshire, from January 16, 2008 through March 8, 2008. It featured Sam Kenyon (Frank), Rebecca Jackson (Gussie), Elizabeth Marsh (Mary) and Thomas Padden (Charley).


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Available Light Theatre (AVLT) presented the revised version at the Vern Riffe Center in Columbus, Ohio, from August 19, 2010 through September 4, 2010. It was directed by John Dranschak and featured Ian Short as Frank, Nick Lingnofski as Charley, and Heather Carvel as Mary. The musical director was Pam Welsh-Huggins. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park presented a revival directed by John Doyle, using the actor-musician concept, opening on March 3, 2012. The cast included Malcolm Gets (Frank), Daniel Jenkins (Charley), and Becky Ann Baker (Mary). This production used the 1994 York Theatre revisions.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Clwyd Theatr Cymru at Mold in North Wales performed the musical May 12 – June 2, 2012, directed by Nikolai Foster. PAN Productions staged "Merrily We Roll Along" in 2014 at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre for the first time in South East Asia. Directed by Nell Ng with music direction by Nish Tham. This production featured Peter Ong (Frank), Aaron Teoh (Charley), Chang Fang Chyi (Mary), Nikki Palikat (Gussie), Stephanie Van Driesen (Beth), and Dennis Yeap (Joe).


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Astoria Performing Arts Center produced an off-off-Broadway production in 2015 starring Jack Mosbacher as Frank, Ally Bonino as Mary, and Nicholas Park as Charley. The production won Outstanding Production of a Musical at the 2015 New York Innovative Theatre Awards.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The Wallis Annenberg Center for The Performing Arts in Beverly Hills ran a production from November 23 to December 18, 2016. Directed by Michael Arden, the production starred Aaron Lazar as Frank, Wayne Brady as Charley, and Donna Vivino as Mary.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The Huntington Theatre Company produced Maria Friedman's version in Boston, running from September 8 to October 15, 2017. Umbers and Humbley reprised their roles from the London production, with Eden Espinosa joining as Mary. This production won the 2012 Critics' Circle Theater Award.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The Hayes Theatre in Sydney staged a production directed by Dean Bryant which was intended to start its run on 16 April 2020, but was delayed by the COVID pandemic. The production finally premiered on 21 October 2021, with an expected run to 27 November. The production was well-reviewed, and extended its run to 9 December.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: This is a synopsis of the revised 1994 York Theatre version of the show, not the original one performed on Broadway.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Franklin Shepard is a rich, famous, and influential songwriter and film producer ("Merrily We Roll Along"). As the years roll back over 20 years of his life, we see how he went from penniless composer to wealthy producer, and what he gave up to get there.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In Frank's swank Los Angeles pad in 1976, after the premiere of his latest film, a party is in full swing. Frank's Hollywood peers are there, and bestow lavish praise on him ("That Frank"). His oldest friend, theatre critic Mary Flynn, is also at the party. She is disgusted by the shallow people Frank has chosen to associate with and by his abandonment of music—the one thing he was truly good at—for commercial film production. Frank seems happy, but tenses up when a guest mentions a Pulitzer-winning play by Charles Kringas, Frank's former best friend and lyricist. Frank and Mary get a moment alone together, and she chides him for missing his son's graduation. Frank admits to Mary that his new film is just a formula picture, but promises: just wait for the next film! But Mary has given up waiting, and becomes more and more inebriated. She gives a drunken toast, castigating Frank and insulting his guests, and storms out of the party (and Frank's life) in a drunken rage.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Frank's wife Gussie arrives and they start to argue. She is angry that the leading role in Frank's movie, which she had planned to star in, went to a younger actress, Meg. Stung by Mary's rant, Frank confesses that he has concentrated so completely on being a "success" that everything and everyone he most valued at the beginning of his career has gone. The evening ends traumatically when Gussie confronts Frank with knowledge of his infidelity with Meg, the leading actress in his movie. He ends their marriage, and she viciously attacks Meg by splashing iodine in her eyes.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The years roll back to 1973 ("Merrily We Roll Along – First Transition"). Frank and Charley are about to be interviewed in a New York TV studio. Mary greets Charley backstage, and Charley tells her that Frank never has time to write with him anymore. Mary, whose drinking is steadily worsening, confesses that she set up the interview to force Frank to publicly commit to writing the show he and Charley have been trying to write for years, but Charley is frustrated and bitter. Mary wonders plaintively why can't their collective friendship be "like it was" ("Old Friends (Part I) – Like It Was"), and Charley realizes that Mary, after 20 years, is still in love with Frank. When Frank finally arrives, his new wife Gussie in tow, tensions are running high. Gussie is trying to avoid her ex-husband, Broadway producer Joe Josephson, who is hitting her up for money, and Frank is fretting over how to tell Charley that he has signed a three-picture deal. Just before the interview, the host lets the news slip, infuriating Charley. As they go live on air, an increasingly angry and nervous Charley launches into a furious rant on the way his composer has transformed himself into "Franklin Shepard Inc.", pleading with Frank to return to doing what he does best. After the cameras are shut off, Charley is remorseful, but the damage is done. Frank disowns Charley and walks out. Their friendship is over.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: It's 1968, and Mary, Charley and Frank are in Frank's new apartment on Central Park West ("Merrily We Roll Along – Second Transition"), welcoming Frank back from a cruise. Charley has brought along Frank's young son, Frankie, whom he has not seen since his divorce. Frank has brought a gift for each of his friends: a copy of Mary's best-selling novel in Spanish and a contract for a film option on his and Charley's show, "Musical Husbands". Charley refuses, and an argument is sparked. Frank wants to option the film version for the money, which he needs after a contentious divorce, but Charley says it will get in the way of writing anything new. Mary calms them down, reminding them about the importance of their friendship ("Old Friends"), but it is clear that nothing is that simple anymore. Frank's producer Joe and his wife Gussie arrive. Gussie has brought champagne, which the teetotaler Mary refuses. It becomes clear that Frank and Gussie are having an affair, and Charley, Mary, and Joe are all aware of it. Mary, who has been in love with Frank for years, is devastated by his irresponsibility and takes a generous gulp of champagne to prove a point. When everyone leaves, Charley lingers and advises Frank to end the affair, encouraging him to join him and Mary for a get-together at the club where they got their start. After he leaves, Frank plays through an old song and attempts to make sense of his choices. He seems to be on the verge of composing a new piece but is interrupted when Gussie returns, announcing that she intends to live with him and divorce Joe ("Growing Up").


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 1966 ("Merrily We Roll Along – Third Transition"), Frank is being divorced by his wife Beth, and they fight over custody of their son in a courthouse. Reporters flock around, eager to catch gossip since Gussie has been subpoenaed. Frank confronts Beth, who confesses that she still loves him, but that she can't live with him knowing he was unfaithful to her with Gussie ("Not a Day Goes By"). She drags their son away, heading to Houston to live with her father. Frank collapses in despair but is consoled by Mary, Charley, and his other remaining friends. They convince him to take a cruise, forget and start anew, saying that this was the "best thing that ever could have happened" ("Now You Know").


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 1964, Gussie appears to be singing about Frank's infatuation with her, but the scene transforms, and we see that she is performing the song onstage, as the star of "Musical Husbands", on the opening night of Frank and Charley's first Broadway show. The curtain comes down on the show, and as the audience applauds, Charley and Frank, backstage with Joe, Mary, and Beth, realize they have a hit on their hands ("It's a Hit!"). Charley's wife, Evelyn, is in labor, and he and Beth rush to the hospital. Mary asks Beth to stay behind and make sure Frank is not left alone with Gussie, but Beth chooses to trust her husband and leaves Frank on his own, listening to the sound of the audience applauding.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 1962 ("Merrily We Roll Along – Fourth Transition"), Frank, Beth, Charley, and Mary have been invited to a party at Gussie and Joe's elegant Sutton Place apartment, where they stand starstruck by the glamor and the influential crowd ("The Blob"). Deliberately spilling wine on Beth's dress, Gussie pulls Frank away from the partygoers, confiding her unhappiness to him, and convinces him to write the commercial show Joe is producing, "Musical Husbands", rather than the political satire he and Charley are trying to get produced ("Growing Up" (Reprise)). Returning to her guests, she invites the songwriters to perform their latest song, "Good Thing Going". The guests love it and Gussie implores them to do an encore. Charley urges Frank not to, but Frank agrees. They play the song again, but the guests quickly lose interest and resume their noisy cocktail chatter ("The Blob" (Reprise)). Charley storms out as Mary looks on worriedly.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Time turns back to 1960 ("Merrily We Roll Along – Fifth Transition"). Charley, Frank, and Beth are performing at a small nightclub in Greenwich Village, with a supportive Mary lending a hand. Trying to appear bright and sophisticated, they perform a song celebrating America's new First Family ("Bobby and Jackie and Jack"). Joe is in the tiny audience and is quite impressed, as is his new fiancée (and former secretary) Gussie. After the show, Frank explains to them that he and Beth are marrying. It becomes clear that the wedding is due to her pregnancy, but Frank professes his happiness anyway. With Mary, Charley, and Beth's disapproving parents looking on, the happy couple exchanges vows as a lovelorn Mary tries to swallow her feelings for Frank ("Not a Day Goes By" (Reprise)).


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 1959 ("Merrily We Roll Along – Sixth Transition"), Frank, Charley, and Mary are busy in New York, working their way up the career ladder ("Opening Doors"), taking any job they can and working feverishly on their songs, plays, and novels. (Sondheim said this is the "only autobiographical song [he's] ever written... It's about all of us [writers] in the 50s knocking on the doors of producers and trying to get heard.") The men audition for Joe, but he wants more "hummable" tunes, and instructs them to leave their name with his secretary. So they decide to do their own show and, in an ensuing montage, audition and hire Beth and form a cabaret show together.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Finally, it is October 1957 ("Merrily We Roll Along – Seventh Transition"). Early in the morning, Frank and Charley are on the roof of an apartment building on New York City's 110th Street, waiting to see the first-ever earth-orbiting satellite. Frank, who is about to be released from the Army, tells Charley how much he likes Charley's plays and proposes that they turn one, a political satire, into a musical. Mary, their neighbor, arrives to view the satellite, and meets the boys for the first time. She has heard Frank's piano from her apartment, and tells him how much she admires his music. He speaks of how much composing means to him. Suddenly, Sputnik is there in the sky, and now, for the young friends, anything is possible ("Our Time").


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The original Broadway cast recorded the show the day after their final performance. The recording was released by RCA as an LP album in April 1982, then compact disc in 1986. A 2007 remastered CD release from Sony/BMG Broadway Masterworks includes a bonus track of Sondheim performing "It's a Hit".


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: A cast recording of the 2012 Encores! revival was released by PS Classics as a two-CD set, featuring Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jessica Vosk, and Elizabeth Stanley.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Various artists have recorded the show's songs, including Carly Simon, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Petula Clark, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Cleo Laine, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Cook, Patti LuPone, Barry Manilow, Audra McDonald, Michael Crawford, and Lena Horne. "Not a Day Goes By", "Good Thing Going", "Old Friends", and "Our Time" frequently appear on the cabaret circuit.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: Original cast member Lonny Price directed a documentary produced by Atlas Media, "Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened", describing the "thrilling, wrenching experience" of the original production. It opened on November 18, 2016, in New York City, followed by a question-and-answer session with Price, moderated by Bernadette Peters.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: In 2019, it was announced that Richard Linklater would film an adaptation of the musical. Like Linklater's 2014 film "Boyhood", it will be filmed for more than a decade, allowing the actors to age with their characters. Ben Platt, Blake Jenner, and Beanie Feldstein are attached to play Charley, Frank, and Mary, respectively.


title: Merrily We Roll Along (musical)

text: The 2017 film "Lady Bird" includes a school production of "Merrily We Roll Along" in its story. One of the students in the production was played by Feldstein.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Malaysia is located on a strategic sea lane that exposes it to global trade and various cultures. The name "Malaysia" is a modern concept, created in the second half of the 20th century. However, contemporary Malaysia regards the entire history of Malaya and Borneo, spanning thousands of years back to prehistoric times, as its own history.


title: History of Malaysia

text: An early western account of the area is seen in Ptolemy's book "Geographia", which mentions a "Golden Khersonese," now identified as the Malay Peninsula. Hinduism and Buddhism from India and China dominated early regional history, reaching their peak during the reign of the Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia - based Srivijaya civilisation, whose influence extended through Sumatra, West Java, East Borneo and the Malay Peninsula from the 7th to the 13th centuries.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Although Muslims passed through the Malay Peninsula as early as the 10th century, it was not until the 14th century that Islam first firmly established itself. The adoption of Islam in the 14th century saw the rise of several sultanates, the most prominent of which were the Sultanate of Malacca and the Sultanate of Brunei.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Portuguese were the first European colonial powers to establish themselves on the Malay Peninsula and Southeast Asia, capturing Malacca in 1511. The Dutch followed in 1641. However, it was the English who, after initially establishing bases at Jesselton, Kuching, Penang and Singapore, ultimately gained hegemony across the territory that is now Malaysia. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 defined the boundaries between British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies (which became Indonesia), and the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 defined the boundaries between British Malaya and Siam (which became Thailand). The fourth phase of foreign influence was a wave of immigration of Chinese and Indian workers to meet the needs created by the colonial economy in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Japanese invasion during World War II ended British rule in Malaya. The subsequent occupation of Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak from 1942 to 1945 unleashed a wave of nationalism. After the Japanese were defeated by the Allies, the Malayan Union was established in 1946 by the British administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays who were led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the union was reorganized as the Federation of Malaya in 1948 as a protectorate state until 1957. In the Peninsula, the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) took up arms against the British and the tension led to the declaration of emergency rule for 12 years from 1948 to 1960. A forceful military response to the communist insurgency, followed by the Baling Talks in 1955, led to the establishment of independence for Malaya on August 31, 1957, through diplomatic negotiation with the British. Tunku Abdul Rahman became the first Prime Minister of Malaysia. In 1960, the state of emergency was ended as the communist threat decreased with their retreat to the borders between Malaya and Thailand.


title: History of Malaysia

text: On 16 September 1963, the Federation of Malaysia was formed following the merger of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo (Sabah). However, in August 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation and became a separate independent country. A confrontation with Indonesia occurred in the early-1960s. Race riots in 1969 brought the imposition of emergency rule, the suspension of parliament, the establishment of the National Operations Council (NOC), and the proclamation of Rukun Negara by the NOC in 1970, a national philosophy promoting unity among citizens. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was adopted in 1971 and stayed in effect until 1991. It sought to eradicate poverty and restructure society to eliminate the identification of race with economic function.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as the fourth Prime Minister, there was a period of rapid economic growth and urbanization in the country beginning in the 1980s. The economy shifted from being agriculturally based to one based on manufacturing and industry. Numerous mega-projects were completed, such as the Petronas Towers, the North–South Expressway, the Multimedia Super Corridor, and the new federal administrative capital of Putrajaya. Under his tenure, the previous economic policy was succeeded by the National Development Policy (NDP) from 1991 to 2000. The country was impacted by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, which almost led to the currency, stock, and property markets collapsing, although they later recovered.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Recently, Malaysia which was governed by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition headed by UMNO from 1971, was defeated by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition in the 2018 Malaysian general election, under the leadership of former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. In early 2020, Malaysia saw a political crisis, in which the PH government collapsed, into a new coalition government, Perikatan Nasional (PN), led by the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) leader Muhyiddin Yassin. However, the country was coincided with a political, health, social, economic, and cultural impact of crises caused by COVID-19 pandemic. In early August 2021, despite the political crisis, further infightings between PN and BN saw the removal of BERSATU's Muhyiddin Yassin as the Prime Minister, replaced by Ismail Sabri from BN. This was then followed by a leadership crisis within UMNO of BN, between the Prime Minister and his party president, Zahid Hamidi, triggering an earlier 2022 general election, which resulted in the first hung parliament in the nation's history.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Stone hand axes from early hominoids, probably Homo erectus, have been unearthed in Lenggong. They date back 1.83 million years, one of the oldest evidence of hominid habitation in Southeast Asia.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The earliest evidence of modern human habitation in Malaysia is the 40,000-year-old skull excavated from the Niah Caves in today's Sarawak, nicknamed "Deep Skull". It was excavated from a deep trench uncovered by Barbara and Tom Harrisson (a British ethnologist) in 1958. This is also one of the oldest modern human skulls in Southeast Asia. The skull most likely belonged to a girl between the ages of 16 and 17. The first foragers visited the West Mouth of Niah Caves (located southwest of Miri) 40,000 years ago when Borneo was connected to the mainland of Southeast Asia. The landscape around the Niah Caves was drier and more exposed than it is now. Prehistorically, the Niah Caves were surrounded by a combination of closed forests with bush, parkland, swamps, and rivers. The foragers were able to survive in the rainforest through hunting, fishing, and gathering molluscs and edible plants. Mesolithic and Neolithic burial sites have also been found in the area. The area around the Niah Caves has been designated the Niah National Park.


title: History of Malaysia

text: A study of Asian genetics points to the idea that the original humans in East Asia came from Southeast Asia. The oldest complete skeleton found in Malaysia is an 11,000-year-old Perak Man unearthed in 1991. The indigenous groups on the peninsula can be divided into three ethnicities, the Negritos, the Senoi, and the proto-Malays. The first inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula were most probably Negritos. These Mesolithic hunters were probably the ancestors of the Semang, an ethnic Negrito group who have a long history in the Malay Peninsula.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Senoi appear to be a composite group, with approximately half of the maternal mitochondrial DNA lineages tracing back to the ancestors of the Semang and about half to later ancestral migrations from Indochina. Scholars suggest they are descendants of early Austroasiatic-speaking agriculturalists, who brought both their language and their technology to the southern part of the peninsula approximately 4,000 years ago. They united and coalesced with the indigenous population.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Proto Malays have a more diverse origin and had settled in Malaysia by 1000 BC as a result of Austronesian expansion. Although they show some connections with other inhabitants in Maritime Southeast Asia, some also have an ancestry in Indochina around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. Anthropologists support the notion that the Proto-Malays originated from what is today Yunnan, China. This was followed by an early-Holocene dispersal through the Malay Peninsula into the Malay Archipelago. Around 300 BC, they were pushed inland by the Deutero-Malays, an Iron Age or Bronze Age people descended partly from the Chams of Cambodia and Vietnam. The first group in the peninsula to use metal tools, the Deutero-Malays were the direct ancestors of today's Malaysian Malays and brought with them advanced farming techniques. The Malays remained politically fragmented throughout the Malay archipelago, although a common culture and social structure were shared.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the first millennium AD, Malay became the dominant ethnicity on the peninsula. The small early states that were established were greatly influenced by Indian culture, as was most of Southeast Asia. Indian influence in the region dates back to at least the 3rd century BC. South Indian culture was spread to Southeast Asia by the south Indian Pallava dynasty in the 4th and 5th centuries.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In ancient Indian literature, the term "Suvarnadvipa" ("Golden Peninsula)" is used in the "Ramayana"; some argue that this is a reference to the Malay Peninsula. The ancient Indian text "Vayu Purana" also mentions a place named "Malayadvipa" where gold mines may be found; this term may refer to Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The Malay Peninsula was shown on Ptolemy's map as the "Golden Khersonese". He referred to the Straits of Malacca as "Sinus Sabaricus".


title: History of Malaysia

text: Trade relations with China and India were established in the 1st century BC. Shards of Chinese pottery have been found in Borneo dating from the 1st century following the southward expansion of the Han Dynasty. In the early centuries of the first millennium, the people of the Malay Peninsula adopted the Indian religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, which had a major effect on the language and culture of those living in Malaysia. The Sanskrit writing system was used as early as the 4th century.


title: History of Malaysia

text: There were numerous Malay kingdoms in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, as many as 30, mainly based on the eastern side of the Malay peninsula. Among the earliest kingdoms known to have been based in the Malay Peninsula is the ancient kingdom of Langkasuka, located in the northern Malay Peninsula and based somewhere on the west coast. It was closely tied to Funan in Cambodia, which also ruled parts of northern Malaysia until the 6th century. In the 5th century, the Kingdom of Pahang was mentioned in the "Book of Song". According to the Sejarah Melayu ("Malay Annals"), the Khmer prince Raja Ganji Sarjuna founded the kingdom of Gangga Negara (modern-day Beruas, Perak) in the 8th century. Chinese chronicles of the 5th century speak of a great port in the south called Guantoli, which is thought to have been in the Straits of Malacca. In the 7th century, a new port called "Shilifoshi" is mentioned, and this is believed to be a Chinese rendering of Srivijaya.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Gangga Negara is believed to be a lost semi-legendary Hindu kingdom mentioned in the Malay Annals that covered present day Beruas, Dinding and Manjung in the state of Perak, Malaysia with Raja Gangga Shah Johan as one of its kings. Gangga Negara means "a city on the Ganges" in Sanskrit, the name derived from Ganganagar in northwest India where the Kambuja peoples inhabited. Researchers believe that the kingdom was centered at Beruas. Another Malay annal Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa known as Kedah Annals, Gangga Negara may have been founded by Merong Mahawangsa's son Raja Ganji Sarjuna of Kedah, allegedly a descendant of Alexander the Great or by the Khmer royalties no later than the 2nd century.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The first research into the Beruas kingdom was conducted by Colonel James Low in 1849 and a century later, by H.G. Quaritch Wales. According to the Museum and Antiquities Department, both researchers agreed that the Gangga Negara kingdom existed between the 1st–11th century but could not ascertain the exact site. For years, villagers had unearthed artefacts believed to be from the ancient kingdoms, most of which are at present displayed at the Beruas Museum. Artefacts on display include a 128 kg cannon, swords, kris, coins, tin ingots, pottery from the Ming Dynasty and various eras, and large jars. They can be dated back to the 5th and 6th centuries.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Ptolemy, a Greek geographer, had written about the Golden Chersonese, which indicated that trade with India and China had existed since the 1st century AD.


title: History of Malaysia

text: As early as the 1st century AD, the coastal city-states that existed had a network which encompassed the southern part of the Indochinese peninsula and the western part of the Malay archipelago. These coastal cities had ongoing trade as well as tributary relations with China, at the same time being in constant contact with Indian traders. They seem to have shared a common indigenous culture.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Gradually, the rulers of the western part of the archipelago adopted Indian cultural and political models e.g. proof of such Indian influence on Indonesian art in the 5th century. Three inscriptions found in Palembang (South Sumatra) and on Bangka Island, written in a form of Malay and in an alphabet derived from the Pallava script, are proof that the archipelago had definitely adopted Indian models while maintaining their indigenous language and social system. These inscriptions reveal the existence of a "Dapunta Hyang" (lord) of Srivijaya who led an expedition against his enemies and who curses those who will not obey his law.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Being on the maritime route between China and South India, the Malay peninsula was involved in this trade The Bujang Valley, being strategically located at the northwest entrance of the Strait of Malacca as well as facing the Bay of Bengal, was continuously frequented by Chinese and south Indian traders. Such was proven by the discovery of trade ceramics, sculptures, inscriptions and monuments dated from the 5th to 14th century.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In Kedah there are remains showing Buddhist and Hindu influences which have been known for about a century from the discoveries reported by Col. Low and has recently been subjected to a fairly exhaustive investigation by Quaritch Wales. Wales investigated no fewer than 30 sites around Kedah.


title: History of Malaysia

text: An inscribed stone bar, rectangular in shape, bears the "ye-dharmma" formula in Pallava script of the 7th century, thus proclaiming the Buddhist character of the shrine, of which only the basement survives. It is inscribed on three faces in "Pallava script" of the 6th century, possibly earlier.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Between the 7th and the 13th century, much of the Malay peninsula was under the Buddhist Srivijaya empire. The site prasasti Hujung Langit, which sat at the center of Srivijaya's empire, is thought be at a river mouth in eastern Sumatra, based near what is now Palembang, Indonesia. For over six centuries the Maharajahs of Srivijaya ruled a maritime empire that became the main power in the archipelago. The empire was based around trade, with local kings (dhatus or community leaders) that swore allegiance to a lord for mutual profit. In 1025, the Chola dynasty captured Palembang, the king and all members of his family, including courtiers and took all his wealth; by the end of the 12th century Srivijaya had been reduced to a kingdom, with the last ruler in 1288, Queen Sekerummong who had been conquered was overthrown by four pious people which became a milestone in the establishment of the Kingdom of Sekala Brak in Gedung Dalom Batu Brak, Liwa, West Lampung Regency which was based on Islamic religious values on 29 Rajab 688 AH. Majapahit, a subordinate to Srivijaya, soon dominated the regional political scene.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The relation between Srivijaya and the Chola Empire of south India was friendly during the reign of Raja Raja Chola I but during the reign of Rajendra Chola I the Chola Empire invaded Srivijaya cities (see Chola invasion of Srivijaya). In 1025 and 1026, Gangga Negara was attacked by Rajendra Chola I of the Chola Empire, the Tamil emperor who is now thought to have laid Kota Gelanggi to waste. Kedah (known as "Kadaram" in Tamil) was invaded by the Cholas in 1025. A second invasion was led by Virarajendra Chola of the Chola dynasty who conquered Kedah in the late 11th century. The senior Chola's successor, Vira Rajendra Chola, had to put down a Kedah rebellion to overthrow other invaders. The coming of the Chola reduced the majesty of Srivijaya, which had exerted influence over Kedah, Pattani and as far as Ligor. During the reign of Kulothunga Chola I Chola overlordship was established over the Srivijaya province kedah in the late 11th century. The expedition of the Chola Emperors had such a great impression to the Malay people of the medieval period that their name was mentioned in the corrupted form as Raja Chulan in the medieval Malay chronicle Sejarah Melaya. Even today the Chola rule is remembered in Malaysia as many Malaysian princes have names ending with Cholan or Chulan, one such was the Raja of Perak called Raja Chulan.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Pattinapalai, a Tamil poem of the 2nd century AD, describes goods from Kedaram heaped in the broad streets of the Chola capital. A 7th-century Indian drama, "Kaumudhimahotsva", refers to Kedah as Kataha-nagari. The "Agnipurana" also mentions a territory known as Anda-Kataha with one of its boundaries delineated by a peak, which scholars believe is Gunung Jerai. Stories from the "Katasaritasagaram" describe the elegance of life in Kataha. The Buddhist kingdom of Ligor took control of Kedah shortly after. Its king Chandrabhanu used it as a base to attack Sri Lanka in the 11th century and ruled the northern parts, an event noted in a stone inscription in Nagapattinum in Tamil Nadu and in the Sri Lankan chronicles, "Mahavamsa".


title: History of Malaysia

text: At times, the Khmer kingdom, the Siamese kingdom, and even Cholas kingdom tried to exert control over the smaller Malay states. The power of Srivijaya declined from the 12th century as the relationship between the capital and its vassals broke down. Wars with the Javanese caused it to request assistance from China, and wars with Indian states are also suspected. In the 11th century, the centre of power shifted to Malayu, a port possibly located further up the Sumatran coast near the Jambi River. The power of the Buddhist Maharajas was further undermined by the spread of Islam. Areas which were converted to Islam early, such as Aceh, broke away from Srivijaya's control. By the late 13th century, the Siamese kings of Sukhothai had brought most of Malaya under their rule. In the 14th century, the Hindu Majapahit empire came into possession of the peninsula.


title: History of Malaysia

text: An excavation by Tom Harrisson in 1949 unearthed a series of Chinese ceramics at Santubong (near Kuching) that date to the Tang and Song dynasties. It is possible that Santubong was an important seaport in Sarawak during the period, but its importance declined during the Yuan dynasty, and the port was deserted during the Ming dynasty. Other archaeological sites in Sarawak can be found inside the Kapit, Song, Serian and Bau districts of Sarawak.


title: History of Malaysia

text: According to the Malay Annals, a new ruler named Sang Sapurba was promoted as the new paramount of Srivijayan mandala. It was said that after his accession to Seguntang Hill with his two younger brothers, Sang Sapurba entered into a sacred covenant with Demang Lebar Daun, the native ruler of Palembang. The newly installed sovereign afterwards descended from the hill of Seguntang into the great plain of the Musi river, where he married Wan Sendari, the daughter of the local chief, Demang Lebar Daun. Sang Sapurba was said to have reigned in Minangkabau lands.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1324, a Srivijaya prince, Sang Nila Utama founded the Kingdom of Singapura (Temasek). According to tradition, he was related to Sang Sapurba. He maintained control over Temasek for 48 years. He was recognized as ruler over Temasek by an envoy of the Chinese Emperor sometime around 1366. He was succeeded by his son Paduka Sri Pekerma Wira Diraja (1372–1386) and grandson, Paduka Seri Rana Wira Kerma (1386–1399). In 1401, the last ruler, Paduka Sri Maharaja Parameswara, was expelled from Temasek by forces from Majapahit or Ayutthaya. He later headed north and founded the Sultanate of Malacca in 1402. The Sultanate of Malacca succeeded the Srivijaya Empire as a Malay political entity in the archipelago.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Islam came to the Malay Archipelago through the Arab and Indian traders in the 13th century, ending the age of Hinduism and Buddhism. It arrived in the region gradually, and became the religion of the elite before it spread to the commoners. The syncretic form of Islam in Malaysia was influenced by previous religions and was originally not orthodox.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The port of Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula was founded in 1400 by Parameswara, a Srivijayan prince fleeing Temasek (now Singapore), Parameswara in particular sailed to Temasek to escape persecution. There he came under the protection of Temagi, a Malay chief from Patani who was appointed by the king of Siam as regent of Temasek. Within a few days, Parameswara killed Temagi and appointed himself regent. Some five years later he had to leave Temasek, due to threats from Siam. During this period, a Javanese fleet from Majapahit attacked Temasek.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Parameswara headed north to found a new settlement. At Muar, Parameswara considered siting his new kingdom at either Biawak Busuk or at Kota Buruk. Finding that the Muar location was not suitable, he continued his journey northwards. Along the way, he reportedly visited Sening Ujong (former name of present-day Sungai Ujong) before reaching a fishing village at the mouth of the Bertam River (former name of the Melaka River), and founded what would become the Malacca Sultanate. Over time this developed into modern-day Malacca Town. According to the "Malay Annals", here Parameswara saw a mouse deer outwitting a dog resting under a Malacca tree. Taking this as a good omen, he decided to establish a kingdom called Malacca. He built and improved facilities for trade. The Malacca Sultanate is commonly considered the first independent state in the peninsula.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1404, the first official Chinese trade envoy led by Admiral Yin Qing arrived in Malacca. Later, Parameswara was escorted by Zheng He and other envoys in his successful visits. Malacca's relationships with Ming granted protection to Malacca against attacks from Siam and Majapahit and Malacca officially submitted as a protectorate of Ming China. This encouraged the development of Malacca into a major trade settlement on the trade route between China and India, Middle East, Africa and Europe. To prevent the Malaccan empire from falling to the Siamese and Majapahit, he forged a relationship with the Ming dynasty of China for protection. Following the establishment of this relationship, the prosperity of the Malacca entrepôt was then recorded by the first Chinese visitor, Ma Huan, who travelled together with Admiral Zheng He. In Malacca during the early 15th century, Ming China actively sought to develop a commercial hub and a base of operation for their treasure voyages into the Indian Ocean. Malacca had been a relatively insignificant region, not even qualifying as a polity prior to the voyages according to both Ma Huan and Fei Xin, and was a vassal region of Siam. In 1405, the Ming court dispatched Admiral Zheng He with a stone tablet enfeoffing the Western Mountain of Malacca as well as an imperial order elevating the status of the port to a country. The Chinese also established a government depot (官廠) as a fortified cantonment for their soldiers. Ma Huan reported that Siam did not dare to invade Malacca thereafter. The rulers of Malacca, such as Parameswara in 1411, would pay tribute to the Chinese emperor in person.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The emperor of Ming dynasty China was sending out fleets of ships to expand trade. Admiral Zheng He called at Malacca and brought Parameswara with him on his return to China, a recognition of his position as legitimate ruler of Malacca. In exchange for regular tribute, the Chinese emperor offered Melaka protection from the constant threat of a Siamese attack. Because of its strategic location, Malacca was an important stopping point for Zheng He's fleet. Due to Chinese involvement, Malacca had grown as key alternative to other important and established ports.The Chinese and Indians who settled in the Malay Peninsula before and during this period are the ancestors of today's Baba-Nyonya and Chitty community. According to one theory, Parameswara became a Muslim when he married a Princess of Pasai and he took the fashionable Persian title "Shah", calling himself Iskandar Shah. Chinese chronicles mention that in 1414, the son of the first ruler of Malacca visited the Ming emperor to inform them that his father had died. Parameswara's son was then officially recognised as the second ruler of Melaka by the Chinese Emperor and styled Raja Sri Rama Vikrama, Raja of Parameswara of Temasek and Malacca and he was known to his Muslim subjects as Sultan Sri Iskandar Zulkarnain Shah (Megat Iskandar Shah). He ruled Malacca from 1414 to 1424. Through the influence of Indian Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Hui people from China, Islam became increasingly common during the 15th century.


title: History of Malaysia

text: After an initial period paying tribute to the Ayutthaya, the kingdom rapidly assumed the place previously held by Srivijaya, establishing independent relations with China, and exploiting its position dominating the Straits to control the China-India maritime trade, which became increasingly important when the Mongol conquests closed the overland route between China and the west.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Within a few years of its establishment, Malacca officially adopted Islam. Parameswara became a Muslim, and because Malacca was under a Muslim prince, the conversion of Malays to Islam accelerated in the 15th century. The political power of the Malacca Sultanate helped Islam's rapid spread through the archipelago. Malacca was an important commercial centre during this time, attracting trade from around the region. By the start of the 16th century, with the Malacca Sultanate in the Malay peninsula and parts of Sumatra, the Demak Sultanate in Java, and other kingdoms around the Malay archipelago increasingly converting to Islam, it had become the dominant religion among Malays, and reached as far as the modern-day Philippines, leaving Bali as an isolated outpost of Hinduism today. The government in Malacca was based on the feudal system.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Malacca's reign lasted little more than a century, but during this time became the established centre of Malay culture. Most future Malay states originated from this period. Malacca became a cultural centre, creating the matrix of the modern Malay culture: a blend of indigenous Malay and imported Indian, Chinese and Islamic elements. Malacca's fashions in literature, art, music, dance and dress, and the ornate titles of its royal court, came to be seen as the standard for all ethnic Malays. The court of Malacca also gave great prestige to the Malay language, which had originally evolved in Sumatra and been brought to Malacca at the time of its foundation. In time Malay came to be the official language of all the Malaysian states, although local languages survived in many places. After the fall of Malacca, the Sultanate of Brunei became the major centre of Islam.


title: History of Malaysia

text: From the 15th century onwards, the Portuguese started seeking a maritime route towards Asia. In 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque led an expedition to Malaya which seized Malacca with the intent of using it as a base for activities in Southeast Asia. This was the first colonial claim on what is now Malaysia. The son of the last Sultan of Malacca, Alauddin Riayat Shah II fled to the southern tip of the peninsula, where he founded a state that which became the Sultanate of Johor in 1528. Another son established the Perak Sultanate to the north. By the late 16th century, the tin mines of northern Malaya had been discovered by European traders, and Perak grew wealthy on the proceeds of tin exports. Portuguese influence was strong, as they aggressively tried to convert the population of Malacca to Catholicism. In 1571, the Spanish captured Manila and established a colony in the Philippines, reducing the Brunei's power.


title: History of Malaysia

text: After the fall of Malacca to Portugal, the Johor Sultanate on the southern Malay peninsula and the Sultanate of Aceh on northern Sumatra moved to fill the power vacuum left behind. The three powers struggled to dominate the Malay peninsula and the surrounding islands. Meanwhile, the importance of the Strait of Malacca as an east–west shipping route was growing, while the islands of Southeast Asia were themselves prized sources of natural resources (metals, spices, etc.) whose inhabitants were being further drawn in the global economy.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1607, the Sultanate of Aceh rose as the most powerful and wealthiest state in the Malay archipelago. Under Sultan Iskandar Muda's reign, the sultanate's control was extended over a number of Malay states. A notable conquest was Perak, a tin-producing state on the Peninsula. During the Battle of Duyon River, Iskandar Muda's disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629, the combined Portuguese and Johor forces managed to destroy all the ships of his formidable fleet and 19,000 troops according to a Portuguese account. Aceh forces were not destroyed, however, as Aceh was able to conquer Kedah within the same year and took many of its citizens to Aceh. The sultan's son-in-law, Iskandar Thani, the former prince of Pahang later became Iskandar Muda's successor.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company ("Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie", or VOC) was established. During this time the Dutch were at war with Spain. Backed by the Dutch, Johor established a loose hegemony over the Malay states, except Perak, which was able to play-off Johor against the Siamese to the north and retain its independence. The Dutch did not interfere in local matters in Malacca, but at the same time diverted most trade to its colonies on Java.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Johor was part of the Malaccan Sultanate before the Portuguese conquered the port town of Malacca in 1511. At its height, the sultanate controlled modern-day Johor, several territories by the Klang and Linggi rivers, Singapore, Bintan, Riau, Lingga, Karimun, Bengkalis, Kampar and Siak in Sumatra. The Portuguese and Johor were frequently in conflict in the 16th century, most notable of their conflicts was the 1587 siege of Johor. During the Triangular war, Aceh launched multiple raids against both Johor and Portuguese forces to tighten its grip over the straits. The rise and expansion of Aceh encouraged the Portuguese and Johor to sign a truce to divert their attention to Aceh. The truce, however, was short-lived and with Aceh severely weakened, Johor and the Portuguese had each other in their sights again. During the rule of Iskandar Muda, Aceh attacked Johor in 1613 and again in 1615.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the early 17th century, the Dutch reached Southeast Asia. At that time the Dutch were at war with the Portuguese and allied themselves to Johor. Two treaties were signed by Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge on behalf of the Dutch Estates General and Raja Bongsu (Raja Seberang) of Johor in May and September 1606. The combined Johor-Dutch forces ultimately failed to capture Malacca in 1606. Finally in 1641, the Dutch and Johor headed by Bendahara Skudai, defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Malacca. The Dutch took control of Malacca and agreed not to seek territories or wage war with Johor. By the time the fortress at Malacca surrendered, the town's population had already been greatly decimated by famine and disease.


title: History of Malaysia

text: With the fall of Portuguese Malacca in 1641 and the decline of Aceh due to the growing power of the Dutch, Johor started to re-establish itself as a power along the Straits of Malacca during the reign of Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah III (1623–1677). Jambi emerged as a regional economic and political power in Sumatra. Initially there was an attempt of an alliance between Johor and Jambi by way of a promised marriage. However, the alliance broke down and the Johor-Jambi war (1666–1679) ensued between Johor and the Sumatran state. After the sacking of Batu Sawar in 1673, the capital of Johor was frequently moved to avoid the threat of attack from Jambi. The sultan escaped to Pahang and died four years later. His successor, Sultan Ibrahim Shah (1677–1685), then engaged the help of the Bugis in the fight to defeat Jambi. Johor would eventually prevail in 1679, but also ended in a weakened position as the Bugis refused to return to Makassar where they came from. On top of this, the Minangkabaus of Sumatra also started to assert their influence.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the 1690s the Bugis, who played an important role in defeating Jambi two decades earlier, had a major political influence in Johor. Both the Bugis and the Minangkabau realised how the death of Sultan Mahmud II in 1699 caused a power vacuum and allowed them to exert their power in Johor. The Minangkabau introduced a Minangkabau prince, Raja Kecil from Siak who claimed he was the posthumous son of Mahmud II. With the help of the Orang Laut, Raja Kecil then captured Riau in 1718, the then capital of the Johor Sultanate and installed himself as the new Johor Sultan, Jalil Rahmat Shah, without the knowledge of the Bugis. Dissatisfied with Raja Kecil's accession, Raja Sulaiman of Johor, asked Daeng Parani of the Bugis to aid him in his quest to reclaim the throne. In 1722, Raja Kecil was dethroned by Raja Sulaiman's supporters with the assistance of the Bugis. Raja Sulaiman became the new Johor Sultan, Sulaiman Badrul Alam Shah (1722–1760), but he was a weak ruler and became a puppet of the Bugis. During the reign of Sultan Mahmud Shah III, the mid-to-late 18th century saw the Bugis in his government attempting to expand their influence in the region. This brought them into conflicts with the Dutch, which resulted in a final major battle in 1784 between the two, which ended Bugis and Johor dominance in the region. This would be the final significant battle of the precolonial period.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Based on the Perak Royal Genealogy (""Salasilah Raja-Raja Perak""), the Perak Sultanate was formed in the early 16th century on the banks of the Perak River by the eldest son of Mahmud Shah, the 8th Sultan of Malacca. He ascended to the throne as , first sultan of Perak, after surviving the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511 and living quietly for a period in Siak, Sumatra. He became sultan through the efforts of Tun Saban, a local leader and trader between Perak and Klang. There had been no sultans in Perak when Tun Saban first arrived in the area from Kampar in Sumatra. Most of the area's residents were traders from Malacca, Selangor and Sumatra. Perak's administration became more organised after the Sultanate was established. With the opening up of Perak in the 16th century, the state became a source of tin ore. It appears that anyone was free to trade in the commodity, although the tin trade did not attract significant attention until the 1610s.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Throughout the early 17th century, the Sultanate of Aceh subjected most parts of the Malay Peninsula to continual harassment. Although Perak did fall under the authority of Aceh, it remained entirely independent of Siamese control for over two hundred years from 1612, in contrast with its neighbour, Kedah, and other northern Malay sultanates.


title: History of Malaysia

text: When the last and 9th Sultan of Perak of Malaccan lineage, Sallehuddin Riayat Shah died without an heir in 1635, a state of uncertainty prevailed in Perak. This was exacerbated by a deadly cholera epidemic that swept through the state, killing many royal family members. Perak chieftains were left with no alternative but to turn to Iskandar Thani of Aceh, who sent his relative, Raja Sulong, to become the new Perak Sultan, Muzaffar Shah II.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Aceh's influence on Perak began to wane when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) arrived, in the mid–17th century. When Perak refused to enter into a contract with the VOC as its northern neighbours had done, a blockade of the Perak River halted the tin trade, causing suffering among Aceh's merchants. In 1650, Aceh's Sultana Taj ul-Alam ordered Perak to sign an agreement with the VOC, on condition that the tin trade would be conducted exclusively with Aceh's merchants. By the following year, the VOC had secured a monopoly over the tin trade, setting up a store in Perak. Following long competition between Aceh and the VOC over Perak's tin trade, on 15 December 1653, the two parties jointly signed a treaty with Perak granting the Dutch exclusive rights to tin extracted from mines located in the state.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1699, when Johor lost its last sultan of Malaccan lineage, Sultan Mahmud Shah II, Perak now had the sole claim of being the final heir of the old Sultanate of Malacca. However, Perak could not match the prestige and power of either the Malaccan or Johor Sultanates. Perak endured 40 years of civil war in the early 18th century, where rival princes were bolstered by local chiefs, the Bugis and Minang, all fighting for a share of tin revenues. The Bugis and several Perak chiefs were successful in ousting the Perak ruler, Sultan Muzaffar Riayat Shah III in 1743. In 1747, he only held power in north Perak and signed a treaty with the Dutch Commissioner Ary Verbrugge, under which Perak's ruler recognised Dutch monopoly over the tin trade and agreed to sell all the tin ore to Dutch traders.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Old Pahang Sultanate centred in modern-day Pekan was established in the 15th century. At the height of its influence, the sultanate was an important power in Southeast Asian history and controlled the entire Pahang basin, bordering the Pattani Sultanate and the Johor Sultanate. The sultanate had its origins as a vassal to the Malaccan Sultanate. Its first sultan was a Malaccan prince, Muhammad Shah, himself the grandson of Dewa Sura, the last pre-Malaccan ruler of Pahang. Over the years, Pahang grew independent from Malaccan control and at one point even established itself as a rival state to Malacca until the latter's demise in 1511. In 1528, when the last Malaccan sultan died, the sultan at the time, Mahmud Shah I joined forces with the Sultan of Johor, Alauddin Riayat Shah II, and began to expel the Portuguese from the Malay Peninsula. Two attempts were made in 1547 at Muar and in 1551 at Portuguese Malacca. However, in the face of superior Portuguese arms and vessels, the Pahang and Johor forces were forced to retreat on both occasions.


title: History of Malaysia

text: During the reign of Sultan Abdul Kadir (1560–1590), Pahang enjoyed a brief period of cordial relations with the Portuguese in the second half of the 17th century. However, in 1607, following a visit by Admiral Matelief de Jonge of the Dutch Empire, Pahang cooperated with them in an attempt to get rid of the Portuguese. There was an attempt to establish a Johor-Pahang alliance to assist the Dutch. However, a quarrel erupted between Sultan Abdul Ghafur of Pahang and Alauddin Riayat Shah III of Johor. This resulted in Johor declaring war on Pahang in 1612. With the aid of Sultan Abdul Jalilul Akbar of Brunei, Pahang eventually defeated Johor in 1613. In 1615, the Acehnese Iskandar Muda invaded Pahang, forcing Alauddin Riayat Shah, son Abdul Ghafur to retreat into the interior of Pahang. He nevertheless continued to exercise some ruling powers. His reign in exile is considered to have officially end after the installation of a distant Johorean relative, Raja Bujang to the Pahang throne in 1615 with the support of the Portuguese. However, he was eventually deposed in the Acehnese invasion of 1617, but restored to the Pahang throne and also installed as the new Sultan of Johor following the death of his uncle, Sultan Abdullah Ma'ayat Shah in 1623. This event led to the union of the crown of Pahang and Johor, and the formal establishment of Pahang-ruled Johor.


title: History of Malaysia

text: During the 17th century Johor-Jambi war, the Sultan of Johor engaged the help of Bugis mercenaries from Sulawesi to fight against Jambi. After Johor won in 1679, the Bugis decided to stay and asserted their power in the region. Many Bugis began to migrate and settled along the coast of Selangor such as the estuaries of the Selangor and Klang rivers. Some Minangkabaus may have also settled in Selangor by the 17th century, perhaps earlier. The Bugis and the Minangkabaus from Sumatra struggled for control of Johor. Raja Kecil, backed by the Minangkabaus, invaded Selangor but were driven off by the Bugis in 1742. To establish a power base, the Bugis led by Raja Salehuddin founded the present hereditary Selangor Sultanate with its capital at Kuala Selangor in 1766. Selangor is unique as its the only state on the Malay Peninsula that was founded by the Bugis.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Before its conversion to Islam, the oldest records of Brunei in Arabic sources defined it as "Sribuza". The Arabic author Ya'qubi writing in the 9th century recorded that the kingdom of Musa (probably referring to Brunei) was in alliance with the kingdom of Mayd (either Ma-i or Madja-as in the Philippines), against the Tang dynasty.


title: History of Malaysia

text: One of the earliest Chinese records of an independent kingdom in Borneo was the 977 letter to the Song dynasty emperor from the ruler of Boni (Brunei). The Bruneians regained their independence from Srivijaya due to the onset of a Javanese-Sumatran war. 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. In the 14th century, a Chinese annal ("Yuan Dade" "Nanhai zhi") reported that Boni invaded or administered Sabah, some parts of Sarawak and ruled Butuan, Sulu and Mayd, as well as Malilu and Wenduling in present-day Manila and Mindanao respectively. Later, the Sulu kingdom invaded and occupied ports in Boni-ruled Sabah. They were later evicted with the help of the Majapahit Empire, which Brunei became a vassal to in the late 14th century.


title: History of Malaysia

text: By the 15th century, the empire became a Muslim state, when the king of Brunei converted to Islam, brought 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 and reached the Philippines at Seludong (present-day Manila), the Sulu Archipelago and some parts of Mindanao which Brunei had incorporated via royal intermarriage with the rulers of Sulu, Manila and Maguindanao.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the 16th century, the Brunei empire's influence also extended as far as Kapuas River delta in West Kalimantan. Other sultanates in the area had close relations with the Brunei Monarchy, being in some cases effectively under the hegemony of the Brunei ruling family for periods of time, such as the Malay sultans of Pontianak, Samarinda and Banjarmasin. The Malay Sultanate of Sambas (present-day West Kalimantan), the Sultanate of Sulu and the Muslim Rajahs of precolonial Manila had developed dynastic relations with the royal house of Brunei. The Sultanate of Sarawak (covering present day Kuching, known to the 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 sultan Tengah's death in 1641.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Bruneian empire began to decline during the arrival of western powers. Spain sent several expeditions from Mexico to invade and colonise Brunei's territories in the Philippines. Eventually the Spanish, their Visayan allies and their Latin-American recruits assaulted Brunei itself during the Castilian War. Though there were rapes, sacks and pillaging, the invasion was only temporary as the Spanish retreated.


title: History of Malaysia

text: However, Brunei was unable to regain the territory it lost in the Philippines, yet it still maintained sway in Borneo. The Bruneian-descended aristocracy of Manila was deported to Guerrero, Mexico.


title: History of Malaysia

text: By the early 19th century, Sarawak had become a loosely governed territory under the control of the Brunei Sultanate. The Brunei had authority only along the coastal regions of Sarawak held by semi-independent Malay leaders. Meanwhile, the interior of Sarawak suffered from tribal wars fought by Iban, Kayan, and Kenyah peoples, who aggressively fought to expand their territories.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Following the discovery of antimony ore in the Kuching region, Pangeran Indera Mahkota (a representative of the Sultan of Brunei) began to develop the territory between 1824 and 1830. When antimony production increased, the Brunei Sultanate demanded higher taxes from Sarawak; this led to civil unrest and chaos. In 1839, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827–1852), ordered his uncle the to restore order. It was around this time that James Brooke arrived in Sarawak, and Pengiran Muda Hashim requested his assistance in the matter, but Brooke refused. However, he agreed to a further request during his next visit to Sarawak in 1841. Pangeran Muda Hashim signed a treaty in 1841 surrendering Sarawak to Brooke. On 24 September 1841, Pengiran Muda Hashim bestowed the title of governor on James Brooke. This appointment was later confirmed by the Sultan of Brunei in 1842.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1843, Pengiran Muda Hashim became the Sultan of Borneo. After the disturbances in Sarawak were successfully quelled, James Brooke met Hashim in Kuching to ensure his promises were kept. Pengiran Muda Hashim agreed to honour his promise. The ceding of Kuching to Brooke marked the beginning of further cessation of territories to James Brooke and later, the North Borneo Company. The very same year, Brooke effectively became the Rajah of Sarawak and founded the White Rajah Dynasty of Sarawak.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the precolonial era, the Kedatuan of Madja-as, which was founded by datus from the collapsing Srivijaya Empire (which had extended to Brunei), was a rump state of Srivijaya in the Visayas. The rajah whom the datus warred against was Rajah Makatunao and British historian Robert Nicholl linked him with the Rajah Tugau of the Melano kingdom in present-day Sarawak. The first sultan of the Philippine Sultanate of Maguindanao was also the Arab-Malay Sharif Kabungsuwan, who was born in what is now the Malaysian state of Johor.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Precolonial Malaysia had Filipino immigrants, some of whom were called Luzones and they had administrative positions and commercial networks, as in the case of Regimo Diraja who was a Temenggong in the Sultanate of Malacca. Besides him, another Filipino, Surya Diraja who was a shipping magnate based in Malacca had sent 175 tons of pepper to China annually. There were lively commercial and population exchanges between what is now the Philippines and Malaysia during the precolonial period. Generally, Malays and Filipinos had good relations, however Fernando Pinto noted that at Mjmjam (Perak), two separate settlements of Luzones and Malays were in rivalry with each other. Likewise, many Muslim settlers and traders from Malacca had encountered conflicts with the Animist and Hindu Luzones, when they settled in the Philippines. The onset of Western colonization broke the trade and political links between the Malay sultanates and the Philippine nations.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The weakness of the small coastal Malay states led to the immigration of the Bugis, escaping from Dutch colonisation of Sulawesi, who established numerous settlements on the peninsula which they used to interfere with Dutch trade. They seized control of Johor following the assassination of the last Sultan of the old Melaka royal line in 1699. Bugis expanded their power in the states of Johor, Kedah, Perak, and Selangor. The Minangkabau from central Sumatra migrated into Malaya, and eventually established their own state in Negeri Sembilan. The fall of Johor left a power vacuum on the Malay Peninsula which was partly filled by the Siamese kings of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, who made the five northern Malay states—Kedah, Kelantan, Patani, Perlis, and Terengganu—their vassals.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The economic importance of Malaya to Europe grew rapidly during the 18th century. The fast-growing tea trade between China and United Kingdom increased the demand for high-quality Malayan tin, which was used to line tea-chests. Malayan pepper also had a high reputation in Europe, while Kelantan and Pahang had gold mines. The growth of tin and gold mining and associated service industries led to the first influx of foreign settlers into the Malay world – initially Arabs and Indians, later Chinese.


title: History of Malaysia

text: After the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, the Northern Malay Sultanates were freed from Siamese domination temporarily. In 1786, British trader Francis Light managed to obtain a lease of Penang Island from Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah on behalf of East India Company in exchange for military support against the Siamese or Burmese. However, Siam re-exerted control over Northern Malay Sultanates and sacked Pattani. Francis Light, however, failed to secure military assistance for the Malay states against Siam and Kedah came under Siamese suzerainty. King Rama II of Siam ordered Noi Na Nagara of Ligor to invade Kedah Sultanate in 1821. Under the Burney Treaty of 1826, the exiled Kedah Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah was not restored to his throne. He and his armed supporters then fought in a series of war known as Perang Musuh Bisik for his restoration over twelve years (1830–1842).


title: History of Malaysia

text: When the Siamese army invaded and occupied Kedah between 1821 and 1842, local Arab families supported the Sultan's efforts to lead resistance efforts to persuade the Siamese to regain the state's independence. In 1842, Sultan Mukarram Shah finally agreed to accept Siamese terms and was restored to his throne of Kedah. The following year, Sayyid Hussein Jamal Al-Layl was installed by the Siamese as the first Raja of Perlis, after the Sultan of Kedah gave his endorsement for the formation of Perlis, Siam separated Perlis into a separate principality directly vassal to Bangkok.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Around 1760, Long Yunus, an aristocratic warlord of Patani origin succeeded in unifying the territory of present-day Kelantan and was succeeded in 1795 by his son-in-law, Tengku Muhammad Sultan Mansur of Terengganu. The enthronement of Tengku Muhammad by a noble from Terengganu was opposed by Long Yunus' sons, thus triggering a war against Terengganu by Long Muhammad, the eldest son of Long Yunus. The pro-Terengganu faction was defeated in 1800 and Long Muhammad ruled Kelantan with the new title of Sultan as Sultan Muhammad I. Terengganu experienced stability under the reign of Sultan Omar Riayat Shah, who was remembered as a devout ruler who promoted trade and stable government. Under Thai rule, Terengganu prospered, and was largely left alone by the authorities in Bangkok. However, in the Burney Treaty of 1826, the treaty acknowledged Siamese claims over several northern Malay states Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Terengganu—the future Unfederated Malay States—and Patani. The treaty further guaranteed British possession of Penang and their rights to trade in Kelantan and Terengganu without Siamese interference. Unfortunately, the five Malay-ethnic states were not represented in the treaty negotiation. In 1909 the parties of the agreement signed a new treaty that superseded the Burney Treaty and transferred four of the five Malay states from Siamese to British control, except for Patani. As Patani was not included in the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 and remained under Siamese rule, this led Patani to be excluded from the Federation of Malaya in 1957.


title: History of Malaysia

text: English traders first visited the Malay Peninsula in the 16th century. Before the mid-19th-century British interests in the region were predominantly economic, with little interest in territorial control. Already the strongest European power in India, the British were looking towards southeast Asia for new territories. The growth of the China trade in British ships increased the East India Company's desire for bases in the region. Various islands were used for this purpose, but the first permanent acquisition was Penang, leased from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786. This was followed soon after by the leasing of a block of territory on the mainland opposite Penang (known as Province Wellesley). In 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British with the consent of the French-occupied Netherlands occupied Dutch Melaka to forestall possible French encroachment in the area.


title: History of Malaysia

text: When Malacca was handed back to the Dutch in 1818, the British governor, Stamford Raffles, looked for an alternative base, and in 1819 he acquired Singapore from the Sultan of Johor. The exchange of the British colony of Bencoolen for Malacca with the Dutch left the British as the sole colonial power on the peninsula. The territories of the British were set up as free ports, attempting to break the monopoly held by the Dutch and French at the time, and making them large bases of trade. They allowed Britain to control all trade through the straits of Malacca. British influence was increased by Malayan fears of Siamese expansionism, to which Britain made a useful counterweight. During the 19th century the Malay Sultans aligned themselves with the British Empire, due to the benefits of associations with the British and their fear of Siamese or Burmese incursions.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1824, British control in Malaya (before the name Malaysia) was formalised by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, which divided the Malay archipelago between Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch evacuated Melaka and renounced all interest in Malaya, while the British recognised Dutch rule over the rest of the East Indies. By 1826 the British controlled Penang, Malacca, Singapore, and the island of Labuan, which they established as the crown colony of the Straits Settlements, administered first under the East India Company until 1867, when they were transferred to the Colonial Office in London.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Initially, the British followed a policy of non-intervention in relations between the Malay states. The commercial importance of tin mining in the Malay states to merchants in the Straits Settlements led to infighting between the aristocracy on the peninsula. The destabilisation of these states damaged the commerce in the area, causing the British to start to intervene. The wealth of Perak's tin mines made political stability there a priority for British investors, and Perak was thus the first Malay state to agree to the supervision of a British resident. The Royal Navy was employed to bring about a peaceful resolution to civil disturbances caused by Chinese and Malay gangs employed in a political fight between Ngah Ibrahim and Raja Muda Abdullah. The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 paved the way for the expansion of British influence in Malaya. The British concluded treaties with some Malay states, installing residents who advised the Sultans and soon became the de facto rulers of their states. These advisors held power in everything except to do with Malay religion and customs.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Johor was the sole remaining state to maintain its independence, by modernising and giving British and Chinese investors legal protection. By the turn of the 20th century, the states of Pahang, Selangor, Perak, and Negeri Sembilan, known together as the Federated Malay States, had British advisors. In 1909 the Siamese kingdom was compelled to cede Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which already had British advisors, over to the British. Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor and Queen Victoria were personal acquaintances who recognised each other as equals. It was not until 1914 that Sultan Abu Bakar's successor, Sultan Ibrahim, accepted a British adviser. The four previously Thai states and Johor were known as the Unfederated Malay States. The states under the most direct British control developed rapidly, becoming the largest suppliers in the world of first tin, then rubber.


title: History of Malaysia

text: By 1910, the pattern of British rule in the Malay lands was established. The Straits Settlements were a Crown colony, ruled by a governor under the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. Their population was about roughly 50% Chinese-Malaysian, but all residents, regardless of race, were British subjects. The first four states to accept British residents, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang, were termed the Federated Malay States: while technically independent, they were placed under a Resident-General in 1895, making them British colonies in all but name. The Unfederated Malay States (Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu) had a slightly larger degree of independence, although they were unable to avoid listening the wishes of their residents for long. Johor, as Britain's closest ally in Malay affairs, had the privilege of a written constitution, which gave the Sultan the right to appoint his own Cabinet, but he was generally careful to consult the British first.


title: History of Malaysia

text: During the late 19th century the British also gained control of the north coast of Borneo, where Dutch rule had never been established. Development on the Peninsula and Borneo were generally separate until the 19th century. The eastern part of this region (now Sabah) was under the nominal control of the Sultan of Sulu, who later became a vassal of the Spanish East Indies. The rest was the territory of the Sultanate of Brunei. In 1841, British adventurer James Brooke helped the Sultan of Brunei suppress a revolt, and in return received the title of Raja and the right to govern the Sarawak River District. In 1846, his title was recognised as hereditary, and the "White Rajahs" began ruling Sarawak as a recognised independent state. The Brookes expanded Sarawak at the expense of Brunei.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In 1881, the British North Borneo Company was granted control of the territory of British North Borneo, appointing a governor and legislature. It was ruled from the office in London. Its status was similar to that of a British Protectorate, and like Sarawak it expanded at the expense of Brunei. Until the Philippine independence in 1946, seven British-controlled islands in the north-eastern part of Borneo named Turtle Islands and Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi were ceded to the Philippine government by the Crown colony government of North Borneo. The Philippines then under its irredentism motive since the administration of President Diosdado Macapagal laying claim to eastern Sabah in a basis the territory was part of the present-defunct Sultanate of Sulu's territory. In 1888, what was left of Brunei was made a British protectorate, and in 1891 another Anglo-Dutch treaty formalised the border between British and Dutch Borneo.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the pre-colonial period and in the first few decades after the imposition of formal colonial rule in British Malaya, 'Malay' was not a racial or even a fixed identity in the modern sense of these terms. The construct of race was imposed by the British on their colonial subjects.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Unlike some colonial powers, the British always saw their empire as an economic concern, and its colonies were expected to turn a profit for shareholders in London. The colonial capitalist ideas of development were largely based on unlimited greed for profit and the subordination of all other interests to this. Initially, British colonisers were attracted by the Malay archipelago's tin and gold mines. But British planters soon began to experiment with tropical plantation crops—tapioca, gambier, pepper, and coffee. And, in 1877, the rubber plant was introduced from Brazil. Rubber soon became Malaya's staple export, stimulated by booming demand from European industry. Later, rubber was joined by palm oil as an export earner. All these industries required a large labour force, so the British sent people from the longer-established British colony in India, consisting mainly of Tamil-speakers from South India, to work on plantations as indentured labourers. A small group of Malabaris were brought from the current place called Kerala to help with the rubber plantations, resulting in the small Malabari population seen in Malaysia today. The mines, mills and docks also attracted a flood of immigrant workers from southern China. Soon towns like Singapore, Penang, and Ipoh were majority Chinese, as was Kuala Lumpur, founded as a tin-mining centre in 1857. By 1891, when Malaya's first census was taken, Perak and Selangor, the main tin-mining states, had Chinese majorities.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Workers were often treated violently by contractors, and sickness was frequent. Many Chinese labourers' debts increased through addictions to opium and gambling, which earned the British colonial government significant revenue, while Indian labourers' debts were increased through addiction to drinking toddy. Workers' debts acquired in this way meant that they were tied to their labour contracts for much longer.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Some Chinese immigrant workers were connected with networks of mutual aid societies (run by "Hui-Guan" 會館, or non-profit organisations with nominal geographic affiliations from different parts of China). In the 1890s Yap Ah Loy, who held the title of Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur, was the richest man in Malaya, owning a chain of mines, plantations and shops. Malaya's banking and insurance industries were run by the Chinese from the start, and Chinese businesses, usually in partnership with London firms, soon had complete control of the Malayan economy. Chinese bankers also lent money to the Malay Sultans, which gave the Chinese political as well as economic leverage. At first the Chinese immigrants were mostly men, and many intended to return home when they had made their fortunes. Many did go home, but many more stayed. At first they married Malay women, producing a community of Sino-Malayans or baba people, but soon they began importing Chinese brides, establishing permanent communities and building schools and temples.


title: History of Malaysia

text: An Indian commercial and professional class emerged during the early 20th century, but the majority of Indians remained poor and uneducated in rural ghettos in the rubber-growing areas.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Traditional Malay society was greatly harmed by the loss of political sovereignty to the British colonisers. The Sultans, who were seen as collaborators with both the British and the Chinese, lost some of their traditional prestige, but the mass of rural Malays continued to revere the Sultans. A small class of Malay nationalist intellectuals began to emerge during the early 20th century, and there was also a revival of Islam in response to the perceived threat of other imported religions, particularly Christianity. In fact few Malays converted to Christianity, although many Chinese did. The northern regions, which were less influenced by western ideas, became strongholds of Islamic conservatism, as they have remained.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The British gave elite Malays positions in the police and local military units, as well as a majority of those administrative positions open to non-Europeans. While the Chinese mostly built and paid for their own schools and colleges, importing teachers from China, the British aimed to control the education of young Malay elites and establish colonial ideas of race and class hierarchies, so that elite subjects would wish to both run the country and serve their colonisers. The colonial government opened Malay College in 1905 and created the Malay Administrative Service in 1910. (The college was dubbed "Bab ud-Darajat" – the Gateway to High Rank.) A Malay Teachers College followed in 1922, and a Malay Women's Training College in 1935. All this reflected the official policy of the colonial administration that Malaya belonged to the Malays, and that the other races were but temporary residents. This view was increasingly out of line with reality, and resulted in the formation of resistance movements against British Colonial rule.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The Malay teacher's college had lectures and writings that nurtured Malay nationalist sentiments. Due to this it is known as the birthplace of Malay nationalism. In 1938, Ibrahim Yaacob, an alumnus of Sultan Idris College, established the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (Young Malays Union or KMM) in Kuala Lumpur. It was the first nationalist political organisation in British Malaya, advocating for the union of all Malays regardless of origin, and advocating for the cause of Malays separate from the Indians and Chinese. A specific ideal the KMM held was "Panji Melayu Raya", which called for the unification of British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.


title: History of Malaysia

text: In the years before World War II, the colonial government were concerned with finding the balance between a centralised state and maintaining the power of the Sultans in Malaya. There were no moves to give Malaya a unitary government, and in fact, in 1935 the position of Resident-General of the Federated States was abolished, and its powers decentralised to the individual states. The colonial government regarded the Chinese as clever but dangerous—and indeed during the 1920s and 1930s, reflecting events in China, the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) and the Chinese Communist Party built rival clandestine organisations in Malaya, leading to regular disturbances in the Chinese towns. The colonial government saw no way that Malaya's disparate collection of states and races could become a single colony, let alone an independent nation.


title: History of Malaysia

text: Although a belligerent as part of the British Empire, Malaya saw little action during World War I, except for the sinking of the Russian cruiser "Zhemchug" by the German cruiser SMS Emden on 28 October 1914 during the Battle of Penang.


title: History of Malaysia

text: The outbreak of war in the Pacific in December 1941 found the British in Malaya completely unprepared. During the 1930s, anticipating the rising threat of Japanese naval power, they had built a great naval base at Singapore, but never anticipated an invasion of Malaya from the north. Because of the demands of the war in Europe, there was virtually no British air capacity in the Far East. The Japanese were thus able to attack from their bases in French Indo-China with impunity, and despite stubborn resistance from British, Australian, and Indian forces, they overran Malaya in two months. Singapore, with no landward defences, no air cover, and no water supply, was forced to surrender in February 1942. British North Borneo and Brunei were also occupied.