Guide To Hetalia ASEAN Fanfic: Brunei Darussalam

Monday: The Founding of the Kingdom of Brunei

Official student: Hetalia_MaPhilIndo

Unofficial students (waiting for your registration and sorry for tagging you):
AuliNaya

Mirabella_Scarlet

-Hetalia_Indonesia-

Please tell the others who are the Hetalia-ASEAN fanfic writers. They really need to know more about Brunei.

*I entered the classroom, brought a blue Social Studies textbook*

Rina-kouhai: Selamat Pagi, Cikgu!

Good morning

Welcome to your first lesson about Brunei! Let's start it!

*opened a year 5 Social Studies textbook*

A kingdom is a place or territory ruled by a king. The reign of the kingdom is usually passed from father to son.

Thousands of years ago, people travelled by sea and sailed to Borneo on canoes and rafts. They brought with them new kinds of food, tools, weapons and skills such as pottery and weaving.

These people settled in Borneo and lived in villages. Then, they built the first kingdom in Borneo. Some of the settlers lived near the mouth of the Brunei River and built an ancient kingdom. This kingdom had many names given to it by people from different parts of the world.

China: We call Brunei, Po'li or Po'ni.

Java: We call Brunei, Buruneng.

Arab: We call Brunei, Sribuza.

Thank you, guys. Next, this is an accouny written by a traveller from China:

Po'ni was a succesful port which traded in camphor. It had a navy made up of nobles and orang laut (sea nomads). They had more than 100 warships to protect their trade. Unfortunately, it was weakend when neighbouring kingdoms and pirates attacked it.

Camphor: A forest product used to make medicine

Nobles: Members of the aristoctacy

In the past, Brunei was a successful trading port where many people from all over the world came to trade with one another.

Let's learn more about the founding of Brunei:

Once upon a time, there was a family of 14 brothers who had Awang Alak Betatar as their leader. They lived in Kampung Garang in the Temburong District.

Awang Alak Betatar wanted to set up a trading port for trading of goods. He also wanted a place that had fresh water and food.

One of Awang Alak Betatar's brothers, Pateh Berbai led a group of 90 warriors in search of a suitable place to set up a good place to set up a good trading port.

The group went on their search. Finally, they landed on a site known as Butir at the Brunei River. Butir was the most suitable place to set up a trading port. The group yelled,

"Baru nah!"

Which loosely means,

"Now we found it!"

In English. Then, the place became known as

'Brunei'.

Everyone agreed it was a great place! All of the 14 brothers and their followers set up their houses on the bank of the Brunei River. The place was called,

'The Kingdom of Brunei'.

Awang Alak Betatar became the first ruler of Brunei.

Awang Alak Betatar set up the Kingdom of Brunei. He ruled Brunei from 1363 to 1402. During his visit to Johore Empire, he converted to Islam and was known as Sultan Muhammad Shah. He married the Johore Princess too. He sent trade missions to China in 1371 and his name was recorded in the Ming historical records as

China: Mo-ha-mo-shah

Thank you, China. When Brunei was a small village, people cooked over cooked fire and had only enough food for their families. They have a few possessions- some furniture and a family boat to move from house to house and shore to shore.

Under Sultan Muhammad Shah, Brunei became a succesful trading port. They had trade connections with powerful kingdoms and had goods from all over the region. Many of the people converted to Islam. They were prosperous and had a sense of pride. They had a good ruler.

Fun fact: Did you know that Brunei has the world's oldest monarchy? It is the only remaining Malay Islamic monarchy in the world and the Sultan of Brunei comes from a family that dates back over 600 years ago to the the time of Sultan Muhammad Shah.

Ok. That's it for today. Here's your classwork and homework!

Classwork: If you visit Brunei for the first time, which place do you think you want to visit as a tourist?

Homework: Search at Google about Prince Mateen, the most handsome prince in Brunei. If you have Instagram, try to search for his account and check out his pics.

Pic above shows the invitation letter (which is so big) to the royal banquet.