Kedah

The Kedah dynasty rules one of the oldest polities on the Malay Peninsula, with its heartland in the Bujang Valley. Ancient Kedah Tua grew into a Hindu-Buddhist port within the orbit of Srivijaya.

The Kedah Annals trace the kings to the legendary Merong Mahawangsa and tell how Phra Ong Mahawangsa embraced Islam and became Sultan Mudzaffar Shah, traditionally dated to 1136, though scholars place the conversion nearer the fifteenth century. In 1337 the sixth sultan, Ibrahim Shah, held the throne, having moved his capital to Kota Seputih in 1323.

The dynasty kept its sultanate alive by paying tribute to stronger neighbors, including Malacca and Siam. Siamese armies overran Kedah in 1821 and exiled its sultan; a prince briefly retook Alor Setar in 1831, but Siamese rule continued for years afterward.