History
Originally called Malaya, Malaysia’s history is said to have started in 1400 AD. Soon after Malaya was founded, Malacca (Melaka) emerged and became a very famous trading center all around the world for spices and many other things. However, Malacca was soon taken over by the Portuguese in 1511. This is mostly likely because Malacca was such a thriving and remarkable trading center as well as because Afonso de Albuquerque, the person in charge, wanted to take control of the trading center from the Arabs and lead the Portuguese on a good route to the Moluccas, otherwise known as the spice islands back then.
The capture of Malacca in 1511
Dutch buildings in Malacca
Then, in 1641, the Dutch invaded Malacca as well. They continued to work on the Portuguese fortress as well as ​build walls to protect the harbours and expand the city. Some of the most famous buildings in Malacca now were built by the Dutch during their time here such as the city hall or Stadthuys. The Dutch ruled for the longest amount of time out of any of the colonies, almost 183 years until the British came.
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The British came in 1824 after the Anglo-Dutch treaty set boundaries between British Malaya and Netherlands' east indies (which is now Indonesia). In 1857, Malaysia's current capital, Kuala Lumpur, was founded and used as a trading post for immigrant miners but first became the capital of Federated Malay States in 1896. The British stayed in Malaya and Singapore until the second world war when Japan bombed them and the British were forced to leave because they were unprepared for the bombing. During the Japanese occupation, tension started to grow between the three large ethnic groups in Malaysia, the Chinese, Malay, and Indian. After the second world war, britain gains control of Malaya again. However, in 1946 the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was formed, a nationalist group that wanted independence but would only tolerate an ethnic Malay state. ​​​
Federation of Melaya became independent from the british in 1957 and in 1963 the british colonies Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore formed with Malaya and became the Federation of Malaysia but in 1965 Singapore was expelled due to political and racial concerns. ​