The powerful Sultanate of Brunei controls the island of Borneo as well as parts of the Sulu Islands and the Philippines.

The Bruneian Empire had become a Muslim state by the fifteenth century, when its King converted to Islam, brought by Indian and Arab merchants from other parts of Maritime Southeast Asia, who had come to trade and spread Islam.

Brunei controls most of northern Borneo, and it became an important commercial hub.

Like the previous regional empires of Srivijaya, Majapahit, and Malacca, Brunei can be considered as a thalassocratic empire that is based upon maritime power.

Its influence is therefore confined to coastal towns, ports and river estuarines, and seldom penetrates deep into the interior of the island.

The Bruneian kings seem to have cultivated alliances with regional seafaring peoples of Orang Laut and Bajau, who form their naval armada.

The Dayaks, native tribes of interior Borneo, are not under Bruneian control.