Brunei, following the Portuguese seizure of Malacca,…

Brunei, following the Portuguese seizure of Malacca, flourishes as the most powerful Muslim state in Southeast Asia.

Chinese records began in CE 977 to use the term Po-ni,which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo.

A Chinese official, Chau Ju-Kua (Zhao Rugua), reported in 1225,  that Po-ni had one hundred warships to protect its trade, and that there was a lot of wealth in the kingdom.

In the fourteenth century, the Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Prapanca in 1365, mentioned Barune as the vassal state of Majapahit, which had to make an annual tribute of forty katis of camphor.

The Sulus in In 1369 attacked Po-ni, looting it of treasure and gold.

A fleet from Majapahit succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Po-ni had been left weaker after the attack.

A Chinese report from 1371 describes Po-ni as poor and totally controlled by Majapahit.

However, scholars claim that the power of the Sultanate of Brunei is at its peak between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, with its power extending from northern Borneo to the southern Philippines.

By the sixteenth century, Islam is firmly rooted in Brunei, and the country has built one of its biggest mosques.