Malaysia

Malaysia is split between two land masses, a peninsula reaching south from mainland Asia toward Singapore, and the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, separated by the South China Sea. It is one of Southeast Asia's most diverse and prosperous nations, a tapestry of Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities whose food, faiths, and festivals overlap in cities like Kuala Lumpur. Rainforest, palm-oil estates, and gleaming skyscrapers coexist across its territory.

Peninsular Malaysia is spined by the forested Titiwangsa Range, while Malaysian Borneo holds the country's highest summit, Mount Kinabalu, and some of the oldest tropical rainforest on Earth. The climate is equatorial. Malaysia is a major exporter of palm oil, electronics, petroleum, and natural gas, and its strategic position along the Strait of Malacca places it astride one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The Malay sultanates, the trading port of Malacca, and waves of Portuguese, Dutch, and British control shaped the region before the Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957, Malaysia formed in 1963, with Singapore departing two years later. A constitutional monarchy rotates the kingship among nine royal houses. The Petronas Towers and Putrajaya symbolize a modern, multiethnic state still negotiating the balance between its communities.

• Asia
  Earth's largest and most populous continent located in
• Brunei
  An oil-rich sultanate on the rainforest coast of Borneo neighboring country
• Indonesia
  The world's largest archipelago, spanning two oceans neighboring country
• Singapore
  A global city-state at the tip of the Malay Peninsula neighboring country
• Thailand
  The never-colonized kingdom at the heart of mainland Southeast Asia neighboring country