Pegu and Sarawak
Pegu was a city-state located on the eastern side of Burma between Burma and Thailand. The country had easy access to ships from Malacca, India and Persia and their main exchange were rubies. There was a regular trade route from Yunnan to Pegu in the second century.
The colony was established, according to legend, in 573 AD by Thamala and Wimala. During the 7th-9th centuries, gold was exported from Pegu. The city was overthrown by the Mongols however local control was regained. In 1281 it became independent from Burma. By 1281 or 1323, I have two dates, Pegu had become the capital of the Mon race. A 200-year span of fighting between the Mons and Burmese ended in a draw and peace was declared.
The Pegu court was the subject to murder and intrigue. In 1453, Shin Sawbu left her father’s court however, she became queen of Pegu on her father’s death. Seven years later she was succeeded by Dhanmon Ceti who ruled for 31 years from 1460-1491. Bin Ya Ran ruled from 1460-1521. Records show cloves were sent to Pegu from Malacca during the 1400s.
Pegu was the first genuinely maritime state in southern Burma. Because of trade, Pegu had to be aware of the outside world including India, China and the rest of Southeast Asia. The historical concept of the 15th century must have come from the European Portuguese and Genoa, south Indians, Sri Lankans, the Ming Chinese, Muslims from north India and Malays from Malacca. (Aung-Thin 2011 p. 5-12)
Varthema, a Bolognese traveller, in 1503-1504, stated of Pegu” it was situated on the mainland and near to the sea. There is a beautiful river which many ships come and go. The city walled with houses, and the palace was built of stone and cement.” (O’Conner 1907 p. 362)
In 1519, a treaty was signed with the Portuguese and Pegu became a Portuguese stronghold. In 1526 Ban Ya Ram died. 1537 saw an attack on Pegu with Shan, Indian and Portuguese defending the city. The city, with Portuguese help, held and for the next twenty years. The Pegu invaded the Marataba, Shaun, Pagans and Siam. In 1546, the King went into a period of indulgence and was assassinated in 1550. In 1555, the Burma state of Toungoo conquered most of the regions in the north and south.
For the next thirty years, Pegu expanded and became the largest empire other than China. Small ships arrived from Malacca bring pepper, sadolo, porcelain from China and camphor from Borneo. This is the first mention of Borneo and camphor in the text. (O’Conner 1907 p. 385) All of the trade was conducted in rubies. Scott, also mentions camphor from Borneo in the 1560s. (Scott 1924 p. 108). It is thought the trade with camphor that the Mons must have known about Borneo.
In ~1600, Pegu was sacked by Mrauk-U of Arakan assisted by Ayuthaya. Some of the population were taken as slaves, while others migrated to Upper Burma where the bulk of Burmese lived. The city-state fell into anarchy and desolation ruled by warlords, including a Portuguese adventurer. Pegu remained in a state of fluctuation until the English arrived in 1800.
Sarawak
A possible Pegu settlement was found in Santubong with gold and ceramic artefacts. They have not been dated. (Due to the pandemic, I have been unable to visit the Museum to examine these pieces) In Brunei, sources indicate they traded with many different peoples including the Pegu. However, there may some confusion with the Brunei location as Christie indicates Santubong may have been misidentified as Brunei.
Oral history states a colony of people from Pegu landed in Santubong. They moved to Sungai Buah to live with the Bukar Dyaks. They then migrated to Samarahan and settled amid Sri Muntung.
A second oral history infers the Dayaks call the people of Samarahan the Malays of the Orang Pegu. Some Dayaks agree that the Malays have evolved from the Pegu, which, of course, is nonsense.
A third oral history states the Bukar Dayaks are the descendants of the Pegu and became an independent unit among the Bidayuh.
If we agree the Bidayuh are Austroasiatic people from mainland Southeast Asia, then we can readily understand the acceptance of the Pegu among them. Both languages are a bit guttural and roll their r’s. However, no linguistic data has ever been done as a comparison. We also know that Pegu had gold and it was mined between the 7th and 9th centuries which would explain the gold artefacts. Trade with China would also explain the ceramics. Again, we would have to determine the dates of the ceramics found with the Pegu artefacts.
There are other dates where the Pegu could have arrived. However, it seems that most of the commerce came to Pegu and they did not have much to trade except for rubies. Two likely periods where migration could have occurred was after 1600 when Pegu and their people were devasted by the invasion. This would mean the Santubong beach was relatively vacant and Bidayuh farms behind Santubong were prevalent. The idea of going to a relatively unoccupied area and settling would be appealing to the Pegu. The connection between the Bidayuh Bukar Sadong and the Pegu would be at its strongest at this point.
Please let me know if you have other histories about the Pegu.
Most of Pegu history was taken from O’Conner, V.C. Scott Mandalay and other cities of Burma London: Hutchinson and Company, 1907 and Scott, J.G. Burma from Earliest Times to the Present London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1924 many thanks to Larry Sia for these.
Some of the Sarawak histories were taken from Banks, E. Ancient Times in Borneo in Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, December 1947 and Banks, E. The Natives of Sarawak in Journal of the Malaysia Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society August 1940
Other information came from 48 different sources plus oral history