Struggles for hegemony[edit]

The closing of the overland route from Asia to Europe by the Ottoman Empire and the claim
towards trade monopoly with India and southeast Asia by Arab traders, led European powers to
look for a maritime route. 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. [15] This was the
first colonial claim on what is now Malaysia.[21] The son of the last Sultan of Malacca, Sultan
Alauddin Riayat Shah II fled to the southern tip of the peninsula, where he founded a state that
which became the Sultanate of Johor.[15] Another son created 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.[22] Portuguese influence was strong, as
they aggressively tried to convert the population of Malacca to Catholicism. [15] In 1571 the
Spanish captured Manila and established a colony in the Philippines, reducing the Sultanate of
Brunei's power.[12]
After the fall of Malacca to Portugal, the Johor Sultanate and the Sultanate of Aceh on northern
Sumatra moved to fill in the power vacuum left behind.[15] The three powers struggled to dominate
the Malay peninsula and the surrounding islands.[22] Johor founded in the wake of Malacca's
conquest grew powerful enough to rival the Portuguese, although it was never able to recapture
the city. Instead it expanded in other directions, building in 130 years one of the largest Malay
states.[15] In this time the numerous attempts to recapture Malacca led to a strong backlash from
the Portuguese, whose raids even reached Johor's capital of Johor Lama in 1587. [15]
In 1607, the Sultanate of Aceh rose as the powerful and wealthiest state in Malay archipelago.
Under Iskandar Muda reign, he extended the sultanate's control over a number of Malay states.
A notable conquest was Perak, a tin-producing state on the Peninsula. [22] The strength of his
formidable fleet was brought to an end with a disastrous campaign against Malacca in 1629,
when the combined Portuguese and Johor forces managed to destroy all his ships and 19,000
troops according to Portuguese account. Aceh forces was not destroyed, however, as Aceh was
able to conquer Kedah within the same year and taking many of its citizens to Aceh. The Sultan's
son in law, Iskandar Thani, former prince of Pahang later became his successor. The conflict
over control of the straits went on until 1641, when the Dutch (allied to Johor) gained control of
Malacca.
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, who obtained the
Portuguese Empire due to the Iberian Union. From there they expanded across the archipelago,
forming an alliance with Johor and using this to push the Portuguese out of Malacca in 1641.
[15]

Backed by the Dutch, Johore established a loose hegemony over the Malay states, except

Perak, which was able to play off Johore against the Siamese to the north and retain its

independence.[citation needed] The Dutch did not interfere in local matters in Malacca, but at the same
time diverted most trade to its colonies on Java.[15]
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.[15] They seized control of Johor following the
assassination of the last Sultan of the old Melaka royal line in 1699.[citation needed] Bugis expanded their
power in the states of Johor, Kedah, Perak, and Selangor.[15] The Minangkabau from center
Sumatra migrated into Malaya, and eventually established their own state in Negeri Sembilan.
The fall of Johore left a power vacuum on the Malay Peninsula which was partly filled by the
Siamese kings of Ayutthaya kingdom, who made the five northern Malay states
Kedah, Kelantan, Patani, Perlis, and Terengganu their vassals. Johores eclipse also left
Perak as the unrivalled leader of the Malay states.
The economic importance of Malaya to Europe grew rapidly during the 18th century. The fastgrowing 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 worldinitially
Arabs and Indians, later Chinesewho colonised the towns and soon dominated economic
activities. This established a pattern which characterised Malayan society for the next 200 years
a rural Malay population increasingly under the domination of wealthy urban immigrant
communities, whose power the Sultans were unable to resist.[citation needed]