The southernmost islands of the Mergui Archipelago

Mergui Archipelago

The Mergui Archipelago is an archipelago in far southern Myanmar . It consists of more than 800 islands, varying in size from very small to hundreds of square kilometres, all lying in the Andaman Sea off the western shore of the Malay Peninsula near its landward end where it joins the rest of...

 (also Myeik Archipelago or Myeik Kyunzu) is home to the Moken people, a nomadic ethnic minority related to the Malays. There are also some dispersed Malay and Malay related Muslims from the northern most states of Malaysia and Southern Thailand. Some of the Moken and the Muslims in these southernmost islands speak a dialect of Bahasa Melayu. The Malays are believed to be of Kedahan Malay

Kedahan Malay

Kedahan Malay is one of the largest Malay subethnic group. They are among the earliest settler in Malay Peninsular. This group comprised at least 15% of the total ethnic Malay population.- History :...

 descent, although the Kedah Annals

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa

Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa or The Kedah Annals is an ancient Malay literature that chronicles the bloodline of Merong Mahawangsa and the foundation of the Kedah, a state in Malaysia. Though there are historical accuracies, there are many incredible assertions...

 makes no mention whatsoever of the Mergui Archipelago.

In 1865, an Arab-Malay group led by Nayuda Ahmed, traveling and collecting sea products around Mergui Archipelago settled down in Victoria Point bay, which is now located in modern day Kawthaung

Kawthaung

Kawthaung is in the southernmost part of Myanmar, located in Tanintharyi Region. During British rule in Burma between 1824 and 1948, it was known as Victoria Point.- History :...

.

The Burmese Malays mainly live in Bokpyin township and a few islands in the southern part of the Mergui Archipelago.

The Malay influence is clearly visible in the names of certain settlements near Kawthaung - the words 'Kampong', 'Ulu', 'Telok', 'Tengah' and 'Palau' (Malay/Indonesian words for village, remote, bay, central and island respectively) appear in a handful of settlement names. However, these names do not prove the demographics of the settlements.

Language, culture and religion

The Malays living in Southern Burma are related to the Kedahan Malay

Kedahan Malay

Kedahan Malay is one of the largest Malay subethnic group. They are among the earliest settler in Malay Peninsular. This group comprised at least 15% of the total ethnic Malay population.- History :...

. They speak Burmese

Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...

 and Kedah-Perlis dialect

Kedah Malay

Kedah Malay is a form of Malay spoken in the Malaysian states of Kedah, Penang, Perak, and Perlis. It is also spoken in Thailand's southern province of Satun, where it is called "Satun Malay"....

. Some of these Malays can also read the Jawi script which was the old Arabic-derived script used in the Malay Peninsula.

Many of the Malays are adherents of the Shafi Madhab sect of Sunni Islam. Due to their historical presence and geographic location, some have been assimilated into the dominant Mon and Bamar identities and practice Buddhism.

The Mokens, although related to the Malays, have their own Austronesian

Austronesian languages

The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...

 languages and a separate cultural, societal and religious identity.

See also

• Malays (ethnic group), the ethnic group located primarily in the Malay peninsula, and parts of Sumatra and Borneo
• Malay race
  Malay race
  The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach , and classified as the brown race. Since Blumenbach, many anthropologists have rejected his theory of five races, citing the enormous complexity of classifying races...
  
  , a racial category encompassing the people of South East Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands
• Overseas Malays
  Overseas Malays
  Overseas Malays refer to individuals with ethnic Malay or Malay race ancestry living outside Malaysia, Indonesia, South Thailand and neighbouring Malay home areas.-Asia:*Yunnan of China...
  
  , people of Malay ancestry living outside Malaysia and neighbouring ethnic Malay home areas