The Portuguese were the first to take over Malaysia, as far as records show. After an elephant-war in 1509, Alfonso de Albuquerque and the Portuguese invaded Malaysia's large and prosperous port, Melaka. They ruled the port for over a century, but the port no longer prospered in their hands. They did not have the trading power or strength to maintain Melaka's thriving spice trade industry. The Portuguese also failed to convert the mostly Islamic people of Malaysia to Christianity.
As the power of the Portuguese began to decline, the Dutch became interested in Melaka. After a bitter battle in 1641, Melaka fell to the Dutch. Like their predecessors, Melaka was under Dutch rule for over 100 years. The Dutch tried to be the sole users of Melaka's port, which prevented them from being a major trading center. After a century of uneventful and fruitless trade, the Dutch moved on to the city now known as Jakarta.
As much of Malaysia's trading occurred with India, the British began their big for the ever-popular peninsula. In 1786, while the Dutch were still in Melaka, the British captain Francis Light arrived in Penang, which he turned into a thriving port. Unlike the Dutch and Portuguese, Light instilled a free-trade policy, and it was a success. Penang Island, which had been virtually uninhabited before Light's arrival, had a population of 10,000 by 1800.
` During the Napoleonic wars in the late 1700's, the British East India took over Melaka from the Dutch. However, after Napoleon was defeated in 1814, Melaka was returned to the Dutch. The British were pleased with the revenues that the ports produced, and since they couldn't have Melaka, they were determined to have a port nearby. Singapore was chosen to be Britain's port, and today it remains one of the busiest ports in the world.
Throughout the peninsular Malaysia and Singapore area, Chinese immigrants from Hokkien and Indians were imported as workers. So many were imported, in fact, that the Chinese and Indians began to outnumber the Malays. This has caused problems as some people believe that Malays should receive special rights, while others believe that everyone should have the same rights, regardless of their race. This was one of the many factors in the riots and protests in Indonesia in the spring of 1998.
WWII hit Malaysia quickly and harshly. A few hours before Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Japanese invaded Kota Bahru, a city on the northeast border of Peninsular Malaysia. Within a month the Japanese had conquered the peninsula and moved down to Singapore. Throughout WWII and the independence period Malaysia's history was very similar to that of Singapore. They are both run by parliamentary governments.
