Malaysia, as part of Southeast Asia, has been a trading center for centuries, even before Singapore and Malacca became prominent, with porcelain and spices being the major exports items. When the British began to dominate the area, in the seventeenth century, they introduced rubber trees and palm oil trees and developed these items commercially. Slowly but steadily these two commodities, along with tin, and other materials, Malaysia’s development was set, even into the mid-twentieth century.
During this time the British did not rely solely on local Malays as their source of labor, but instead brought in native Chinese as well as Indians to work on the rubber and palm oil plantations and in the tine mines. Many of the Chinese and Indians did eventually return to their homes in China and India, but a fair amount stayed behind and permanently settled in Malaysia.
