Malacca was established as a sultanate in 1402. At the height of power, the sultanate conquered and ruled territories stretching from southern Thailand in the north to Sumatra in the southwest and effectively controls the Strait of Malacca. However in 1511, Malacca was invaded by the Portuguese and was ruled as a Portuguese colony for the next 130 years.

In 1641, the Dutch captured the Portuguese-ruled Malacca. Malacca where to change hands again through the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 to the British. In 1826, Malacca was admitted as the Straits Settlement together with Penang and Singapore.