Malays (ethnic group)

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Malays (Malay: Orang Melayu, Jawi script: اورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnoreligious group native to the Malay Peninsula, eastern Sumatra, coastal Borneo, and the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are collectively known as the Malay world. These locations are today part of the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, Borneo (Kalimantan) and Riau Islands), southern part of Thailand (Pattani, Satun, Songkhla, Yala and Narathiwat), Singapore and Brunei. There is considerable linguistic, cultural, artistic and social diversity among the many Malay subgroups, mainly due to hundreds of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicity and tribes within Maritime Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malay population is descended primarily from the earlier Malayic-speaking Austronesians and Austroasiatic tribes who founded several ancient maritime trading states and kingdoms, notably Brunei, Kedah, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara...

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