The hypothesis of Brunei by Nicholl in 1980 related to Empire of Funan collapsed due to Khmer advance, the Sailendra family fled to Borneo some time in 680s. They settled on the shores of Brunei Bay at the mouth of the Lawas River. Later they built new capital of Srivijaya known as Burni and P’o-ni or Fo-ni in Chinese.
P’o-ni continues to be mentioned in Chinese sources and it appears to have occupied part of the First Division of Sarawak and to have extended into West Kalimantan.
Old Brunei was a nation of Malay-Hindu-Buddhists, according to a Chinese account, believed to be an early China reference to Brute Oki Brunei was aid to have similar Malay-Hindu-Buddhist traditions and customs as Funan or Kumlum.
Alak Betatar is known as the first Muslim Ruler as well as the founder of the original Brunei state. After accepted Islam he changed his name to Sultan Muhammad Shah (1363-1402) in honor of Prophet.
The second sultan, Sultan Ahmad, was the first to name ‘Brunei’ from the word ‘Barunah’.
Following conversion to Islam, Brunei became a powerful trading center from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, claiming suzerainty over the whole island of Borneo and parts of the southern and central Philippines.
By the mid-nineteenth century, Brunei was in serious decline, and its influence and control were restricted to northern Borneo, to what today are Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan and Sabah.
In 1888, when North Borneo became a British Protectorate, Brunei became a British Protected State.
Origin of Brunei
