Malaysia lies in the heart of Southeast Asia and comes in two parts, separated by the South China Sea. Peninsular Malaysia hangs down from the Asian mainland below Thailand, with Singapore at its southern tip. East Malaysia, made up of the states of Sabah and Sarawak, covers the northern part of the great island of Borneo, which it shares with Indonesia and Brunei. Together the country has 13 states and three federal territories.
For centuries ships passed through the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, and the port of Malacca grew rich on that trade around 1400. The Portuguese, the Dutch and then the British followed. The Federation of Malaya became independent on 31 August 1957, and Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, when Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined it. Singapore left two years later.
Memories fade faster than photos. Ask these over a meal or a phone call, and write the answers down.
People have lived here for a very long time: a human skull found in the Niah Caves of Sarawak is about 40,000 years old. Early kingdoms traded with India and China, and around 1400 the port of Malacca became the richest trading city of the region and helped spread Islam. European powers came for the spice trade, first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and finally the British, while Sarawak was ruled for a century by a British family, the 'White Rajahs'. After Japanese occupation in the Second World War, Malaya won its independence peacefully in 1957, and Malaysia was born in 1963.
Around 1400, a prince from Sumatra named Parameswara settled at the mouth of the Malacca River. According to legend, he chose the place after seeing a small mouse deer outwit his hunting dog. Malacca grew into the greatest port on the strait, visited by traders from China, India and Arabia, and its rulers became Muslim sultans.
After a long siege, the Dutch East India Company and its ally Johor took Malacca from the Portuguese. The Dutch ruled it for most of the next 180 years, but they cared more about Batavia on Java, and Malacca slowly lost its importance.
Britain and the Netherlands signed a treaty in London that divided the region between them. The Dutch handed over Malacca, and the Malay Peninsula came into the British sphere, while Sumatra and the islands to the south went to the Dutch. The line they drew is still, roughly, the border between Malaysia and Indonesia.
A Malay chief of Klang, Raja Abdullah, sent Chinese miners up the Klang River to open new tin mines. They set up camp where the Gombak and Klang rivers meet, and the small, muddy trading post grew into Kuala Lumpur.
Just after midnight on 8 December 1941, Japanese troops landed on a beach at Kota Bharu, on the northeast coast, and within about ten weeks they had taken the whole peninsula and Singapore. The occupation lasted until 1945 and brought hunger and great hardship.
On 31 August 1957, Tunku Abdul Rahman, who became the first prime minister, read the declaration of independence at the new Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur and led the crowd in shouts of 'Merdeka!', meaning 'Independence!'. Independence was won through negotiation, not war, and 31 August is National Day.
After two years of political and economic disagreements, Singapore separated from Malaysia on 9 August 1965 and became an independent country. Since then Malaysia has been made up of the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak.
UNESCO listed Melaka and George Town together as the 'Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca'. Their shophouses, temples, mosques, churches and colonial buildings show 500 years of trade and cultural exchange between East and West.
Cook one of the recipes, print the large-print pack about Malaysia, and finish with the big-screen quiz or the words crossword. Grandchildren can colour the flag.
