Malays (ethnic group)
This article is about the Malay ethnic group. For the Malay "race", see Malay race . For other uses, see Malay (disambiguation) . Not to be confused with Malaysians . Malays ( Malay : Orang Melayu , Jawi : أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group that predominantly inhabit the Malay Peninsula , eastern Sumatra and coastal Borneo , as well as the smaller islands which lie between these locations — areas that are collectively known as the Malay world . These locations today are part of the modern nations of Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, and southern Thailand. There is considerable genetic, linguistic, cultural, 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 earlie...