Brunei Sultanate

Overview

Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with its territory bifurcated by the Sarawak district of Limbang. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between its multi-landmass neighbours of Malaysia and Indonesia. As of 2025, the country had a population of 466,330, of whom approximately 64,409 resided in the capital and largest city of Bandar Seri Begawan. Its official language is Malay, and Sunni Islam is the state religion of the country, although other religions are nominally tolerated. The government of Brunei is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Sultan, and it implements a fusion of English common law and jurisprudence inspired by Islam, including sharia.

Wikipedia: Brunei·CC BY-SA 4.0

Borders & accuracy

Dashed borders mark empires whose extent we can date but whose precise frontiers are contested or undocumented.

• SOURCEreconstructed from Natural Earth country boundaries
• DETAILreconstructed-clipped-country
• SNAPSHOT1800
• POLITY TYPEstate

Wars of this empire3

Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.

• Castilian War1578
  Significant
• Brunei Civil War1660–73
  Significant
• Bruneian conquest of Manila1500
  Regional