Orang Laut

The Orang Laut, whose name means sea people in Malay, are Malayic-speaking seafaring tribes who lived in boats among the islands and estuaries of the Riau Archipelago, eastern Sumatra, the southern Malay Peninsula and Singapore. The fourteenth-century traveller Wang Dayuan described the boat-dwelling inhabitants of Temasek, the site of modern Singapore, in his Daoyi Zhilüe, the earliest known account of them.

Under Srivijaya, Malacca and Johor they patrolled the seas, drove off pirates and steered merchants to their rulers' ports in return for titles and gifts. Their influence waned as the Johor-Malacca realm broke apart and Bugis warriors took over its naval role.

The Orang Laut shifted southward, and the Orang Gelam settled on the Singapore River in service of the Temenggong, forming the bulk of Singapore's population until the British arrived in 1819.