Brunei

Brunei is a small sultanate on the northern coast of Borneo, facing the South China Sea. On land it is surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, Bandar Seri Begawan is the capital, Malay is the official language, and Sunni Islam is the state religion.

The country is split in two by the Sarawak district of Limbang and is the only sovereign state lying entirely on Borneo. At its height under Sultan Bolkiah, who reigned from 1485 to 1528, the sultanate is said to have controlled most of Borneo and the Sulu archipelago. Survivors of Magellan's expedition visited in 1521, and in 1578 Brunei fought Spain in the Castilian War. By the 16th century Islam was firmly rooted, and the sultanate had built one of its largest mosques.

In the 19th century the sultanate declined, ceding Kuching to James Brooke, who became the White Rajah, and Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. Brunei became a British protectorate in 1888 and received a British resident in 1906. Oil was struck near the Seria river on 5 April 1929. After Japanese occupation in World War II, a constitution followed in 1959, and in the early 1960s the Sultan chose not to join Malaysia.

Brunei became fully sovereign on 1 January 1984 and has been ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah since 1967, as an absolute monarchy with an appointed advisory council. Oil and gas pay for free or heavily subsidized housing, health care and education. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III signed the first written constitution on 29 September 1959 and began a series of national development plans. Lowland and mountain rainforest still covers about 72% of the land, more than in the neighboring parts of Borneo, and the national football team joined FIFA in 1969.