Malay Annals

The Malay Annals (Malay: Sejarah Melayu, Jawi: سجاره ملايو), originally titled Sulalatus Salatin (Genealogy of Kings), is a literary work that gives a romanticised history of the origin, evolution and demise of the great Malay maritime empire, the Malacca Sultanate. The work which was composed sometime between 15th and 16th centuries, is considered one of the finest literary and historical works in the Malay language.

The original text has undergone numerous changes, with the oldest known version dated May 1612, through the rewriting effort commissioned by the then regent of Johor, Yang di-Pertuan Di Hilir Raja Abdullah. It was originally written in the Classical Malay on traditional paper in old Jawi script, but today exists in 32 different manuscripts, including those in Rumi script. Notwithstanding some of its mystical contents, historians have looked at the text as a primary source of information on past events verifiable by other historical sources, in the Malay world. In 2001, the Malay Annals was listed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme International Register.

The number of manuscripts of the Malay Annals and its related texts is fairly large. The manuscripts are found scattered over libraries in various countries: in Indonesia (Jakarta, Museum Pusat), in the United Kingdom (mainly in London), in the Netherlands (Leiden) and in Malaysia (Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka). Not all of these manuscripts have the same value; some are fragmentary or otherwise incomplete; others are just copies of existing manuscripts, and some are even copies of the printed text. A version of the Annals dated 1612, acquired by Sir Stamford Raffles and coded Raffles MS no.18 or Raffles Manuscript 18, is considered the oldest and most faithful to the original.

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