Royal Brunei Navy
Malay: Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei
Alleged Naval Standard of Bruneian Empire of 1601
Active1408 – 1888
Country Brunei
Allegiance Bruneian Sultan
BranchNaval Force
TypeNavy
Size100 Boats (in 1521) and 50 Boats (in 1578)
Part of Royal Bruneian Land Forces
Garrison/HQKota Batu
Engagements

The Royal Brunei Navy (Malay: Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei - TLDB) also known as the Royal Bruneian Fleet,was the naval component of the Royal Bruneian Land Forces (RBLF), the official military of the Sultanate of Brunei between 1408 and 1888.

History

Independent period (1408–1888)

After Brunei declared Independence from the Majapahit Empire, The Royal Brunei Navy (Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei) was first formed in 1408 as the "naval" wing of the Royal Bruneian Land Forces (RBLF) and designated at probably Kota Batu, to defend it's capital from piracy, The new Royal Bruneian Navy was probably trained and staffed by Bajau Officers, as they were already experienced with boats, the Bajau people would remain in the navy until the end of the Sultanate.

During the Golden Age of Brunei, the Bruneian Royal Navy fought in Borneo and later parts of the Philippines[1] and changes in the navy, during the reign of Sultan Bolkiah, forty Javanese blacksmiths were paid to teach metal casting in Brunei, possibly introducing cannon casting. Since Bolkiah was the first Bruneian sultan to have used gunpowder, it might have been the Javanese who introduced cannon technology to Brunei.[2]: 10–11  In 1521, Antonio Pigafetta reported Brunei's military had a fleet of over 100 boats which was involved in an attack with a faction in the south.[3]

Brunei's decline started on 15 April 1578. A Spanish armada comprising forty galleons appeared off the coast of Brunei in 1578, following the Sultan's rejection of a treaty with the Spaniards in 1573. They attacked the fifty Brunei warships encircling him as soon as he saw the Sultan would not accede to his demands.

In 1673 (After the Civil War), Brunei Brunei denied giving eastern Sabah to the Sulu Sultanate. As there is no written evidence of the transfer.[4] Despite this, this still traced the roots of the North Borneo dispute between Malaysia and the Philippines in the present-day.[5][6]

The Sultanate was in a very bad state by the 1880s. Both Sarawak, under Rajah Brooke, and the British North Borneo business had taken more territory.[7] In 1888, The Sultanate of Brunei's navy was disbanded by the last sultan and later replaced by the Modern Royal Brunei Navy.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Metcalf, Peter (2010). The Life of the Longhouse: An Archaeology of Ethnicity. Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-521-11098-3 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Jalil, Ahmad Safwan (2012). Southeast Asian Cannon Making in Negara Brunei Darussalam (MA thesis). Flinders University.
  3. ↑ Gin, Ooi Keat; King, Victor T. (29 July 2022). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Brunei. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-56864-6 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Asbol, Awang. Persejarahan Brunei (in Malay).
  5. ↑ Wright, Leigh R. (1966). "Historical Notes on the North Borneo Dispute". The Journal of Asian Studies. 25 (3): 471–484. doi:10.2307/2052002. JSTOR 2052002. S2CID 154355668.
  6. ↑ Marston, Geoffrey (1967). "International Law and the Sabah Dispute: A Postscript" (PDF). Australian International Law Journal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Yunos, Rozan (17 October 2016). "Brunei in 1888 – the golden legacy". BruneiResources.blogspot.com. The Brunei Times. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
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