The Genetics of Malaysia and Borneo
What is known:
- 1. The ancestors of Southeast Asian populations migrated out of Africa via “The Southern Route” along the coastal line to East Asia.
The Southern route was the route taken by Africans following the coastlines from Africa, to Arabia and then to India and onward to Australia.
- The Negrito from Peninsular Malaysia once shared an ancestry with East Asia populations.
- Genetic information indicates the ancestors of Peninsular Malaysia Negrito may be the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia, dating at least ~50,000 years ago.
- The native populations from Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo are genetically distinct with a unique population history.
- Austronesian (people from Taiwan) expansion occurred at least in the Southeast Asian region southwards to the Philippines and into North Borneo.
- There are at least four gene flows: The first was the Negrito like populations, the second was the Austro-Asiatic (people from Asia) migrations from Asia, the third was the Austronesian expansion from Taiwan and the fourth was the east Asian islands.
- The native populations from both Malaysia and Borneo received minimal gene flow from the Denisovans archaic humans.
What remains to be studied?
- The genetic link between Negrito like populations of Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines, the Andaman Islands, Papua and Australian aborigines.
- The prehistorical migrations of the Negrito into Southeast Asia remains fragmentary.
- The relationships between the Orang Asli Negrito and the Senoi populations are fragmentary.
- Reasons for the absence of Negritos in Borneo
- The close genetic affinity between the Cambodians and modern Malays.
From:
Bong Peng Hong et al The Peopling and Migration History of the natives of the Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo in Frontiers in Genetics, 2022 13.767018
The Malays
Given the genetic evidence, the Malays were a group of people from Cambodia who migrated south. They then spread out along the coastal areas of west Malaysia and Sumatra, establishing farming areas and later towns. These settlement areas included the old Kedah kingdom and the Bujang Valley, among others.
The cause of the migrations were cultural. The children of the ruler who would not inherit were expected to leave their village and go elsewhere to establish a new settlement. They left with a group and founded a new area. The new ruler was directly descendent from the old-established one.
The Malays migrated up the Kapuas River in Borneo, opened farmland and built trading posts. From a settlement in Tajungpura, a group of non-lineal Malays, in ~966 established a kingdom in Santubong. They ruled until ~1512 when they were attacked and defeated by the Brunei forces.
BorneoHistory.net
