The term Proto-Malay, which translates to ''Melayu Asli'' (aboriginal Malay) or ''Melayu Purba'' (ancient Malay) or ''Melayu Tua'' (old Malay), refers to Austronesian speakers, possibly from mainland Asia, who moved to the Malay peninsula and Malay archipelago in a long series of migrations between 2500 and 1500 BC, and in one model the first of two migrations of early Malay speakers, before that of the

Deutero-Malay Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are col ...

s. The Proto-Malays are the ancestors of the Malays in the modern Malaysia and Indonesia. The Proto-Malays are believed to be

seafarers A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

knowledgeable in oceanography and possessing advanced fishing as well as basic agricultural skills. Over the years, they settled in various places and adopted various customs and religions as a result of

acculturation Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and ...

and inter-marriage with most of the people they come in contact with Orang Asli tribes such as the Semang and Senoi peoples.

Origin

The ''Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Early History'' has pointed out three theories of the origin of the Proto-Malay: * The

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

theory,

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

river migration (first published in 1889). The theory of Proto-Malay originating from Yunnan is supported by R.H Geldern, J.H.C Kern, J.R Foster, J.R Logen, Slametmuljana and Asmah Haji Omar. Other evidence that supports this theory includes: stone tools found at Malay Archipelago which are analogous to Central Asian tools; similarity of Malay customs and

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

customs; and the fact that the Malay and Cambodian languages are kindred languages because the ancestral home of Cambodians originated at the source of Mekong River. * The seafarers theory (first published in 1965). * The

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

theory (first published in 1997). For more information, see Austronesian languages. Some historical linguists have concluded that there is scant linguistic basis for a Proto-/Deutero-Malay split. The findings suggests that the Proto-Malay and the Deutero-Malay peoples possibly belong to the same stock and origin. Previous theories suggested that the Deutero-Malays came in a second wave of migration, around 300 BCE, compared to the arrival of the Proto-Malays who came much earlier.

Geographical regions

Indonesia

Ernest-Théodore Hamy (1896) first identified 3 Proto-Malay groups that are found in Sumatra and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

: *

Batak people Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...

Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each w ...

Nias people Nias people are an ethnic group native to Nias, an island off the west coast of North Sumatra, Indonesia. In the Nias language, the Nias people are known as Ono Niha, which literally means 'descendants of human'. Nias island is known as ''Tanö ...

Both

Koentjaraningrat ''Kanjeng Pangeran Haryo'' Prof. Dr. Koentjaraningrat (; 15 June 1923 – 23 March 1999) was an Indonesian anthropologist. He is sometimes referred to as "the father of Indonesian anthropology". Biography Koentjaraningrat was born in Yogyakarta ...

and Alfred Russel Wallace's (1869) research also concluded that most of the

Moluccans Moluccans are the Austronesian-speaking and Papuan-speaking ethnic groups indigenous to the Maluku Islands (also called the Moluccas), Indonesia. The region was historically known as the Spice Islands, and today consists of two Indonesian provi ...

come under the Proto-Malay classification with a admixture with Melanesian. However, António Mendes Correia's findings re-classified the Timorese in Alfred Russel Wallace's ethnological chart as predominantly Proto-Malay. This is evidenced by the striking similarity in the architectural designs of traditional houses in Lospalos,

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

with the Batak and

Toraja The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous people, indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, regency of ...

people. In Sulawesi, not only are the

people are regarded as part of the ancient Proto-Malay, but their neighboring Minahasan people as well who have migrated to the island in the megalithic period. In Sumatra, a little known pygmy tribe called the Mante people of Aceh are regarded as Proto-Malay and have thought to be extinct. Other ethnic groups that are closely related to the Proto-Malay are such as the

Nage The Nage are an indigenous people living on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores and Timor. They descended from the indigenous population of Flores They are largely assimilated by the neighboring people. They speak Nage, one of the major lan ...

people from Flores, which are considered a mixture of Proto-Malay and Melanesian and the

Sakai people Sakai is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan Sakai may also refer to: Ethnic groups Sakai is a term historically used to refer to indigenous ethnic groups of the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, including: *Orang Asli, the indigenous peoples of penin ...

from Riau, which were originally pure Proto-Malay until later they were forced into the interior by the Deutero-Malays which led to their mixing with the

Negrito The term Negrito () refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples (including the Great Andamanese, the O ...

s. Off the west coast of

Bengkulu Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...

, Sumatra Island, the indigenous people of

Enggano Island Enggano Island is about 100 km (60 mi) southwest of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia, though it can also be considered a barrier island of Sumatra. Enggano is about long from ea ...

known as the

Enggano people The Enggano people are an isolated, but contacted, tribe which inhabits Enggano Island. Enggano Island is a small island located adjacent to the southwest coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The population of Enggano people is not closely tracked. As s ...

are considered largely Proto-Malays.

Malaysia

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, the Proto-Malay are classified under the native Orang Asli group of people in the

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

. They are officially known as: *

Jakun people Jakun people or Orang Ulu/Orang Hulu (meaning "people of the upstream") are an ethnic group recognised as Orang Asli (indigenous people) of the Malay Peninsula in Malaysia. The Malaysian government recognises 18 different sub-groups of Orang ...

* Orang Kanaq * Orang Kuala *

Orang Laut The Orang Laut are several seafaring ethnic groups and tribes living around Singapore, peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian Riau Islands. The Orang Laut are commonly identified as the Orang Seletar from the Straits of Johor, but the term ma ...

* Orang Seletar * Semelai people *

Temoq people Temoq people belong to the Proto-Malay of the Orang Asli ethnic group that are found in Pahang, Malaysia. Settlement area The Temoq people that are officially recognized are known to settle in two kampungs; on the eastern side of Tasik Bera an ...

Temuan people The Temuan people (Temuan: ''Uwang/Eang Temuan'', Malaysian: ''Orang Temuan'') are a Proto-Malay ethnic group indigenous to western parts of Peninsular Malaysia. They can be found in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Negeri Sembilan and ...

Other ethnic groups outside of the

that are also regarded as Proto-Malay apart from the Orang Asli people group are such as the

Rungus people The Momogun Rungus are an ethnic group of Borneo, residing primarily in northern Sabah in the area surrounding Kudat Peninsular, Kota Marudu, Pitas Bengkoka Peninsular and Beluran. A sub-group of the Dayak, they have a distinctive language, d ...

The Philippines

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, there are several people groups that have been identified as part of the Proto-Malay group: *

Mangyan Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found on the island of Mindoro, southwest of the island of Luzon, the Philippines, each with its own tribal name, language, and customs. The total population may be around 280,001, ...

people * Mangguangan people While there are other ethnic groups in the Philippines, that are in some ways related or shares a mixture of Proto-Malay, namely: *

Teduray people The Teduray are a Filipino ethnic group. They speak the Tiruray language. There were 103,139 of them in 2010. Their name may have come from words ''tew,'' meaning people, and d''uray,'' referring to a small bamboo hook and a line used for fishing. ...

, mainly a mixture of Proto-Malay and

Native Indonesians Native Indonesians, also known as ''Pribumi'' (), are Indonesians whose ancestral roots lie mainly in the archipelago, distinguished from Indonesians of known (partial) foreign descent, like Chinese Indonesians (Tionghoa), Arab Indonesians, Indi ...

* Apayao people, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

* Zambale people, mainly

with a mixture of Proto-Malay and

Australoid Australo-Melanesians (also known as Australasians or the Australomelanesoid, Australoid or Australioid race) is an outdated historical grouping of various people indigenous to Melanesia and Australia. Controversially, groups from Southeast Asia an ...

* Albay Bikol people, mainly Proto-Malay with some mixture of

Batak people (Philippines) The Batak are one of about 140 indigenous peoples of the Philippines. They are located in the northeastern portions of Palawan, a relatively large island in the southwest of the archipelago. Since ancient times, the Batak have inhabited a serie ...

, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

* Bataan people, mainly

with a mixture of Proto-Malay and

* Bagobo people, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

Blaan people The Blaan people, are one of the indigenous peoples of Southern Mindanao in the Philippines. Their name could have derived from "bla" meaning "opponent" and the suffix "an" meaning "people". According to a 2021 genetic study, the Blaan people als ...

, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

* Manobo people, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

Subanon people The Subanon (also spelled Subanen or Subanun) is an indigenous group to the Zamboanga peninsula area, particularly living in the mountainous areas of Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Occidental, Mindanao Island, Philippines. The Subanon people spea ...

, mainly Proto-Malay with a mixture of either

Malay people Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are ...

(coastal) or

(interior) * Ifugao people, a mixture of Proto-Malay and

* Tinggian people, a mixture of

and

Bontoc people The Bontoc (or Bontok) ethnolinguistic group can be found in the central and eastern portions of Mountain Province, in the Philippines. Although some Bontocs of Natonin and Paracelis identify themselves as Balangaos, Gaddangs or Kalingas, the t ...

, mainly

References