ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the history of the Pahang Malay, and the village of Pesagi, with emphasis on the development of present day economic behavior. The Pahang Malay are Muslim, speak the Malay language, and the majority live in riverine or coastal areas. Prehistoric sites show that Pahang was populated from very early times. The major increase in the population of Pahang during the twentieth century is due to in migration. In the 1880s the population was about 60,000 and made up almost entirely of Pahang People, that is, Pahang Malay and Asli. The Chinese accounts record extensive lists of trade items, and suggest that Pahang was a well organized commercial state. The major exports were camphor, several kinds of incense wood, laka wood, and a perfume known as tai-pai. On the peninsula these included the Malay states of Perak, Kedah, Pahang, Johore, and Melaka.
