BRUNEI: AN HISTORICAL RELIC
LEIGH WRIGHT*
I
Very little is known about Brunei before 1500. Place names identified with locations in western Borneo and which were connected with Indonesia in trade in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. are mentioned in some recent research. The same sources suggest a considerable "political, economic and cultural development” in northwestern Borneo as early as the 7th century. The existence of a "state" in the area of Brunei Bay first appears in the Chinese records of the early Sung dynasty when a kingdom called Po-ni sent tributary missions to the court of China in 977 and in 1082. By the 14th century Po-ni was also tributary to the Javanese empire of Majapahit while continuing to send trade/tribute missions to the Ming court. The Ming court entertained such missions in 1371, 1405 and 1408. The ruler of Po-ni visited China on the latter date and died while there. He was buried "with honour". From 1408 to 1425 missions went to China at three-year intervals bearing trading goods and tribute gifts. After that date the Ming restrictions on foreign trade discouraged any further intercourse,
Historians generally identify ancient Po-ni with modern Brunei. There is no hard evidence of a continuity, nor is there hard evidence to indicate otherwise. The position of Brunei Bay in the trading system of Nan Yang at an earlier time and in the 16th century, and the descriptive similarity would seem to lend credence to the theory.
There is in Brunei tradition a legend about the origin of Brunei.2 The legend is related in Malay folklore common to much of northern Borneo and is contained in a long epic called Sha'er Awang Semaun. Legendary Brunei was founded “29 reigns ago by fourteen brothers of heroic stature and semi-divine descent". The brothers were sired by a father who descended in an egg from the heaven of the ancient pre-Muslim Malay gods. The father, called
* Lecture given before the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) on Monday, December 6, 1976.
Dr. Wright is Reader in History at the University of Hong Kong. He is also a Councillor of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society.
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BRUNEI: AN HISTORICAL RELIC
LEIGH WRIGHT*
I
Very little is known about Brunei before 1500. Place names identified with locations in western Borneo and which were con- nected with Indonesia in trade in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. are mentioned in some recent research. The same sources suggest a considerable "political, economic and cultural development” in northwestern Borneo as early as the 7th century. The existence of a "state" in the area of Brunei Bay first appears in the Chinese records of the early Sung dynasty when a kingdom called Po-ni sent tributary missions to the court of China in 977 and in 1082. By the 14th century Po-ni was also tributary to the Javanese empire of Majapahit while continuing to send trade/tribute missions to the Ming court. The Ming court entertained such missions in 1371, 1405 and 1408. The ruler of Po-ni visited China on the latter date and died while there. He was buried "with honour". From 1408 to 1425 missions went to China at three-year intervals bearing trading goods and tribute gifts. After that date the Ming restrictions on foreign trade discouraged any further intercourse,
Historians generally identify ancient Po-ni with modern Brunei. There is no hard evidence of a continuity, nor is there hard evidence to indicate otherwise. The position of Brunei Bay in the trading system of Nan Yang at an earlier time and in the 16th century, and the descriptive similarity would seem to land credence to the theory.
There is in Brunei tradition a legend about the origin of Brunei.2 The legend is related in Malay folklore common to much of northern Borneo and is contained in a long epic called Sha'er Awang Semaun. Legendary Brunei was founded “29 reigns ago by fourteen brothers of heroic stature and semi-divine descent". The brothers were sired by a father who descended in an egg from the heaven of the ancient pre-Muslim Malay gods. The father, called
* Lecture given before the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong Branch) on Monday, December 6, 1976.
Dr. Wright is Reader in History at the University of Hong Kong. He is also a Councillor of the Hong Kong Branch, Royal Asiatic Society.
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